Do you ever question whether your toddler is on track with development? When my son was 18 months old he had no true words. Despite me reading to him several times a day, he barely said mama and most of the time it came out as 'ma'. He called all objects 'ma' or 'ba'. When we had his 18month check up at the doctor, she stated that usually at 18 months if a child is not speaking any words, she recommends a hearing test. I knew my son didn't need a hearing test. He could comprehend everything that we said. I would talk about taking the dog for a walk and he would go grab the dog's leash. I would say "where are my keys?" or "where are your shoes?" and he would quickly go on a mission to find them. Wouldn't you know, he always knew exactly where my keys were! So, obviously he didn't have a hearing problem. We decided to see how things went over the next few months and at 21 months he had several words that he said. Not many, but a few. He attempted to make animal sounds and while they weren't perfect (or in some cases even the right sound), they were the same sound every time. I was still questioning if he was delayed in his speech development. I was comforted by the fact that a couple friends with kids my son's age said that their kids were at a similar speech level.
My son will be 24 months [2 years- Wow!] on Sunday and his speech abilities have rocketed since that 21 month mark. In fact, as I am writing this it is hard to believe that we had that concern just three months ago. Slowly he began saying more words and correcting the animal sounds to more correct sounds. Now he is repeating many of the words that we say throughout the day. I make a huge deal out of every new word that he says and then we continuously practice the word.
He is not stating phrases yet, but he is able to verbally communicate his needs and desires instead of whining and grunting! Recently we have been doing some pre-school type activities each day. We have a letter of the day type of learning happening and it is amazing. He is really taking to it well. In addition, I have been letting him watch "Super Why" which he loves! When the letters show up on the screen he says them out loud. I am shocked at how many letters he knows. It won't be long before he is speaking more than I want him too! - Are we there yet? I don't wan't to! NO!
Oh well, I love that he is learning. I love that he is speaking. I love that he is growing. He is so much fun!
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