My daughter is not talking yet...?

Question

My girl is doing beautifully developmentally in every way except talking. She is 15 mos now and does not talk at all. She babbles all day long, but no real words, not even mama or dada. At the 15 mos check up the doc said this could be a problem or she could just not be interested in talking yet, but she'd like us to call this speech specialist that will come to our house (for free I think) just to take a look and make sure there is not a speech problem because it's good to catch these things early so they can hopefully be nipped in the bud by the time they even start school.
My question is, have you had these specialists visit your child and how did it go? We are going to call them, I just wonder what to expect (like what in the world are they going to say or do with a 15 mos old to determine a speech problem)?

We know there is not a hearing problem. We talk to her constantly, not around her, TO her. We respond as if she's carrying on a conversation with us..."**babble babble** Really, Hannah? Are you serious? **babble babble** I didn't know that. That's so funny! **babble babble** Then what happened? **babble babble**" etc etc
We name everything and phrase questions when she obviously wants something...when she's pointing to the bananas and saying *uh!* We say "What do you want?" she points and says *uh!* We say "tell me what you want" she points and says *uh!* We say "do you want a banana?" she smiles and nods her head

Oh, I forgot to mention, we do use some basic sign language (food, drink, more, up, bath, etc) and she communicates with them while going *uh!*

And to Linda...
Pull the stick out!
I'm a good mom and my husband and I are both elementary teachers. I do work with my child. I can't refuse to give her things until she says a word that she doesn't know how to say. I feel sorry for your kids!

Answer 1

It sounds like she has a simple speech delay. What your doctor was referring to was calling Early Intervention services. It is free, and they come out to your house and evaluate all areas of development for your child. We went through this with my son. Its fun for the child, since the evaluation is all play based. They'll do things like hide a crayon under a blanket and ask ehr to find it, put pegs in a pegboard, hold simple objects (like a ball) and ask her to label it, see how she goes up and down stairs, etc.... they will also ask you a lot of questions about her development.

At the end, they'll tell you if she qualifies for speech therapy services or anything else. If she does qualify, they will arrange to haev a speech therapist come out to your house (usually its once a week for an hour) to work with your child (again, all free). This can go on until she turns three, then it is turned over to the school system.

Good luck!!

Answer 2

I took my son to a free development evaluation thing once and they determined that he had a speech problem. They were very good at working with me and him because he wouldn't cooperate very well at the clinic they came to my home and did the same tests. Then we signed him up for what is called around here Early Intervention class. It was held at a local preschool that specializes in children with needs..but also had kids with out needs.
Anyway He has since gone to preschool there for two years and All his test show he is talking with in all the limits of a normal 4 year old. I think it was the best thing I ever did for him!

Answer 3

There is probably nothing to worry about. My son is 19 months and he only says about 4 words. Not all kids talk early, and as long as she doesn't have a hearing problem and she tries to communicate in other ways (such as pointing or gesturing) then I wouldn't worry. Also, if you live in a bilingual household many kids don't speak until they are well over two due to the initial confusion of sorting out two languages.

Answer 4

My 16 month old just started saying a couple of words this month. I have a much more laid back pediatrician who believes that they all develop at different ages which I thoroughly agree with. My oldest daughter was talking in sentences at this age and both of my boys spoke more that one word at this age so each one is just different. Something my ped advised me to do was to start working on signs and I kind of blew it off at first but wish I had started earlier as my daughter picked up on it so easily. If you teach your child a couple basic need signs like eat, drink, more, etc. you will really see them start trying to talk. My daughter is really starting to talk now that we taught her some signs. Some great videos are the Baby Einstein Sign Language and Signing Times. You can get them both pretty cheap and they are soooo worth it. All of my older kids have learned the signs and we all use them with the baby and she is getting so confident that she is trying to say the words all of the time now. Hope this helps!

Answer 5

I went through this with my child. I had no idea she couldn't hear me at 18 months old. It is amazing what kids react to. The first thing a speech therapist will do is test your child's hearing. It is just a little thing they put in their not painful at all. It is a starting point. We has speach therapy for two years. They came in and told us waht we could so to help her. Point to things and tell her what they are. If you hear sounds tell her what they are. If she says a word repeat it and add a few more words. Picture books are great. Kids love to look at them. Good luck to you.

Answer 6

15 months is not critical yet. Try turning off the tv and radio etc for a week or two. New studies show having something else(like the tv) "talking" constantly in the background can delay a child speaking.

Answer 7

One of our kids had a speech delay, but it really didn't manifest until he was a little older. The speech specialist he saw just wanted to hear him, and gauge his ability to communicate, verbally and non-verbally.

Your girl is probably fine, but we feel like it's better to check things out than to find out later something's wrong. Here's a website we found helpful when checking out our kids' speech progress: http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/speechandlanguage.asp#mychild

Hope that helps!

Richard
http://familyfrontiers.blogspot.com/

Answer 8

They should/would also do a hearing test. Maybe not the therapist, but your doc to rule that out first.

They may also want to see your interaction. And teach tools for mom and dad to promote speech (thats whats going on in my friends case who have their now 2 year old working with one)

Also my husbands aunt is a childrens speech therapist, who gave us books early on, which stressed contstant chatting with infants, (im the goofy one at the grocery store talking to my kid as we put apples in the cart)
and also using really really SIMPLE speech. not babytalk. but caveman like (thats out of the Dr. Karp book)

Answer 9

your child will definately need a speech therapist, who should recommend hearing test for your child before drawing up a program of therapy. we could be looking at a disorder of some sort especially if child is not making any audible sound. call them the sooner the better to get child on road to managing the probable problem.

Answer 10

my son is almost 3 and still says just a few words. at that age ur child should at least be saying 15 words if not there speech delayed