18 Month old daughter only says about 7 words Dr. says she should be at 15-20?

Question

She was adopted from China we recieved her when she was 9 months old Does anyone think she needs help or wait couple more months

Answer 1

You are talking about an adjustment even at her age. After all the first few months all she heard was Chinese now she had to adjust to a strange language. Give it some more time. The doctors don't know everything, they have these guidelines to go by but every child is different and works at they own pace. So give it time. Congratulations on the new addition.

Answer 2

She's still a baby... give her time.
Children develop at different rates. It may be that she just doesn't "want" to talk.
I worked for a doctor that had a 26 month old that refused to speak sentences, yet he could call out every letter in the alphabet on site.
If you want to do something to try to speed her along I would definitely suggest reading to her every single day... she'll eventually remember the story and try to "read" it back to you.
And talk to her as if she was an adult... as your washing the dishes tell her what you did that day, how to bake bread or even the weather...
Of course she won't understand what you're saying half the times but she'll learn not only vocabulary, but also sentence structure.
Also do not talk to her in high pitched baby tones or made up words. While it may sound cute to adults it makes it harder for the child to learn.
The fact that she was in China for almost her whole first year of life Im sure that had an effect.
Babies learn to talk by listening first and recognize their names as early as 3/4 months. Im sure you've heard 6 and 7 month olds babling mama and dada... so the fact that your daughter missed out on 9 months of English might be playing a part.
I would be more concerned if she wasn't responding to you when you spoke or called her... cus then maybe it was a hearing issue.
But the bottom line is that every child is different.
Good Luck

Answer 3

She just might be a little behind since she spent the first 9 months of her life listening to an entirely different language. Even though she was too young to talk then, she was probably already building associations with certian words and their meaning. Then when she changed countries, those noises (words) that she associated with a particular thing completely changed to something else. So that might have something to do with it.
Also, kids do develop at different rates, many times, if a child is slow at talking, it's because they're busy doing physical stuff (learning to walk, etc.) and they'll get back to vocabulary skills later.

Good luck, it takes a special couple to adopt an unwanted child from overseas! :D

Answer 4

First, ignore the critical people on here who clearly don't have kids.

Second, stop stressing. Kids who come from a country with another language sometime have delays.

The thing to be focused on right now is this: how is her receptive language? Can she understand what you say to her? Can she follow a simple direction ("Pick up the red ball") and things like that.

My daughter had an expressive language delay (expressive refers to speaking, receptive refers to understanding) which was diagnosed when she was 2. She had 9 months of speach/language therapy and did great. If you are really still concerned once she turns 2, you should call your local school system and see if they have intervention programs. That's what we did. It was FREE and the speach therapist came to our house weekly for an entire school year.

It totally did the trick. We also got the Baby Bumblebee videos which help kids with speach delays build vocabulary.

But don't worry. Even if she has a delay now, she will catch up. Good luck!

Answer 5

Your little girl is just fine. Sometimes the little ones don't talk until they are even older then 15-20 months old. The Doctors don't know everything. Sound like your little girl is gonna be a quiet one. Our little girl did lot of thinking and analizing, but she was quiet. She was three and spoke seldom. Well now she is a grown woman and talks and laughs all the time. Being your little girl was adopted from China, she probably takes after her culture as most Chinese are quiet. Don't worry , be happy, she'll be OK.

Answer 6

I'm not sure, but I would wait a little. Try talking to her about anything and everything. Color with her and talk about the picture, the color of the crayons. Watch television with her and talk about the characters (little things she'll understand, of course). Cook dinner and talk about the veggies and different descriptions of what you're doing. Try not to baby talk. Speak to her in normal tones and no cutesy words. Read some childrens books together.

I'm not an expert, not even a mother, but I would think that children pick up their speech and words by the things we say to them. My niece copies off of us all the time - she's two - and I think her vocabulary is pretty good.

That's just a guess. Maybe there could be a better way to handle it. Sorrry I couldn't help more.

Answer 7

I would wait a couple of more months before you start thinking that she may have a mental disability. She is trying to process a lot of things in her life. I mean, really, for 9 months, she was in China and learning Chinease; now she is in another country learning a whole different language. Yes, kids that age absorbs information like a sponge. But, just wait; maybe she is not really saying anything because she really has nothing to say.

Answer 8

I know a few kids who were adopted from China when they were around that age and they had the same problem. It's going to take her awhile because for the first 9 months of her life she only heard Chinese and now she's trying to get used to English. The people I know who adopted from China had to get a teacher to come in and work with her because she had the same problem. I would look into a speech therapist for her if I were you. Good luck and God bless.

Answer 9

Children develop at different levels. Some talk earlier some walk a lot earlier. It bears no reflection on their intelligence or emotional or intellectual development.

She might need a little more resassurance than most toddler as it must have been traumatic for her to have made the move from China at just 9 months old. Also who knows what she had to endure emotionally prior to that if for whatever reason her parents were unable to care for her and had to give her up for adoption.

So lots of love and cuddles and encouragement are what she need. All kids really need is the assurance that they are loved and given the will to suceed n life.

Before you know it you won't be able to shut her up, she will be asking so many questions you will have to resort to looking up Wikepedia on a daily basis. That the lovely think about kids. we learn so much from them. Good luck. Just enjoy having her in your life, she will enrich it in many ways.

Answer 10

Don't be worried. But READ to her -- a lot. And talk to her --don't let anyone use "baby talk" with her anymore. And when she wants something, even though you understand her signs and grunts, try to encourage her to say the correct word before giving her what she wants. She'll catch on. Remember that she's 9 months behind an "average" child in experience of hearing English spoken.