language skill development for babies?

Question

my 18 month old barely speaks. about a dozen sounds that we know what they mean, but mostly just pointing and grunting and getting frustrated. No multiword phrases at all. Shouldn't she be talking more by now?

Answer 1

Between 18 and 21 months, toddlers begin acquiring new words at breakneck speed, a phenomenon known as the naming explosion. "They go from learning one to two new words per week to learning as many as nine new words a day," says Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Temple University, in Philadelphia, and coauthor of How Babies Talk: The Magic and Mystery of Language in the First Three Years of Life (Dutton, 1999).

Some experts think that the naming explosion occurs once children discover that if their cup has a name and their daddy has a name, then everything else must have a name too. "Once they make that realization, they want to find out the names of everything around them, so they'll frequently ask 'Whaddat?' " says Dr. Hirsh-Pasek.

Next, children begin to form partial sentences, such as "Me eat!" At this point, they may understand simple grammar, even though they don't follow these rules in their speech.
What You Can Do
Children constantly test words and watch you for feedback to help them acquire language, so it's crucial to help your child express herself. "Many studies have shown a strong relationship between how much you talk to your kids and how fast they develop language skills," says Elizabeth Bates, Ph.D., a professor of cognitive science and psychology at the University of California San Diego. Here's how to help:


Name the things your child loves. If your toddler is playing with a truck, he'll be more likely to learn the word truck than the word for the stuffed giraffe you're waving in the distance, says Steven Reznick, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Have real conversations. "Even when my daughter was just a year old, I would ask her about her day," Dr. Bates recalls. "I would pause a little for the answer, even though I wasn't really expecting one. Month by month, she began to use words to respond to me." Speaking with, rather than at, your child boosts confidence in her speaking skills.

Ease up on the baby talk. Repeating your child's shortened names for things reinforces incorrect pronunciations. If he points to a dog and says "Da!" say, "That's right, that's a dog." As he learns to pronounce dog correctly, you can add description words, such as "That's a black dog."

Stop referring to yourself in the third person. Your child won't learn pronouns until you start using them when you speak to her. Use I instead of Mommy or Daddy. When referring to your child, use you instead of her first name.

Turn to books and games, not television. Reading books to your child and playing games such as pat-a-cake encourage interaction, which fosters conversation. On the other hand, even the best children's television shows require little verbal interaction, so limit viewing to less than one or two hours per day.

Look for the hidden meaning in the babbles. You may wonder whether your child's proclamations of "ba!" really mean "ball" or are just babble, but it doesn't matter. "Infuse these communications with meaning, even if it's not really there," says Dr. Reznick. By saying, "Yes, that's a ball!" you'll reinforce that "ba" is a sound to make for "ball" and encourage your child to keep up her efforts.

(Realone) I work with children on a daily basis and I'm educated in child development I found this info for you I hope that it helps. I feel your concern and I do recommend that you take your daughter to have a hearing screening to see if her hearing is compromised any because that will affect her speech greatly if that is the problem.

Answer 2

What's more important are her receptive language skills. Does she understand when YOU speak? Has she caught on to the give and take in a conversation? Does she do what you ask (ie. if you say "Give Mommy the book" does she do it?) If she does, just have her checked out to make sure there isn't a physical reason that she's not speaking yet. She's probably just developing at her own pace. Some babies just don't speak until late, especially if they are very physically active babies. If she's meeting a lot of her other milestones early, she may just be focusing her concentration there. I didn't speak until almost 2 1/2 years (for real...I had about six words I'd use before then, and my father wanted me tested for mental retardedness!), but when I spoke, I began speaking in complete, grammatically correct sentences. Also, the general rule is one word phrases at one year, then two-word sentences at two years, although, again, some babies will do these sooner or later than others.

Answer 3

All children develop at different rates. She should have 15-20 words in her vocabulary by now. If she has 15-20 words then you are good. How do you all comunicate with her? ALWAYS speak to her as you would anyone else. No baby talk. Use the correct word(s), speaking in complete, grammatically correct sentences. They learn to speak by imitating those they are most often exposed to. When she is pointing and grunting and you figure out what it is she wants, say the word(s) to her. (this is also a good time to incorporate manners... "Sippy cup, please." When you give it to her... "Thank you, mama" before you release it.)
If you really are concerned about her speech talk to your peditrician, but this really is a little early.

One solution that we used when communicating with our son before he could talk was to teach him sign language. Not full on conversational sign language, just the motions for necessities like milk, more, food (and please and thank you).

This is EXACTLY what we did with our son from day 1. I now have a 2.5 year old who can carry on an entire conversation. Most people think he is four because of his articulation and wonder when he starts school. Because he can communicate so well we have very few tempertantrums.

MENSA will not be knocking on our door:) I just simply figured I would speak to him the way I would like to be spoke to if he could talk. And it turned out beautifully. The sign language was not my idea. I got it from a magazine but it was the neatest thing how quickly he caught on to that.

Answer 4

I have 4 children ages ranging from 21 yrs to 2 1/2 yrs and all but my youngest were talking by 1 yr old. My youngest didn't say a word until just a few months ago now he's talking as if he had been since day one. Just give your child time he/she will talk when they are ready. If you don't hear any thing by the time he's three talk to your doctor. Until then just keep talking to him/her like normal. Goodluck and God Bless.

Answer 5

It's normal for kids not to know alot of words at this age, but at 18 months she shouldn't be grunting and making noises to communicate. Don't let her get away with just pointing. If she points at her sippy cup say "sippy" and keep saying it until she can repeat you and *then* give her what she wants. Otherwise, she's just going to keep pointing instead of communicating to get what she needs.

Read with her alot too. Reading to her can help her language skills. Singing helps alot as well. It's been said that kids learn words easier if they are singing the words instead of just saying them.

Answer 6

she is talking the baby talk and pointing cuz mom and dad finish the sentence when the baby points instead of saying it try pronouncing the word over and over and over nicely and she will speak do not interupt the baby saying what he she wants theyll point say do u want bottle instead of baba

Answer 7

all babies develop at different raits... next week she/she is gonna be talking like crazy, it just happens over night... just try talking to her more, not in baby language, but in english, she will start to get it soon.. dont worry