What about a just turned 3 year old who still uses babble? My DD has words, but will try to speak in sentences that sound something like this "mommy, baba be da da outside deeba daba doggy." It's like she doesn't have the word for something, so she just makes up her own.

Additionally, I can understand about half of what she is trying to convey, but my DH and her preschool teachers report that they are only closer to 25%. We have her 3 year appointment coming up so I will mention it then but wondering about others' experiences...

he is 20 months old.. really nothing to worry about. Esp if your pedi isn't concerned.

My son was that way. At two he technically met the milestone for hitting enough words (100 I think?) but just sounded really different than other kids. I few people suggested I get him checked by a therapist, make sure there were no developmental issues. My gut told me there was nothing developmental but nonetheless still something wrong. Had his hearing checked and he had only fifty percent hearing in both ears because of fluid. Doctor was wrongly conservative about ear tubes and punted for a year (also because we were dealing with some other medical issues that took priority) and finally had tubes put in at 40 months. Speech improved decently as soon as he fluid was out, but we did therapy to compensate for the lost time. He's doing great and I suspect we can stop the therapy after six months. if your gut tells you he is very different than the other kids, go to an audiologist. Pediatrician can't always see the fluid.

OP here and thank you all. My concern is that no word is enunciated correctly. "Nanny" is "Ninny" and even "Mommy" is "Mam". He also rarely says the second syllable of words.

We do have an appointment to have his hearing checked next week.

BTW, at that age all you are looking for is that they can get across the idea, not that they are saying the correct sounds. That counts as a "word" until 3-5.

Normal until 3-5, our speech therapist says. Your kid is saying words, this is a good thing. At that age, my kid had 0 words.

Anonymous wrote:at 20 months? normal. indeed, proper enunciation would probably be remarkably advanced. You've got another year or so of garbled speech! at least.

Not OP but there is a 19 month old little girl in DD's play group who has the most perfect enunciation I have ever heard! She is indeed remarkable. This little thing repeated my DS's name perfectly after only hearing it once - a feat my DS, two months older, has never done.

Anonymous wrote:No need for concern yet. Don't correct him like if he says wah-wah, don't say "no, say Water" but repeat it after him.

Son: I wan wah-wah
You: you want water? Okay, let's get some.

This is excellent advice. Also, get his ears checked by a specialist.

By three, if it hasn't resolved, speech therapy. Both of my nieces had ear stuff and went through short courses of speech therapy. You would never know that there had been an issue.

Don't worry about this quite yet. Put it on a shelf and re-evaluate a year from now.

At 20 months, speech therapy is just play and no it will not force a child to talk. Later on it gives them the tools they need so when they are ready to talk, they will.

at 20 months? normal. indeed, proper enunciation would probably be remarkably advanced. You've got another year or so of garbled speech! at least.

No need for concern yet. Don't correct him like if he says wah-wah, don't say "no, say Water" but repeat it after him.

Son: I wan wah-wah
You: you want water? Okay, let's get some.

Maybe just regular therapy

Twenty-month-old DS has about forty to sixty words that he uses all the time and can repeat virtually anything you say and very good receptive communication. However, not one word he says is enunciated correctly or clearly -- even words like Mom, Dad or Nanny that he uses constantly. Would speech therapy help him? Pediatrician is "not concerned".