Language Question

[Anonymous]

I have posted this question before, but Jackson was only 5 months at the time. He is now 8.5 months and still no true babbling (i.e., no bababababa or mamamama, or dadadada). He does say ba or da sometimes and he has been “blowing bubbles” and making sounds with his lips. He has never been good at back and forth communication. If I talk to him, he does not regularly talk back.

That being said, he makes eye contact, laughs like crazy at silly things, and is attentive when spoken to (most of the time). He enjoys affection and makes sounds- just not always in response to mine.

His newborn hearing test was good, but he did have fluid in his ears for about 5 or 6 weeks in the winter. He has also been somewhat congested for about a week.

Should I worry about anything? Did any of your kids babble late? When is it considered an official speech delay? I have always felt like his speech was slow. When his ears had fluid, he would go WEEKS without a peep. It has always concerned me. Last time we checked, though, his ears were clear of fluid and I just thought that by now, he would be babbling. He has not had fluid (that I know of) since he was around 5.5 months old.

[Anonymous]

Landen was a late babbler and now at 14 mos, he still only says about 4-5 words, well one of them is a small phrase. he says “Don’t touch it” and shakes his finger at us (like we do to him when he touches something he shouldnt-lol). I am not stressing too much about his language, bc he clearly is on target with everything else. Landen might just be a late talker. Jackson really does sound like he’s on target with everything else. If he seems interested in what you are saying, just talk his ear off, even if it sounds silly to you. Ex: “mommy is changing your crib sheets, Jackson and we are going to make your bed again” “mommy is going to read this book to you Jackson” talk him through every little thing you can, he is listening and eventually will start exploding with babbling and words. He might just need some more time. I am no pedi or medical person, but that is just my .02. jilly782008-05-12 21:18:28

[Anonymous]

He is on track with everything else. He crawled at 6 months, cruised at 6.5 months, can crawl up stairs and stands without support. No walking yet- thank goodness! He is VERY active and has always been physically advanced. He loves when I play peekaboo with him and laughs at silly facial expressions. I feel like he is social. He loves when I kiss him on the neck and act like I am “eating his feet.” He has just never been a communicator. I was worried about autism for a while, but I just do not think that all of the other social things that I just wrote about would be intact. Then, I was worried about hearing. My husband just thinks I am crazy, but I know that most babies are babbling by this age. When did your son start babbling?
klmccart2008-05-12 21:40:51

[Anonymous]

I remember it being after 9mos (maybe b/t 9 & 10) before he started babbling mamama dadada, bababa. I recall this b/c Landen was an early cruiser and early walker and I remember telling people “he walks, but doesn’t talk yet” and he was walking at 9 mos. Then shortly after that, he started babbling. Now he is slowly picking up words. He actually shapes his lips like he wants to say things but just can’t sound it out yet.

I bet he’ll start babbling now that you’ve come out and said something about it! LOL. Your little man sounds perfect to me!

[Anonymous]

sometimes young children will stop working on one thing when they are working on another—-language will slow down when they are working on physical skills, or physical skills will slow down when they are working on language.

i have two boys who were both late talkers—-they didn’t really talk until they were 3 years old. one of them we thought was autistic and he went to a developmental preschool for 2 years and then a private preschool before he went to kindergarten. he had speech, but no language—if that makes any sence. he would babble on and on in his own private language with all the intonations of speech—but no words. he had echolalia and sometimes you could not talk to him unless he initiated it. he eventually came out of whatever was going on with him and he is graduating from high school next week. we weren’t sure there for awhile that he was going to graduate.

the other late talker of mine had language, but no speech. he could communicate to us what he wanted, he just didn’t use words. he actually made up some of his own sign language to let us know what he wanted. he is 10 yrs old now and is brilliant and a real little sweetheart. he is so good and patient with sylvia. (he has to share a room with her for now and she always gets in bed with him in his single bed.)

[Anonymous]

I was going to say what Christine said about focusing on one thing and ignoring somewhat another. Cooper does this somewhat but only for short periods ( I am convinced we will have an ADD diagnosis before he is 5) b/c he doesn’t focus well for long periods unless it is something he shouldn’t be doing. I remember he started cruising at like 7.5 months but didn’t walk until right at 11months,but his speech shot up during that time. It was like he forgot about walking and wanted to focus on making noise. My mom said I was the same way (a constant talker). So it could be hereditary as well. Some little ones are just quite. I have a friend whose son is almost 2 and she told me Cooper talks more than her son (she didn’t seem worried, just said he was a late talker). So I wouldn’t be worried.

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