Do you expect a 15 month old child to try and communicate?

sunnyone

meritaten wrote: »

sunnyone - dont argue with your daughter - just bite your tongue. she may be following advice from the health visitor.
you can help by just carrying on as you are - if he points and grunts then just name the item and asking if thats what he wants. and applaud every word he says!!!!
my grandson 2 speaks sentences I can understand - my granddaughter just two months younger has only a few words. they are both bright kids but are just at different stages.

We havnt even come close to argueing but Im concerned and thats why I posted here, my daughter needs me and so does my grandson and I love them both to bits.

Im only 41 and learning just as much as my daughter is, no one teaches grandparent skills!

mumslave

sunnyone wrote: »

Thank you for your replies, I am differing with my daughter but not arguing and thats why I asked for advice here to see what other peoples views are.

I talk to my grandson all the time and he understands most things, what I disagree mostly with my daugher is that she likes the pointing rather than interacting with him sometimes because its easier, hes a good boy that I never raise my voice too but Im nan and not the face thats there 24 hours a day and that makes a big diffrence to how he behaves, my daughter is the one who wakes him up, bathes him, feed him, changes him etc. 24/7 and makes all the rules for him to rebel against were as nans the nice one who plays with him etc.

This is my first grandchild and I have him a couple of days/nights a week alongwith the time Im with them both and Im still feeling my way and I asked here rather than persue the subject with my daughter to a point that we might argue, we have talked about it and both given our views and that as far as things have gone.

My daughter is 21 and a single parent, she needs my help and support and I would rather raise general points here than make her life harder by argueing with her, I thought that posting this thread would reassure me that everythings ok with my grandson and it has done that and given me somemore ideas of interacting with my grandson.

You sound like a very loving mum and grandmother. All i can add is try to remember how it was with you, when you were a first time mum, with no real idea of whats right and wrong...because there isnt any as such. Your grandsons relationship with you will be totally different to what it is with his mum. Perhaps you will find in time, he will communicate well with you, in the way you like, and with his mum in the way they like. Either way, he will get there, when he is ready

Sublime_2

Don't worry, my daughter was chatting away at 14 months, but my sons only just started to put words together at 2, although he's good at other things.

Its still early days, and if he is making noises, and pointing at things, that is the first step. You could always speak to him, while he's doing it, as has been suggested. He sounds like he's coming on fine.

jellyhead

As everyone else has said, the points and grunts are communication. Continue repeating the names of the things he points to, so he hears their names, but it's not a problem if he doesn't talk at this age.

I like jojo's idea of the funny noises - animal noises are popular with 1 year olds

What's he like when he reads a book? You may find he can point to lots of things and name them, make the animal noises etc.

My son didn't talk for communication but he loved the usborne/dorling etc. books that have collections of items on a page, like a page of animals with 4 legs, a page of baby animals with their parent etc.

My eldest was a late talker and had special needs, so when youngest didn't seem keen on speech I started baby signing classes, to minimise frustration if he still wasn't talking at 2-3. We had lovely conversations in sign language (they teach makaton rather than BSL, like mister tumble on cbeebies). It's great for when they can't point at what they want, such as a request for food or drink when you're at a bus stop with no food or drink for them to point to.

My mother in law told me that the signing was stopping him talking, because there was no need to talk if he could sign, but that's not the case as any expert will tell you. Babies who sign have usually dropped all signs before the age of 2 and speak as well as non-signing children. Mine still signed after 2 because he wasn't ready for speech.

jellyhead

this 'look and say' book series is fab, I can't recommend it enough http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0746058691/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=079450213X&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=1TC6PNG3GNWAJK7PXCSG

rachelhen

Its about looking at the wide variation and individuality.
\i have 3 children who varied greatly in the stages they reached at particular ages, They are alll now intheir twenties intelligent and with good values and working at valued jobs. One was phenomenal walking at 9 months but without the sense of a 12month old and another mastered numbers astonsihingly and loved what she could do with them, the other had an instinct for how things worked...but I havent got grandchildren yet...then I will be thinking...maybe they should be doing this or that and so then remind myself of balance...

jellyhead

Sorry, just to add - speech might be later than when you were a mum because according to my health visitor late weaning means babies don't get enough practise at using their muscles.

You're not supposed to give them any babyfood until 6 months nowadays.

sunnyone

He loves his books and we had new 6 winnie the pooh books to read this week, he loves some toddler software too and we have a toddler big colourful mouse thing that he can use to interact with the softwear Ive bought but Im weary of using it incase its intefering with his development and hes not happy that I wouldnt let him use the computor the other day.

Does anyone else use toddler interactive softwear?

melb

don't worry about his development - just carry on enjoying him and he doesn't need anything more than you and his mum loving him feeding him and looking after him. I don't even know what interactive softwear is I was an older mum and we mainly went to the swings when it was dry and the library when it wasn't as well as shopping trips and other mundane everyday things. My kids are 14 and 10 now so we're not talking that long ago but things just seem so competitive now with babies being taught to "sign" at a few months old etc - what's that all about? they either need food water a cuddle sleep or a nappy change - it can't be that difficult to work out why if they're unhappy~!

Sublime_2

sunnyone wrote: »

He loves his books and we had new 6 winnie the pooh books to read this week, he loves some toddler software too and we have a toddler big colourful mouse thing that he can use to interact with the softwear Ive bought but Im weary of using it incase its intefering with his development and hes not happy that I wouldnt let him use the computor the other day.

Does anyone else use toddler interactive softwear?

I've got one of those leapfrog clickstart computers, which my sons had a go on, even though he's a bit young.

I do sometimes sit him on my lap and look at the Cbeebies site with him, and he loves sitting at my computer, clicking the mouse, and pressing buttons, when my back is turned.