How Do I Get My 15 Month Old to Speak?

C.,
It may very well be that his speech has not come as quickly as his gross motor development simply because he is so active and so focused on gross motor activities....that's pretty much how the brain works...big stuff first and then the little stuff. Sure talking doesn't seem like "little stuff" to you but often times the brain needs to get all that gross motor stuff learned and out of the way so it can focus on speech development. Your mom may have something...if you were slower to speak and on target with gross motor tasks, it is not unrealistic to believe your son may be the same way. Now, seeing a speech therapist is not a horrible thing. It is quite helpful and interesting as well as eye-opening. They can point out progress that you or others may not readily recognize. I know this as I am an occupational therapist and my son receives occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy and sees a diagnostician. He is 2 and doing awesomely!!!

My son didn't talk at all until he was almost 4. I put him in PPCD preschool at 3, there is nothing wrong with him and he is a very gifted, straight A student. (He is almost 9 now and going into 3rd grade) Don't worry about your son please!

If you want more details or to talk email me at ____@____.com

Hi there. I don't think you are doing anything wrong. If he can understand you, you have nothing to worry about. I have a friend with a 3 year old that just started talking within the last few months. Another lady i know had a son that never spoke one word until his 3rd birthday, he came ot her and said loud and clear "I'd like some cake now please!" So he might just be figuring everything out before he talks. There is nothing wrong with him. Just keep talking to him and reading. Flash cards are a good idea. But if he won't sit still, just show them to him as he runs by. lol But reading is very important. Make sure you make him sit still for at least a couple of books. Maybe before naptime or bedtime. Your doctor cannot MAKE you take him to a specialist. Your doctor does not know your son like you do. You do what YOU think he needs.
I admire that you've been with your husband for so long! I've been best friends with my husband since jr high and we married at 18. We're still Very happy and it looks like you are too. Keep up the good work, Supermom!!

i think you shouldn't worry at this point. my first daughter (now 3) didn't really start talking until about 20 months. she understood everything and she was able to point to animals and body parts when asked. i think she just didn't talk because she was never really around any other kids. maybe you could find a playgroup for him to go to that has older kids as well? also, if he won't sit still for long, have a basket full of board books and let him look at them at his own pace. sit there with him and don't try to read it, just point out objects and name them over and over, but if he turns the page, don't fight it. i have a 15 mo. old too and she doesn't sit still for long, so this is what i do with her. and even so, she only says dada, mama, dog, and bye. she jabbers alot though and i think that's more important

Hi, Cynthea..

Your more then likely right.. Your son is maybe following in your foot steps..But,so many of these answer are such great advice.. I have a 12,9,6 and my oldest hardly talked, the reason was found out when he was about 2 1/2 he needed tubes because he had so many ear infections his little tube was always clogged and the day they put him under and wheeled him into surgery for tubes was the best days of my life.. My son came out and woke up and started answering me and my ?'s.. He actually talked then we had to help him say the words correctly, because he never really heard anybody correctly from all the muffleds sounds because of the ear being so badly clogged.. Funny you would never know it now.. My point is like others I hope you just make sure his hearing has been tested if that comes out OK then the answer of not allowing him to grunt or point but rather actually making him try to ask befor he reaps the benefit of the toy or whatever he wants will help him along just fine... You seem like a great mom, and like you said if it really is just the way he is then he will be just fine in his own time...I know plenty of little ones that may not talk to others but they do talk at least to mom and dad if they are wanting something..God bless

yes, very true. i agree with the other mom on this point. it is said that albert einstein did not talk til he was 6 years old or so. he begin intelligent conversation at the same time. when asked why he had not spoken before, he replied, "i didn't have anything to say"....!!!

Hi, I see you have already gotten a lot of responses, I posted a similar question a few months ago, for my now 2 year old, he is smart and understands everything but the screaming and crying when he wanted something had me unnerved. One of the responses helped, I called any baby can, if your child has a delay of 6 months or more they will provide a speech therapist that will come to your house a few times a month, I wasn't really fond of the idea, BUT if you make under 60k a year then you qualify for free services and when I thought of it in terms of why wouldn't I want to do everything possible to help him learn, and why wait until later to start helping him then it pushed me along,the therapist offers some good tips and methods and most of it is stuff I already do but it helps keep me more consistent, since we started he has picked up a lot of words on a rapid basis and has relieved some of the aggravation for both he and I.Plus it may help you to qualify for more services in the future that could come in handy!Good luck!

My son is 2 1/2 and very smart and was just like that. It's like he just didn't have anything to say! Our pedi (we lived in San Antonio at the time) thought he should have 12 words by 18 mnths. He didn't, so we did put him in speech. We did speech for about 6 months with some progress, but not much, and then all the sudden, he took off and has made huge progress. We are usually the only ones who can understand him, but he is saying and imitating so much more than he ever did.

My point is that every child is different and will accomplish things at a different pace. Those "milestone guides" are just a generalization. Him not speaking has nothing to do with his intellagence or you talking to him or not.

If he has to go to speech, it isn't the worst thing, they teach you how to communicate with your child and how to have him communicate with you through things like sign language. This really cuts down on the frustration for everyone because you know what he wants and he isn't upset that no one understands, and believe it or not it really helps him learn to talk. They also teach you how to talk to him to help him pick things up.

You can go through Early Childhood Intervention for speech, and they are income sensitive. They bill your insurance, but if they don't pay, most of the time families don't have to pay anything for the services. Good luck and don't worry!

I wouldn't worry too much about it. But here are a few suggestions to help bring out more speech.
1)Ask him to choose between two things: "Honey, would you like milk or water?" "Graham cracker or cheese?" "Yellow spoon or green spoon?" "Thomas shirt or Bob the Builder?" etc.
2)Make a funny that you repeat often (for example, when my daughter was your son's age and would take her shoes off in the car, we'd all say "OH MAN" like when Swiper does something on Dora. After a while, she'd say "OH MAN" and we'd know without looking that she'd taken her shoes off. The same "joke" happens when she dumps stuff on the floor. She'll knock her whole tub of blocks over and we'll all say, "WHAT A MESS!" in an amazed way, and she'd start saying it)
3) Encourage him to ask for things by telling him what you want to hear. Examples: You say "Say, Cup Please." "Say, Down Please" "Say I'm Done!" etc. Tell him what you want him to say and praise him when he tries. Sometimes they just need the words in the situation/circumstance, and once you have provided those a couple of times, they can sort when to use what words and how.

You don't ever HAVE to send your son to a specialist or anyone else for that matter. Trust your gut and maybe your mom. I know a kid in College Station. His mom tried really hard to get him to talk and he just wouldn't. Then one day (He was 3 almost 4) as she walked by him and asked if he was enjoying his Cherrios he replied, somedays I do and somedays I dont.

Trust your instincts as a mom then go with that. Don't be pressured by what other kids milestones are.

i have been in your shoes. my son is now 10 yrs old.
when my son was 18 months old he didn't talk. i asked his dr about it and he said "he'll talk when he is ready." at 2 yrs he still didn't have more than about 10 words in his vocabulary. i asked the dr again and he said the same thing. so i went over his head and contacted klara's children's center in waco. they sent a speech pathologist to my house to test my son to see why he wasn't talking. all tests came back normal so they sent a speech therapist to work with him once a week or so. they taught him sign language so that he could communicate with us. unfortunately klara's only works with children until they turn three then they arrange for them to go to school. so at three my son was put into a head start program and continued seeing a speech therapist. he started talking a little more but no where near where he should have been. at 3 1/2 years old we moved to waco and he started connally isd. they took him out of the ppcd (headstart) program and put him in regular 3 yr old pre-k. when he was 4 yrs old we noticed he had started to get bad breath. i was brushing his teeth every night so i started brushing them twice a day. when it didn't improve i took him to his pediatrician. she pretty much called me a liar and told me to brush his teeth three times a day and rinse with mouthwash. so i did. it didn't improve. i kept taking him back to his pediatrician for the next 6 months about his breath. she kept saying the same thing. one day the school called. my son's breath was so bad it had made a child throw up. the nurse called and gryped at me about it and i told her to call the pediatrician because i had been dealing with it for 6 months with no help. it wasn't an hour later and the pediatrician was calling with a referal to an ear, nose, and throat dr. i took him in and they said they were going to remove his adnoids. mind you this whole time we were also having hearing tests done and he was still seeing speech therapists. he passed all his hearing tests. we did the surgery to have his adnoids removed and the dr was amazed!!! 1) there was a sticker burr in his sinus cavity that had started growing a bacteria (that caused his bad breath) and 2) my son was stone deaf in one ear. apparently the tube that connects your ear and throat was collapsed so his eardrum was collapsed. when they removed his adnoids it released the pressure on the tube and it popped open.he could hear! his speech improved within days. he has had speech therapy every year at school until we moved in december. we moved to a small town and there are only 6 kids in his class. i think he has done well enough and his speech is pretty close to the other kids that i am not going to put him back in speech. but he also has ADD. i don't know if this is from his lack of hearing. he was always a very active child who didn't have the attention span to sit and read or watch tv. he was always on the go. now i know why. he couldn't hear. from what the ENT dr said he should have had tubes put in his ears at 18months. he didn't have any more or any less ear infections than my older son. and they weren't any worse either. but apparently something was different about them

Hello C.,
My name is M. I have 5 kids, they youngest is 5. My daughter was the same way she was very smart and understood everything you said to her, the only problem was that she was not communicating with words as much as she should have been. It was suggested to me at the age of about 18mths to take her to a speech therapist and like you I didn't want to do that. So at the age of 3 her vocabulary still was only about 50 words. We spoke clearly to her, we did everything to get her to speak we even said words to her to get her to repeat what we said. So finally the Doctor suggested we take her to a Speech Therapist and at this time we decided to do this......... This was the best thing for her......she loved going to class twice a week, she loved the Therapist..... she learned soooo much........I wish I had taken her alot earlier and she would have mastered everything she learned.......she went for almost 2yrs.......during this time the Therapist was able to help me get her into the PPCD program at school, they worked with her on her speech, then this past year they started up an APPLE program which is at Brushy Creek Elementary...... they go 2 days a week for 2 hrs each day...they work on nothing but articulation...... all the kids in the class had fun.....they all enjoyed what they were learning they all have the same thing in common they range in age from about 3yrs to about 5yrs........we were still seeing the speech therapist through this. Summer had a great time she loved going to school she loved going to see her therapist (and I will tell you these people are wonderful people they are there to help you get your son or daughter up to where they need to be in speaking) they have fun. The kids learn soo much and you will see an improvement in his speech within just a few weeks......I highly urge and recommend that if you get the opportunity to take your son to a Speech Therapist it will be the best thing for him.
Think of it as a special playtime catered to him..... one on one attention...he will love it......i don't think i ever saw a kid go in there that didn't look forward to going and seeing one of the therapist. The ladies there are wonderful......they always talk with you after each session and let you know what the child accomplished. You will not regret taking him........but you may eventually regret not taking him......
My daughter could communicate with anyone any kid any adult with out using words.......now she can communicate with everyone using words........it is wonderful and we still are seeing progress.

Good Luck I know you will choose to do the right thing for your child you don't want him to be behind in his speech when he starts kindergarden so now would be the time to get him the help that he needs don't wait til its too late....I wish I would have taken my daughter when she was 18mths old......just think what she would have accomplished in that amount of time......

check out gymboree that seemed to help my daughter. Also theres a website you can go to to meet other parents Www.Meetup.com.

My daughter never had the talking problem.She is three and sometimes talks as if she was 13. But she has a friend that wont talk and he is almost three they started playing together and now he is picking up words.. Good luck

I woudn't worry too much about it.....My son was just like yours when he was that age. Hit all the motor milestones very early; walking at 9/10 mos., no bottle by 10 mos. etc...but wouldn't say anything. He was a very quiet baby, but extemely observant, he would watch everything and everyone around him, but wouldn't talk to them or answer thenm when talked to, he would just stare...sometimes he still does!!
Anyways, he is a 2 yr. old now and is talking up a storm....he says almost everything, but is still only putting a few 2 word phrases together. So Your child is on track and will be fine, he may just be an observer and not ready to let out his words. My son did not start really talking until he turned 2. It also helps to get them around different people and other children. Mine seemed to talk a bit more when I had him around others.
DOn't worry....dr's just go by what is "standard" an every child is different and will do things on his own pace...I thought my son was never gonna talk, but he sure is now! I hope this offers a little reassurance! No worries, sista!

Does he use a Pacifier? That can be a big problem. We only let our kids use them to sleep. If not he may just be a late developing his speech. I wouldn't worry too much. It seems like he's working on the physically active things first. They don't do everything at once. Their skills come in stages. Is he around other kids his age? Maybe hearing them gabber and babble would help to encourage him.

Does he have a reason to talk????

If you respond to his grunts/pointing/whining, etc. then that is how he will continue to communicate.

Has he had his hearing tested since he was born??? Does he have any allergies??? I would not wait until he's 18 months old.. .Every month at his age is like a year...

Just talking to him won't help - you need to set up situations where he is required to SAY something.. "more" and "help" are the 2 most important words he should be saying...

An Example - at a meal... give him only a small portion of his meal and drink.. when he's eaten what he has.. ask if he wants "more" and then attempt to get him to repeat "more" and if he does.. then give him MORE food/drink.. the more he gets to practice.. the quicker he will get to using more words.

Be in control of his toys/puzzles, etc. set up situations where he has to say something to get what he wants...

When you go shopping.. give him a "shopping list" and let him help you get what's on his list.. ie. diapers, bananas, etc.

Also, sing songs... like Old MacDonald and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... kids learn more through songs...

and/or have him evaluated an get more suggestions from the Speech-Language Pathologist.

I am a Speech-Language Pathologist with 12 years of experience and I have an 18 month old daughter who has a 100 word vocabulary.

Hi C.,
Does your son have any ear problems or hearing problems? If so you might have his hearing checked. My son has had ear problems since he was 3 months old and now he is 5 years old. He has had two sets of tubes. A year ago I had his speech tested and they said that they could tell that there were gaps in his learning, but over all he did't have any major problems. Since that test he had his second set of tubes and 6 months worth of fluid in his ears. He was tested by an audiologist and he has no permant damage. I did notice the was starting to loose some of his speech skills, so I began correcting the words that he said incorrectly.Ex: Daddy went to jerk, I would say oh, daddy went to work. Also a good friend of mine is a Speech Pathologist and i ask her how I could help him and she said simply read to him. I had him tested this year and he is doing great, they could not tell he had ever had anything wrong. Yes he is active because he is a boy, that's what boys do. Don't give up, he will talk, read to when you can get him to set with you.
Good luck!
K.