lack of speech/sounds

how concerned would you be about an 18 month old who doesn't have any words yet? He is very vocal and expressive and social. he points and waves but doesn't mimic words/parrot back anything. He can say dada but says it for everything. Everything is dada Except when he is cross and then it is mamamamamama

I think Happi (on TNN) once said that she had a benchmark of 18 words by 18 months! I know the Plunket book has 2-3 words by 15 months, and "knows lots of words" by 21-24 months.

Personally, I will be using the 18 words benchmark for DD3 - given DD1 is ASD.

I guess it can't hurt to get a referral, given how long it can take to see a paediatrician? If you find he doesn't fit the criteria, then you can cancel the referral.

Hope this helps

teegee wrote:I think Happi (on TNN) once said that she had a benchmark of 18 words by 18 months! I know the Plunket book has 2-3 words by 15 months, and "knows lots of words" by 21-24 months.

Personally, I will be using the 18 words benchmark for DD3 - given DD1 is ASD.

I guess it can't hurt to get a referral, given how long it can take to see a paediatrician? If you find he doesn't fit the criteria, then you can cancel the referral.

Hope this helps

we had a referral done ans got an apt right away i guess cos of Mikko. I ended up putting it off as aside from the speech delay all seems fine and I am not really sure what they would do anyway. gah maybe i should reschedule. do you think there is much they would do for an 18m old?

Maybe nothing they can do, but you can be put on the list for a SLT and EIT - I know here there are delays to get access to those. Any little bit can help And the earlier he can see the SLT, the better

Sometimes, it can help to hear it from a "professional" that all is ok

When the speech therapist came out to see us, she wasnt overly concerned by christophers couple of words by 2.5.
Though he never uttered a word (not even Mum ) will after two.

Cant hurt to check it out, though i had to wait six months for them to visit, by that stage christohper was talking...but only just. I sometimes wonder if she had of come out earlier, if we might have got an earlier diagnosis. He was at 2.5 at the very bottom of the "normal" range.

missbee wrote:When the speech therapist came out to see us, she wasnt overly concerned by christophers couple of words by 2.5.
Though he never uttered a word (not even Mum ) will after two.

Cant hurt to check it out, though i had to wait six months for them to visit, by that stage christohper was talking...but only just. I sometimes wonder if she had of come out earlier, if we might have got an earlier diagnosis. He was at 2.5 at the very bottom of the "normal" range.

It's big waits for the first kid but they move really fast for siblings. I have put off to paeds apts for Kasper as I don't think they'll do anything. I'll go to the next one which I think is November though just for peace of mind....... or not as the case may be!

Just got another letter today and Kaspi's apt is Oct 31st