Is intelligence liked with early speach?

Question

My 2 year old hardly talks at all - does have very good understanding and sign language - she also waled alot later than my older rwo who both walked at 9 months and had very good speach by now. Should I worry ?

Answer 1

I wouldnt worry too much - my daughter is 2 aswell and she also hardly talks!

I took her for her development check and asked the health visitor and she said not to worry as at their age anything between 18 words and 100+ is perfectly normal, so i hope this puts your mind at rest!

My daughter also has very good understanding and you can tell she's very clever which sounds like your child and she said this is a really good sign as some children understand everything like ours but cant say much but sometimes theres some who can talk ALOT but don't really understand what theyre saying.

She told me if i was worried that she hadnt improved in a few months then i could always get her speech checked by a therapist (go through your health visitor) if she needs some extra help. Maybe you could try this if your concerned?

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

I don't think you need to worry - children acquire language by listening and repeating before they do anything else - it could be that your daughter is just taking more time with the listening stage.
My nephew was the same, he hardly said a word at that age, but when he reached 3 he just began speaking with surprisingly sophisticated language. Now he is 4 it is clear that he is a child of pretty high ability, so perhaps the same will happen for your daughter.

Answer 3

Hi. I'm not a professional or anything so this may not be right! But I'm studying Psychology A Level and looking at how children develop. All I could really say is that all children develop differently and at different ages so this is probably quite normal. One possibility is that your 2 year old could be tongue-tied. This website may help.

http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/not_talk.html

Hope this was helpful.

Answer 4

When my son was born an under grad doctor was doing a research paper into this topic, I'm sure you could find research papers on the internet if you Googled the topic - but you would have to spell it correctly :-P
From my understanding there was no link, but it is probably better to go straight to the research findings rather than rely on my memory. Good luck!

Answer 5

Don't worry. I know a young English lady who didn't speak a word - not one single word - until she was three.

She's now a language graduate and teaching English to Japanese students in Tokyo. There is no relationship between speech development and intelligence.

Answer 6

Nope. Everyone walks and talks at different stages. Please don't spend the rest of you life comparing her to her older siblings...that's not good!
Also, children who have older siblings often don't need to walk and talk for their brothers and sisters are able to interpret what the little one wants sooner than any one else, and are able to help out.
Do not worry about it, speak to your health visitor who will be able to ease your concerns.
And remember, Einstein didn't talk until he was three (and even then, he only spoke German!)

Answer 7

Sam P could be right. My dad was tongue tied and everyone thought there was something wrong because he hardly talked when he was that age or just gabbled mumbo jumbo. My grandparents took him to a doctor and who promptly corrected it. Dad says apparently no one has been able to shut him up since that day! lol

Answer 8

If she has 2 older siblings she probably does not have reason to talk. Older ones tend to take care of what the younger ones want and this is probably what they are doing. Not to wory...she will talk when she needs to.

Answer 9

Perhaps the baby is too busy checking spelling errors try the word speech for example.
Everyone is different and everyone learns at different speeds. I wouldn't be too worried myself but if you are, seek expert advice.

Answer 10

No don't worry, remember that everyone develops at different stages