I have a mild amount of concern about my late-talker toddler: something between strong awareness and greatly worried. She’s just not talking in the same way she’s learned other skills. She’s good at identifying many things, she is pretty good at communicating her desires by pointing, making sounds, giving me looks… She’s very adept at getting worked up while pointing like I’m a complete idiot who doesn’t understand what she wants. I have told her that she should probably just SAY something instead of pointing harder, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference.
But still, the word count remains low. If I’m generous, she says about 7 words. She hasn’t added any new words in over a month. What is more alarming, she doesn’t make a lot of sounds anymore either. I haven’t heard her say “c” or “k” clearly, in awhile. Or “g” now that I think about it. She used to say “g” all the time. I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard “s” or “w” or “l.”
On one hand, everything I’ve read says that it’s still too early to really panic about a late talker. On the other hand, I keep seeing things that suggest that kids should have at least 20 words in their vocabulary by now or else they should see a speech therapist.
Conveniently, my mom is a speech therapist. She remains unworried. Should I be worried that she’s not worried? Probably!
I have tried to get a little pushy, lately, and I can get her to make an “n” sound if she really wants to nurse. And she’s happy to point out any and all dogs when she sees them by saying “da.” But she also says “da” for “that” and “dad” so…
Anyway, I’ll keep you posted if there are any remarkable changes. In the meantime, I’ll just be working on my “concerned” face.
