Earliest Your Kid Said Words Not Babble or Half Words

I think every child is different ..... my daughter was speaking in clear sentences at 18 months. She's smart, but not gifted or anything.. Just a super early talker.

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I have a kid with asperger syndrome who has significiant issues, but she said words at 8 months that were clear as a bell. My typical kid was shy and said much less, and I had one who was nonverbal until 3, but you would never be able to tell who was going to be a sucess in the classroom by looking at my children as babies or todlers.

It seems to me that there is a trend right now and parents are feeling pressured to accelerate their kids learning and "get a leg up" on the whole developmental process so that they give thier child a chance to be academically gifted. It just can't be done, kids develop in a very specific linear path, and while they may be able to learn something ealier than some kids, it does not help them learn anymore than they would otherwise if you waited until they were developmentally ready to learn and provide effective instruction and enrichment. Some kids are gifted, but you can't make them gifted by cramming in learning that they are not yet ready for. Some kids can't learn early, and there is not a thing wrong with that!

The marketing for these programs lead parents to think that they must accelerate their baby or they will be at a disadvantage in life. I see it in the posts about manipulating kindergarten enrolment age, and in the preschool questions about writing letters and numbers and concern about not being able to sit for more than a few minutes at circle time. Development takes a very specific path, and if you have a child who will be able to read as a baby, you won't be able to stop them from doing it, but you cannot manufacture it yourself, as much as we would like to create that gift. The only early learning technique I know of that works is sign language. When babies and toldlers have a significant gap between expressive and receptive langauge (which is typical!) they can learn to sign and communicate much earlier than they can learn to speak, which does, in many cases, accelerate the early acquisition of more receptive langauge through an increase in interaction. This is also one way to continue the typical language development in a child with a speech delay, as kids need to use languge to develop it, and if they have a hicup in speaking, they can off set that some with sign, but even with this technique, they may enjoy the acceleration, but by the end of 3rd grade, any leg up is gone, and if it is not, they were going to be gifted even if you had done no sign at all.

Like it or not, some things are out of our hands. The very best thing any parent can do for their child is to provide an enriched enviornment, read to them, let them play, start kindergarten on time, and act right away when your child misses a milestone even if you feel like you are over reacting and people say they are fine. By continuing to enrich and providing the very best education you can get them, on time, but not before, you do everything that can be done. The rest is up to them, and what they were born with.

I think that we are missing valuable shore time by getting in a dingy when the cruise ship will be ready to board in a few short years. There is so much to be learned by just playing on the beach...

M.

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I think all kids are different. My daughter, who is now 4, was saying very clear words around 13-14 months and was speaking in full, grammatically correct sentences at 17 months. My son, on the other hand, will be 2 next weekend and he is just now starting to string a few words together. He can say lots of single words now, but he doesn't speak nearly as clearly as she did at his age and he still doesn't do many sentences. I am sure that at least some of the commercials for that program are exaggerated to get parents to purchase it (part of marketing tactics), but it also is possible for kids to talk that early....my daughter did. It's just kind of rare.

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My oldest son who is now 14 spoke in complete sentences when he was 12 months old. Not long complicated sentences. His favorite thing to say was "I want to go outside". But he did everything fast, crawled at 5 months, walking at 10 months, talking at 12 months, and doing his own thing at 18 months. We lived really close to my grandma and she was in poor health and he would tell me I need to go check on Maw Rie. I would call her and she would walk out on the porch and wait for him and he would walk back to her house all by himself with both of us watching of course. I was 8 months pregnant with my second at the time. When he was done visiting she would call me and say he is on his way home and I would go out and wait for him.

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My son started babbling small words like mama and dada at 9 months and by 15 months he was saying 50 words. Now at almost 23 months he says around 200 words regularly but will repeat anything you ask him to. I never used your baby can read and maybe that does work, I don't know, but I think they learn just as much from you interacting with them.

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I don't use "Your Baby Can Read" or anything like that, but every kid is different. My daughter started saying real words about 12 mo and by 18 mo she had progressed to short sentences. The other kids at her daycare vary from only speaking babble at 18 mo to real words... really it depends on the kid and how they learn.

My 4th daughter said, "My daddy's book" plain as day at just 10 months old. I couldn't get her to repeat it and she didn't chatter up a storm for a few more months. But I have had plenty of kids with 10-15 words they could say plain at 12 months. Kids are all VERY different though. I've had some still quiet as can be at 2 years that went on to be perfectly fine, not delayed.

I haven't seen the my baby can read series. I think a person should save their money and just put baby in the lap and work through starfall.com with the baby. It's the same difference and free.

Both of my children spoke clear words very early. Well before 18 months. Our kids didn't do a lot of "babble" (in terms of not using the correct pronunciation or shortening things to a "cutesy" version of something like 'nana for banana. The closest we came with that was my daughter saying "mento" when she was asking me what was in the middle of a green olive, instead of "pimento".... she was around 15 months then).

But I wouldn't waste my money on the Your Baby Can Read stuff. I don't believe in their method of teaching anyway. Kids need to learn phonetically, not wrote memorization of sight words.
just my opinion...

All kids are different. My boys were early talkers, my oldest had first words around 9 months and they included (very clearly) clock, car, ball, etc. At a midwife appointment when he was 18 months he said (clearly enough for the midwife to understand) "listen baby heartbeat?".

My second talked just as early and even more.

But, my third is now 17 months and does not talk anything like her brothers. She says Mama, and Dada and Bye. Then there is a bunch of stuff that I can't understand and is mostly babble. She is very verbal (babble), uses lots of signs, but does not talk like the boys did.

Hope that helps.

J.

All 3 of my kids talked with a few easy words here and there around 18 months but not how we say it , like you said nana for banana and so on unless it was an easy word like no for example , my youngest is not a matter of weeks away from her 2nd birthday and she is getting much clearer and the amount of words in her vocabulary has increased , and she is putting 3 or 4 words together , normal for the age group and yes some words are still not easy to understand. I don't buy into that "baby can read" stuff , there is a reason kids can't read before and talk before certain ages , it's because their brain isn't ready to , and even watching the advert I don't believe they are reading , they just see a combination of letters and recognise it so say the right word.

hello
well, I wouldn't say outright talking by 18 mos.. but babbling... that is what babies do.. and by about age 2, I do believe they should be saying things like mamma, daddy.... goodbye... and using vowel and consonant "sounds" in their babble.. also, as I understand it, boys do take longer to speak. that said, comprehensive PRECEDES expression.. is the child understanding things when he is spoken to.. example, does he do what he is asked? now, if he doesn't, then perhaps he isn't comprehending and therefore, that might be a need for concern. however, 18 mos is still VERY young...... often, parents seem to think their child SHOULD be doing this or that by a certain age when they usually have nothing to base. 18 mos is much different than let's say.. 35 months.... if by that time the child is not speaking.. then, well there could be a dilema of sorts..
Additionally, does the child communicate in other points such as pointing, facial expressions and or making sounds .. if so, this could also mean the child is on his way to speaking...
Of course, it's always good to keep a close eye on kids.... but at 18 mos.. it might be a little early to truly tell IF there is a problem or not..
best of luck!!

Even if it does work why does your baby need to read? Just read to your baby and talk to your baby (as I'm sure you do) and they'll figure it out...:)

You should watch Season 1, episode 5 of the penn and teller: bulls***. I believe they go after "your baby can read" specifically. Not only is it an entertaining look at the lengths people will go to try to give their kids a leg up in the world, They also call "bull" on many of the "methods" that are shoved down parents' collective throats!

Kids speak when they are good and ready. My 3 year old spoke partial words/ babble until she was nearly 3. One day, like flipping a switch, she just started talking! Same thing with my 5 year old.... but she was about 2 1/2.

My daughter who is gifted didn't say many words you could understand until she was 2 yrs old. and it was like over night.

Don't buy into it. My daughter could say quite a few words by 18 mos and was even stringing them together by 20 mos. There was not much change from 20-24 mos, and BOOM around her 2nd birthday she started having conversations with us it was all so fast! I read to her every night before she goes to sleep for 30 minutes, and I always talk to her when shes near me. If I am making dinner, I tell her what I am doing and why. If I am driving somewhere I talk to her about our surroundings or where we are going. Just explaining day to day life, they have so much to learn! I always encouraged her to TALK to me to express herself, I do not answer to whining, screaming or anything that isn't speaking. When you are a childs mother, you know what they want, they don't have to say it, but its best for them to TELL you what they want, I cannot stress that enough.