Join Speech-Language Pathologist, Sabrina Horvath, for a Q&A about speech and language development in infants, toddlers and young children. Sabrina is here to talk about infant understanding of language, first words, typical speech development and more.
My son is 2 1/2 and has no words. We have been in early intervention services for speech and physical therapy for about 18 minutes, he is globally delayed but does not have a diagnosis yet. My main concern is whether he will ever be able to use language effectively, and I can't get any feedback from our therapists with anything definitive. I know all children are different and no one has a crystal ball but when can you start determining whether a child is capable of speech or not? Thanks!
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Sabrina H.
Hi Stefanie, |
Welcome, Sabrina! Wondering how reading books to your baby contributes to their speech development? Curious what it means when your toddler says words that don’t make sense? Sabrina is here today to answer all of your questions about speech development in babies and toddlers.
At what age will a child grow out of using echolelia amd delayed echolelia
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Sabrina H.
Hi Amy, |
My daughter who is 16 months old, only says a few words (that all sound the same) but has been babbling constantly since she was about 4 months old. You ask her where something is and she'll point and grunt. You ask her to bring you something or take something to someone and she right on it. My concern is that shes not saying enough words for her age. I do know babies develop at their own pace but I'm just concerned with hearing the same sounds for different words.
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Sabrina H.
Hi Kelly, |
My 13 month old used to say dada and mama but now only says hi, bye, and woof. most of the day she points to things and I say what do you want and try and teach her different things like ball, etc. I am concerned bc my 2.5 year old talked a lot more and never pointed. Just curious when do I seek help or is it normal? Thank you!
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Sabrina H.
Hi Katrina, |
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Katrina Great thank you! Glad to hear about the pointing! |
Hi,
My daughter is 15m old and she doesn't say anything else except mama and dada. She comes when her name is called but if I ask her to "go to daddy" or "come to momma", she doesn't do it. When she is hungry she doesn't point to anything, she just comes to me and cries some and I have to figure out if it's that she is sleepy or hungry. She dorsnt point to milk or juice or anything that she wants. She points only in the directions she wants u to talk in if your carrying her. I read to her and talk to her by using objects and repeating the names. Is there anything else I should do? Is this a concern for EI program? She babbles a lot but just random. Sorry for the long message :)
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Sabrina H.
Can I ask a couple of follow-up questions before I answer? |
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Lizandra 1. Yes, she is very good at eye contact and often does that. For example, if she is playing with Daddy and is having fun she will look over to me and smile or laugh |
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Sabrina H.
Hi Lizandra, |
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Lizandra Thank you |
I have a 6 1/3 month old and am interested in tips to help develop his speech. I've heard that narration of your day, reading, and repetition are all good ways to start. Are there any other tips you would suggest?
Also, I'm interested in starting signing with him. I've already started some basics. I've heard this does have the potential to delay speech, but would love to allow multiple ways to communicate as he gets older and develops his speech. What are your thoughts with speech and signing?
Thank you!
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Sabrina H.
Hi Estelle, |
Hello my 2 year old (just turned 2) has lost all of his words. At 18 months he had the ability to say around 20 words. Now all he says is daddy amd uh oh. He started losing words around the time ge broke his leg (19 months). The infant and toddler program in our area assessed him and he is receieving services. They say he has at least a 25% development delay, however he works with a teacher not a speech therapist. The pediatrician told us to involve the program. He was scoring low for autism and his teacher says hes super social.
He also had a sibling born when he was 20 months old amd seems to have regressed in speech and even tried to regress by going back to bottle. Is there anything else we can do to help get his words back? The teacher says he understands what we say and he can follow directions (when he wants to).
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Sabrina H.
Hi Stacey, |
Hello!
My son seems to have an advanced level of speech development. He is 2.5 but can hold full conversations with little issue, he pick up words with ease (I don't remember the last time we made any effort to teach him a specific word.) If he hears a word he doesn't know, he asks what it means. Is there anything I can do to further foster this? Or anything I can do to gauge his development level?
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Sabrina H.
Hi Kerri, |
Hi my 3.5 yo has childhood apraxia of speech and expressive language disorder. He has been in speech therapy for 1.5 years. My almost 14 mo doesnt talk. She babbles occasionally, she will point. A month or 2 ago she would repeat mama but nothing now. I have started to try some signs with her and she seems to understand them but not repeat them. I will talk to doc at her check up next month but wondering what the likely hood is to have 2 with CAS or is she possibly just delayed because of big bro or am i over reacting?
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Sabrina H.
Hi Ann, |
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Ann Thanks. I know they all develop differently but it seems that cas runs in family as i also have a nephew with it. My oldest talked on time and very well. My second was delayed with speech because of fluid in his ears. With my third i started asking about his speech around this age and was told not to worry. But turned out he really need help so I'm just a little more careful and dont want to delay getting help if needed. I will definitly talk to pediatrician at next apt. Thanks for the imput! |
Hi Sabrina,
Is there anything particular that I should be doing to help develop speech in my toddler aside from reading and talking to her? She learns one language from me, another from my husband.
She has about 3-4 basic words now. I know that she won't really start accruing words until 18 months but I just want to make sure that I am doing all that I possibly can for her development right now.
Thank you,
Maria
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Sabrina H.
Hi Maria, |
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Maria Great advice, thank you! |
Hello! My daughter is four months old. I speak to her normally (narrating our day, asking her questions, reading to her). Do you think that she will be slower to speak words because I don't practice baby sounds (repeating mama, papa etc) with her? What do you recommend as far as the most natural way to develop speech?
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Sabrina H.
Hi Katie, |
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Katie Thank you so much, this is extremely helpful! |
Our 3 year old is very vocal at home, but his teachers say he very rarely speaks at school. I was naturally shy as a kid, is there anything we can do to help?
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Sabrina H.
That's a great question! Before I answer, can I ask how your child does with you out in the community (e.g., family events, playdates with other children)? |
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Sunny He's comfortable talking in situations where he knows people (family or friends) but on play dates with even just two new friends he's quiet. Very shy when meeting new people (adults or kids), and especially quiet in big, loud groups if mom or dad aren't there. I should add that when he does speak at school it's in a whisper. |
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Sabrina H.
Hi Sunny, |
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Sunny Thank you! I will definitely try out these strategies! |
Hi Sabrina,
Thanks for answering questions today! My son is 22 months, and according to most of the literature we have been given, he is slightly behind on the speech curve. He is very shy in unfamiliar situations (anything that's not part of his normal routine) and when we took him to the pediatrician at 18 months, he was more or less silent, even though he "chatters" quite a bit at home. The doctor recommended a hearing test and an EI assessment, which I have been hesitant to do because my gut tells me he is doing just fine, but of course I don't want to short-change him if he does need help. His receptive language is definitely strong, and he can follow two-part instructions easily, will go into the other room to get a specific toy when asked, responds/looks up when you call his name, etc., so I have zero concerns about his hearing. At home, he babbles constantly, looking at us and telling "stories", pointing and gesturing, but there are very few words he uses intelligibly. He does have about 20 or so words that he uses regularly although at least half of them would not be understood by someone who doesn't know him well. He does not put words together yet at all, even when they are both words that he uses consistently--for example, he will say either "mama" or "up", but not "mama up" even when prompted, when that is what he is asking for. He will also attempt to repeat things when asked at times, but in these cases his attempts are often nowhere near the word itself. If you ask him to say any two-syllable word he doesn't know already, he will often make a very similar "ah-ahh" type of noise, as if he wants to appease you but doesn't really try to mimic the sounds themselves. He does repeat back specific sounds when we work on those, so he will copy you saying "fff fff fff" or "sss sss sss" but then he does not respond when asked to put that together to form a word. He also makes several animal noises such as "baa" and "quack" but he won't really even attempt to say the names of the animals themselves.
I realize this is a pretty long question, but based on these details would you say we should consider EI for him at this point? Should he have more words by now, is there anything we should be doing differently with him at home? We do read to him a lot, and we try to work on sounds and words as I've mentioned, but I wonder if we are going about it the wrong way?
Thank you!
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Sabrina H.
Hi Brett, |
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Brett Hi Sabrina, |
My husband and I both speak English, I speak Russian, and he speaks Hebrew and we'd like for our 17 month old daughter to learn all three, but are wondering how feasible this is. We do not speak each other's language so her exposure to Russian and Hebrew is limited and not consistent (it's not possible for me to always speak Russian and for him to always speak Hebrew to her given that we need to all communicate). Her other social interactions are all primarily in English although she gets some exposure from other family members. What's the best way for us to encourage her to learn all three languages? When we're speaking to her in one language should we translate from one to another using the words she already knows (for e.g. when she says shoe, saying yes shoe and repeating it in Russian too)? Or are we better off having a specific Russian-only/Hebrew-only time such as meals? Can we read English and Russian/Hebrew books to her back to back? Is it critical for us to get her involved in Russian/Hebrew activities or find a nanny that speaks one of those languages? Thank you in advance for any advice.
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Sabrina H.
Hi Nina, |
My 2yr old often points at things, or more often somewhere in the general vicinity of things, he either wants to eat, play with or know what a certain something is. This leads to frustration on his part because I either don't know what particuar thing he is trying to point at or, I do this a lot, tell him to go show me what he is talking about and get him to try and use his words to tell me. I probe with questions like "Do you want some milk? This is a toaster, etc." What can I do to help him and I better communicate?!
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Sabrina H.
Hi Brittany, |
Thank you, Sabrina! Sabrina works at the Boston University Child Language Lab where they study language development in young kids. If you’re in the Boston area there are a lot of great opportunities to participate in studies. You can learn more here: http://www.bu.edu/childlanguage/
Our 3 yr old speaks well but when frustrated or upset she has trouble communicating and will sometimes scream or point to what she wants. Is it that she can't communicate in a state of frustration or is this something else? I'm not sure if she's just acting up because she isn't getting her way or if she's overwhelmed with emotions that she can't quite communicate.
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Sabrina H.
Hi Paula, |
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Paula Thank you!!! |
Sometimes my 18 month old talks with his tongue out more in his mouth, usually when he is tired, is this normal? His words are more slurred then, but otherwise he usually talks fine.
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Sabrina H.
Hi Katy, |
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Katy Thank you, I appreciate it! He doesn't usually have difficulty chewing or swallowing when he is tired. He just started this random tongue thing in the last week so hoping it's just a phase! I'll take your advice and bring it up to the pediatrician just in case though too. Thank you! |