17 month old son.

JemmaM91

Hi,

I'm unsure whether to be worried or not but my 17mo DS can't talk, and doesn't appear to understand what I say.

The reason I ask is that a friend has a little girl who is 14/15 months can say what seems like loads, and she appears to understand simple things.

A few others have also said he's slow with his talking.

Would you be worried at this stage? I wasn't until people commented on it and now it's got me thinking.

Thanks

GoldenShadow

I struggled with my speech when I was little and had to see a speech therapist for a while. I don't have kids so can't comment from the parental aspect, but there is help available in terms of speech therapy and I'm sure if you were to see a health professional and they feel your son could do with some help they would happily refer you. Need of speech therapy is actually more common than a lot of people would think, helped me an awful lot

Nicki

It is worth having him checked by the Health Visitor in the first instance. Not speaking at 17 months isn't particularly of concern, but not appearing to understand simple speech is more so. He may have a degree of hearing loss, which hasn't been picked up yet, for example.

Not worth getting overly worried at this stage, but definitely worth starting the ball rolling to have him checked out.

Gillyx

I'd agree with Nicki. My Boy was born the day before yours and his speech isn't great, he can say maybe 10-12 words of his own accord and will sometimes repeat what you say, but that's it. No sentences or anything of the like. He does seem to understand most things that we say (not that he listens mind )

It'd be worth while to get his hearing checked, just to make sure there isn't an issue there. xx

ilovelondontown

It could be a number of things, or it could be nothing.

First thing that came to mind was hearing- Does it appear that your DS can hear what you are saying? Can he hear the TV? A door bell going? Car alarm? A good way to check their hearing is to cover your mouth with your hand and ask him questions that would normally get a reaction (Do you want to go to bed?) if after having a little look into this and you don't get a reaction I'd take him to the audiologist.

The other thing that sprang to mind is that that there might be a problem with his tongue. Sometimes there is a tiny bit of extra skin that grows under the tongue and it makes it hard to speak and communicate.

Or he could just be developing at his own pace and will catch up when he's good and ready.

Just some thoughts.

FBaby

Both my children hardly said more than 20 words by the time they were two, and even when they did start talking, no-one could understand a word of what they say until they were about 3-4. Both are now considered gifted and talented (10 and 13) and I can't keep them quiet!

FBaby

Ps: I do agree about their hearing being checked. My son suffered from countless colds from the age of 12 to 24 months and that probably didn't help. He was followed closely, but was never bad enough two appointments in a row to warrant grommets.

JemmaM91

Thanks for you replies
I'm not sure about hearing problems as he loves pressing buttons on toys that make a lot of noise! Haha. There is literally only one phrase he understands and that is 'hold mummy's hand'. He doesn't respond to his name, and is uninterested in talking at all. Except for the words 'wodgawodgawodga' and 'watsat' I suppose he is just going at his own pace. I will book a doctors appointment just in case (mainly to reassure me).

Thanks a lot

BitterAndTwisted

Lots of kids don't talk at that age. Mainly because they don't have to, most especially if they just have to point at something and everyone else in the family goes running to get whatever it is they want.

I knew a little boy who didn't do anything but make "ah" or grunting noises until he was nearly three. Once he decided to start talking we couldn't shut him up.

Daxx

My best friends little boy was the same. At 2 he was hardly talking, however my mum who is a speech therapist said not to be concerned and it would be rare to get a referral to a SLT until he was at least 2 1/2. So until that point not to worry. That was a few years ago now though but cant imagine her perception to have changed.

Dark_Star

Boys develop slower than girls.

Parents of kids that can do XYZ love to show off especially if yours can't do whatever little Amelia-Constance-showoff-her-drawers can do.

Ignore the lot of 'em.

Enjoy the silence 'cos it won't last & they don't have an off button or the option to remove batteries.. :rotfl: