How many words?

DS is 14 months old today. He only says one word consistently, and really only when we say it first (Bye bye). He sometimes says Mama or Dada but not consistently. I am starting to worry a bit. I read that other kids this age have 30+ words and he is nowhere near this. He chatters a lot and we try to point at things and say the names. His little friend is 2 weeks older than him and he also only says one word.

DS understands some commands (come here, go to daddy, push the button, etc) but can't say any of the words. I am also teaching him another language and I read that might be a reason for delay.

How many words does your little one say?

My son has one word that he says spontaneously. He also imitates the intonation in my voice on a couple of phrases I say often, but only after I speak. We're still waiting on consonants from my daughter.

Right now the only word Claire has that others would understand is Thank-you and even that is still very toddlerease. She says all done but its ah da and not something I would recognize except she does the sign with it. She says dada but not just meaning daddy. She said duck twice a couple weeks ago but won't repeat it. I think she tries to say dog but its been over a week since I heard her even try that too. She said mama for like a week and we thought it was her first word but I haven't heard it in months. I haven't asked the doctor yet because she does sign a few things and she babbles a lot. I think I will next appt though just to be sure.

I'm not really counting anything DS says verbally yet. He says "mamama..." but only when he is upset and I'm nearby. He kind of makes a 2 syllable word when he sees our cat so he may be trying to say kitty, but the way he says it isn't clear or consistent enough for me determine. He signs "all done". He was starting to sign "cookie" one day. While this was exciting I was also thinking great now he is going to keep asking for cookies everyday. However it was short lived, now he just recognizes when we say or sign it. He understands and responds to a lot more of what we say and sign to him. Like this morning when I was in the kitchen and he was playing in an adjoined room around the corner, we couldn't see each other but when I said "Here is your milk" he came tearing around the corner making his impatient whiney noises (seriously kid, like I would just announce the presence of milk but wouldn't give you any :p). He babbles up a storm and seems to interact with us appropriately so I'm not too concerned at this time.

ETA: We do a game where we mimic syllables/sounds the other is saying, but this doesn't seem to carry over when I try to get him to repeat a word from an object or picture.

Evelyn has A LOT of words. She started signing around 9 months and she has just rapidly picked up a lot of language. However, I wouldn't worry too much about your little ones. Children this age develop different skills at different times and tend to focus on one particular area of development until it is mastered. Becky, I think I remember Claire walking and climbing really early, right?

I work for an infant/toddler program and the curriculum that we use states "Most infants move from babbling to first words between 10 and 15 months. Words are added to the expressive vocabulary quite slowly."

There has also been a lot of research showing that baby sign helps to develop expressive language at a faster rate. So, if you have the inclination, I would highly suggest trying it. :)

Also, dual language learners are at a cognitive advantage! Here is an interesting article. http://main.zerotothree.org/site/Doc...-1_Genesee.pdf

Hope this helps to ease your concerns and if not, check with your doctor at your next visit. :)

Harper says 6 words consistently...mama, dada, ball, yeah, thank you, pancakes (go figure). Just in the last month or so she started babbling like crazy. I asked the speech pathologist at my school about how many words she should have and she said typically they should be saying 20 words by 18 months. To me that seems like a lot, but I bet she will surprise me.

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Originally Posted by katiek68

Harper says 6 words consistently...mama, dada, ball, yeah, thank you, pancakes (go figure). Just in the last month or so she started babbling like crazy. I asked the speech pathologist at my school about how many words she should have and she said typically they should be saying 20 words by 18 months. To me that seems like a lot, but I bet she will surprise me.

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20 words in four months! We better get cracking :)

DS just said "mama" yesterday and this morning to me for the first times that it seemed obvious he was directing it towards me. After a couple of weeks of "daddy" this was music to my ears :) Granted he does tend to say it when he is distressed and wants my attention. Like this morning I was making pancakes and I guess I wasn't making them fast enough and he was hungry so it was more of a "mmaaa mmaaa!"...but I'll take what I can get :) He also seems to be saying "bye" now when he waves.

He is still signing a bit to us, mostly during meal times to let us know if he wants "more" (though sometimes he justs points if he sees what he wants nearby) or, his favorite, if he wants a bunny or alphabet "cookie" after dinner or when he is "all done". Sort of signs "milk" and "shoes". And I recently noticed that he is signing "baby" along to the Baby Signing Time theme song (I think someone mentioned on another thread that her kid signed this when she wanted to watch the dvd :)) He seems to understand more signs from us so I'm hopeful he will learn to sign more over time.

Anyway, just wanted to add a little update of something and hope others will share too. I really don't want our board to die out like some of the others have recently.

Cool! The signing seems to be so helpful in stopping frustrations. My son loves saying "bye byeee" when he waves, too! That's his most recognizable word. He also has wuh (water), ma, pa, bah (ball), cackwa (cracker), and ooo (cow's moo). My daughter started babbling for real all of a sudden and hopefully could be getting close to a first word. Early intervention says she's doesn't have the cognition yet to start speech therapy now though, so that's a bummer.

Sheila, just keep talking and singing with your kids. You are their best teacher!!!