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.
Hi. Any tips on raising a kid bilingual? If you speak two languages to a baby will their language development be delayed?
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Sabrina H.
Hi Angel! |
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.
My 3 year old has started to have some trouble getting words out. Not quite stuttering but delayed speech, I guess. It seems like his mind is working faster than his mouth and also that he doesn't have the vocabulary to say exactly what he means. Overall he's very verbal and has a large vocabulary for his age. It doesn't happen all the time either. I'm more concerned because my husband has had this problem his whole life. He often can't say his name when someone introduces themselves. I wonder if this problem can be hereditary, or if it's even a problem at all, or normal at this point in time?
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Sabrina H.
Hi Meghan, |
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Meghan Thank you so much! This was SO much better than what I learned from Dr. Google!! |
We don’t get a chance to read as much to our new baby who is now 4.5 months compared to our first child. Will this hinder her picking up language as quickly?
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Sabrina H.
Hi Francesca, |
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Francesca Thanks so much. She hears my 2 year old talk all day long, although he is still developing his pronunciation of words and stringing together longer sentences. I also feel like we are reading less to my son now with the lack of time. I'm sure we will get to increasing it back up again.. They love books. Thanks!! |
My son is almost 14 months old. Though he makes lots of sounds (include "ma" and "da") and knows/says the words "dog," "blue," "green," and "yellow," he does not yet say "Mama" or "Dada" with meaning, even though we use the words all the time (FAR more often than "dog"). If we say "where's Dada?" Or "where's Mama?" He will sometimes look to the right person, but not reliably so. Is this something to be concerned about?
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Sabrina H.
Hi Sarah, |
Hi
thanks for taking questions. Curious how many words /word combos a 19 month old should have?
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Sabrina H.
Hi Katrina, |
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Katrina thank you! my lo has started saying 4 word combos “ i want this one” :) |
Hello! My almost 21 month old daughter is finally saying many words. However, a lot of her words sound the same (bubbles, bottle, dada, doggy) Is that normal. Also, she still doesn't have endings to her words (ex. bub for bubble, mmmm for moo).
Thank you
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Sabrina H.
Hi Melissa, |
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melissa Wow, thank you very much for all the information. This was very helpful!! |
Hi! My daughter, who turns 2 next week, is a Chatty Cathy at home. As far as I know, she is developmentally fine, with a large vocabulary and speaking in either one- or two-word sentences. However, this child basically does not speak in public. Even to people she knows (other than family and her nanny). For example, she started a 2s program 4 weeks ago (2x/wk), and has been talking about who she sees and what she does; however, the head teacher told my nanny yesterday that my daughter has not said one word in class in all of that time. I don't know if this is a lack of confidence (she can feel shy around others) or something else. So I have two questions: 1) What do you think is the root problem here, if any, and 2) what can I do to encourage her to chit chat with others? Thank you!
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Sabrina H.
Hi Jennifer, |
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Jennifer Thank you! It's very odd b/c she always wants to sit in the lap of a teacher (even if she just met her that day) but won't speak. |
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Sabrina H.
Hi Jennifer, |
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Jennifer Thank you! I don't believe it's more than typical shyness, but I just want to be prepared just in case. |
Hello! My almost-18 month has an abundance of words, and most of the time I can decipher what she means. For the times that she's pointing to something and saying a a word I can't quite understand or pick up on, what is the best approach to making it easy for her so that she doesn't get too frustrated that I am not quite understanding what she means? Thanks!
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Sabrina H.
Hi Meredith, |
What's the best method to teach your kids to be bilingual and not have confusions later on?
I've been speaking to my 1 year old Spanish since he was born and my husband speaks to him in English when he's around. I speak to my husband in English (since he doesn't know Spanish) when the baby is around. Will this confuse my son? He gets a lot of things I tell him in Spanish and what my husband tells him in English. He seems to be picking both languages. But wanted to know how to go about teaching him his ABC, colors, numbers?
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Sabrina H.
Hi Caterine, |
Hi Sabrina! My 2.5 year old is very chatty with a great vocabulary. However, she mostly says "s" with a lisp making a "th" sound instead. We have practiced and she has the ability to make an "s" sound the right way, but just in her normal (rapid) speech it comes out as "th." Is this something I should act on at her age or will it possibly go away on its own? Any tips/tricks to get her to pronounce the "s" properly? Thanks!
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Sabrina H.
Hi Kaci, |
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Kaci Thank you SO much -- that's all so helpful! |
I am wondering about speech language development for infants- I have an 8 month old baby girl and am just curious what to look for or expect language-wise at this time. She makes lots of sounds but does not make any consanent sounds (ba ba, ma ma, etc). When does this typically start? She also does not mimic any sounds that I make. Any reason to be concerned or am I being a paranoid first time mom?? Thank you!!
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Sabrina H.
Hi Whitney, |
My 2.5 year old is at what I think it is an average language development stage, in terms of number of words, comprehension, and putting words and ideas together to form sentences.
Lately he has started pronouncing certain sounds / letters by sticking his tongue out of his mouth. Sounds such as double letters ("l', and "t" ) (words like "better" and "Mollie") and also when he says a single "l" sound (color), I know "l's" can be one of the later letters, but the sudden change in his form has me curious. It's hard to describe via writing, but as you or I would pronounce those sounds, our tongue hits the back of our front teeth. He allows his entire tongue to leave his mouth to pronounce the word. Is this something I should consider a speech consult for so as not to have this continue as a permanent thing, or am I just being paranoid?
Thank you!
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Sabrina H.
Hi Heather, |
Hi Sabrina,
My daughter is finally repeating words in both languages and she does alot of code switching, which I have read is a sign of normal development. My question is regarding sentence formation. Although she will say many single words, she hasn't yet been able to put a sentence together. Not even something simple like "give me", she will just say "give". Aside from modeling correct speech, what else can I do to promote this next step?
Thanks! -Maria
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Sabrina H.
Hi Maria, |
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Maria Sabrina, |
Great insight so far on bilingualism! My question is what is the approximate age when they will start saying words consistently and when to seek evaluation?
We speak to him in Spanish with minimal English. His grandmother speaks to him in French. So we are speaking to him in three languages. Poor baby the confusion and the hard work he is going through.
At the moment he does say 7-10 words that could be understood and repeats after I say them.
So if you could educate me on what to expect please.
Thank you,
Lucy
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Sabrina H.
Hi Lucy, |