Infantreflux.org | Not talking at 15 months

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April 7, 2006 at 9:17 am #5594

Anonymous
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Hi there –

I know this is totally unrelated to reflux stuff but you guys always have such good advice that I thought I’d ask your opinions. Owen just had his 15 months appointment. Amazingly he gained weight (up to 24lbs 6oz so 50th%) even with not eating and the diarreah so that was positive. The doctor was worried though about his not talking. He says uh-oh, but that’s about it. He used to say dada but not much anymore, and actually started to say mama this week which is the first time for that. He is saying things that sound like they could be words but aren’t clear at all and understands EVERYTHING – if I tell him to go pick out a book so we can read it he’ll walk to his book case, bring me the book and try to climb on my lap.

Anyway, the doctor said I have to monitor it, talk to him as much as I can and read to him too (all of which I already do). He said we’ll talk at his 18 month appointment if he hasn’t made any progress. I’m not sure exactly what that means but I know that the not talking can mean autism which is so scary to me. Does anyone have any experience or advice with this? I know I didn’t talk until I was close to two but ended up speaking full sentences right away and was reading when I was 3 so maybe it could be hereditary? I have no idea but I’m totally freaked out. As if I need more to worry about.

ljhar10132006-4-7 9:17:31

April 7, 2006 at 9:26 am #5596

Anonymous
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Laura,

Hailey only said a handful of words at 15 months too – mama, dada, kc, uh oh and no. She didn’t say them all of the time either. At about 18 months, her language EXPLODED and she began saying a ton of words. We counted one night and it was over a hundred I’m not kidding. Before this happened, I was secretly worried too since the baby at daycare spoke so well at her same age and her old sitter would make comments about it. I never did ask the doctor about it because what they say tends to make me worry more. I really would try not to worry, I hear about a lot of kids that don’t say much until their 2nd birthday. Kids really do develop at their own pace, I think this is really true. And yes, I do think these development things can be hereditary. Autism is not saying anything, he’s talking – you just can’t understand what he saying.

P.S. I think Hailey has finally passed Owen in weight!!!! I’m thinking she’s closer to 25 lbs. We have a Ped appt today so we’ll see!

April 7, 2006 at 9:34 am #5601

Anonymous
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My friend has 20-month old twins and one says a LOT of words and the
other very few. But like Owen, understands everything. I think some
kids just develop later with that. Like Stacey said, I wouldn’t be
surprised if one day his speech just EXPLODES and he starts saying tons
of new words. I don’t know much about autism but Owen sounds so
affectionate and sociable – crawling into your lap and all – so I
wouldn’t suspect that.

April 7, 2006 at 9:37 am #5603

Anonymous
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My older daughter was the exact same way. Said nothing at a year, maybe a couple of words by 16 months, and then at 18 months had about 10 words, and then by 20 months went crazy talking. At 2 she was combining multiple sentences. Ped told us he was concerned at first year visit, but she is now very far ahead for speech.

April 7, 2006 at 10:00 am #5606

Anonymous
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I just wanted to add that I have a friend who has a little girl who will be two in June and she is not talking at all but will communicate in other ways to get her message across such as pointing. My friend nor her ped. are not too concerned yet since she was the same way as a child – never said a word but then all of a sudden started saying complete sentences such as “Barb go to school”. So, maybe it is hereditary. I would just keep an eye on it.

That is great about his weight!

April 7, 2006 at 10:28 am #5613

Anonymous
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my sister didn’t utter a sound until she was over 3. she is an ivy-league educated attorney and i wish she’s shut up!!!

hannah spoke a few words by the time she was owen’s age, mostly related to what she wanted to play with (car, dog, cat, mommy, etc) but really didn’t take off talking until after 18 months. she still doesn’t speak in complete sentences, though she combines words and definitely communicates, and has a “humongous” vocabulary (as in “dinosaurs are humongus…” my spelling sucks).

i think your ped is being a little bit overreactive. if he made no sound at all, i think that would be concerning. owen is just too busy listening now to talk. in a couple of months when he repeats what you say in traffic, you’ll wonder why you were ever worried.

April 7, 2006 at 10:32 am #5614

Anonymous
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Alexis is almost 2 years old and she really doesn’t talk much at all. She does say a few things which are clear such as mama, no, ut oh, more but most of her words are only understood by me since I’m home with her all the time. She understands everything and communicates through some sign language but mostly grabbing my hand and taking me to whatever she wants. She seems to be able to communicate so we are not quite concern yet, she’s just slow, the MD wants to give her more time especially with her history of bad reflux she is afraid to utilize her mouth and throat.

April 7, 2006 at 1:26 pm #5625

Anonymous
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i agree with becky about your ped being overreactive. i have worked with autistic children—–and owen does not sound that way at all. it doesn’t seem concerning in the least to me that he is only using a few words at 15 months. sylvia is 2 1/2 and she babbles on and on to us, using hand gestures. it is so funny because quite often i have no idea what she is saying. i probably hear her say “hungry” and “talking ’bout” the most often. some words she says are very understandable.

April 7, 2006 at 1:57 pm #5630

Anonymous
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Oh, gosh….you’re probably worrying over nothing. I’ve been around babies and toddlers all my life; worked as a nanny for years before having my own, and I can tell you that it is not that unusual for a 15 month old to not be saying much yet. The fact that he understands so much means he will be talking soon. Like Stacey said, it will probably come in an expolsion when you least expect it.

I just had my son at the doctor for his nine month check-up and my doctor, thinking ahead, told me not to worry if his language development is not as early as it was for my girls. She thinks boys are slower at language development.

Does Owen use a pacifier much? That sometimes will delay verbal develpment, but it doesn’t mean anything is wrong. I wouldn’t be worried at all at this point.

ndrose2006-4-7 13:57:32

April 7, 2006 at 4:33 pm #5656

Anonymous
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Thank you so much all of you!!! I knew that you would all have good experience and thoughts. I was actually just talking to my dad about it and we were laughing because I taught him some sign language to make things easier, and even though they aren’t the “real” signs, he has motions for more and yes, which really are the most important things he wants to tell us. We were laughing that I thought it was a good thing to teach him that but now he has no reason to learn how to say it with words!

I guess I know deep down that he’s “normal”. My husband and I actually met when we were both working with brain injured children, and while I know that’s something different, and we would certainly be prepared to handle whatever was thrown our way, it’s always been our fear that Owen won’t be “normal”. But I guess I’m learning as we go along that no matter what Owen’s challenges are, we’ll still love him more than we could imagine that we would.

Also, just to throw me off today Owen was waving and said “ba-ba” – I swear he was saying bye-bye. Wouldn’t that figure that he’d learn how to talk the day I panic about it???

Thanks again – I really don’t know what I’d do without you ladies.

April 7, 2006 at 6:18 pm #5671

hellbennt
Keymaster

if he shows signs of getting frustrated, Ann Marie posted here somewhere how she took pictures of things and put them on the fridge so dylan could point at what he wanted

I don’t think that just because they can point or use signs will discourage them from trying to say the words too- we used signs with jonah and he would sign and say things- he seemed to want to talk, despite knowing the sign for something…

April 7, 2006 at 8:03 pm #5680

Anonymous
Inactive

Hi there!

We did do as Laura said and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. Dylan was a VERY late talker, but it did just start to explode one day as the ladies have said.

Now that he is three, I did worry so much at 2 when he really didn’t even understand anything we were saying, but once we got the tubes and ear infections cleared up, he then had to start getting familiar with the language he hadn’t heard, and then learn how to say things. It was a long process, but it did happen!

Sounds like if Owen is understanding, you don’t have much to worry about. Sometimes they focus on motor skills or other things and they can’t focus on communication at the same time.

I wouldn’t let your pediatrician let you get too worried. Also, I saw you mentioned autism, but if he is coming to your lap to interact and read books, I don’t think you have much to worry about. I am no expert, but that is a really good social skill.

Hang in there!

Ann Marie

April 8, 2006 at 12:20 am #5695

Anonymous
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i really don’t think that he sounds particularly late, anyway.

April 8, 2006 at 8:13 am #5698

Anonymous
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Kaelyn was “late” talking as well. Compared to most of the other kids at her day care, she hardly had any words between a year and 16 months. She said da-da, uh-oh and a few other things and she knew the signs for more and eat, but she had tons of receptive language. Our ped said that the receptive language was actually more important at that stage. Based on that, Owen sounds like he’s doing great. He seems to have tons of receptive language. As others have said, in the last few months, she has gained tons of language. She says new words every day, and surprises us by remembering things that she hasn’t heard in weeks or even months. I wouldn’t worry about it.

April 8, 2006 at 11:25 am #5717

Anonymous
Inactive

Thank you all so much. Being that he is our first, I have no idea what is “late” and was just going by the doctor’s expertise. I’m sure I overreacted a bit but I’d never had his doctor tell us anything other than the fact that he was progressing at a good pace and since I don’t have anything else to go by it really scared me. So many of you have so much experience and that means more to me than anything I could have heard from him.

I really don’t know what I would do without this board! You have always been so supportive – thank you so much.
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