The Old Nurture vs Nature - Speech Delays

Holy cow. He is a year old. What does ped expect. He babbles and you talk to him. Just keep doing that. My goodness. Please do not worry. It seems these days every child should fit the mold of 20 words by such and such an age etc. children develop and walk and talk in their own time. Some early, some late. Just enjoy him.

I would just keep talking and putting meanings to words. Does he understand even if he doesn't talk? If you say "find the ball" can he find the ball? If so, he may be processing but not verbalizing. Try offering him signs as a method of communication. I wouldn't worry over much just yet.

I agree with other posts. 1yo is way to early to start being concerned about saying words. At 18 months you tend to start thinking about it. At 2yo, you probably need to get evaluated.

I can't answer the nature vs nurture issue. Our first dd was an early talker (maybe before 1yo, but right around then), is and has always been highly verbal, has excellent pronunciation, etc. Our second dd was a very late talker and still has difficulty with pronunciation. She has also had hearing issues due to fluid in her ears and just had tubes put in. We're waiting to see if her pronunciation improves. They are totally different verbally.

Honestly, if your doctor is truly 'concerned' about this, I think he's a screw ball. My second daughter didn't say hardly anything until after she was 2, and didn't say more than a few words until she was 3. I never intervened, and she is perfectly fine (almost 6 now and doing great in school).

As far as nature vs nurture, I think it's a little of both. I have two daughters, three years apart. One did EVERYTHING early. Walked earlier, talked earlier and talked a lot, knew how to read before kindergarten even started, etc. My second daughter did and still does do everything at her OWN pace. She's slow to try something new, still very quiet and reserved. Not shy, but an introvert. Some of that is just their personality. Some of it is probably their birth order and the dynamic of their relationships with me, their father, and each other.

Either way, I think your daughter is just fine, I wouldn't be concerned about it in the least.

Way too soon to be concerned. My DS didn't say a word until he turned 3. We did all of the early detection things and no one had any answers for us. He was very, very happy & smiled all the time. And he had full comprehension of what we were saying. He could follow multiple step instructions and point out things in books. But he had nothing to say! When he turned 3 he finally started speaking and to our relief had no speech impediments or enunciation issues.

Most of the kids I look after between 12-18 months don't talk yet. Some do, but most don't.

Well when my son was 19 months old, through my local Early Childhood Intervention organization, I got my son assessed and because it is FREE.
They do an OVERALL developmental assessment.
And it is your choice, if you want their help or not.
Even once you get the evaluation.
My son was advanced in several areas, but speech delayed.
So I got him speech therapy. And he LOVED it and it was free and they came to the house. And he AND I, learned a LOT about speech dynamics... which, even a layperson would not know. And it DID help my son. A lot. He loved his sessions and his Speech Therapist. He had speech therapy until he was almost, 3 years old.
I didn't have to get referred by our Pediatrician, but I told her.

Now, sure a kid can naturally start talking. Your child is young.
Babbling is a precursor, to "talking."

Then, I know some friends who's child was not talking even when older. They chose not to get speech therapy nor get their child evaluated, even if it is free.
But now, their child still does not talk real clearly nor as well as the others in their age/grade level. One kid I know, is in the 4th grade. And his speech is still not very clear or as "mature" sounding.

It is really up to you.
But your child is only 1 year old.

My DD did not say a single word by 12 months... no concerns from my ped. they start talking when they are ready... if he doesn't by 18 months then it may be time for an assessment.
I am all for early intervention, but some people tend to go a little overboard with it. Not every child that is a late talker, walker, reader or whatever has a developmental issue. IMO we are way too keen to make sure all kids "conform" to some ideal, so they they all nicely fit into the mediocre (at best) public education system we offer... sad, really.
I'd relax about it. My DD, who said her first word at about 14 months (and was slow to acquire vocabulary) is 5 now and I somtimes wish she'd just STOP TALKING.

Good luck.

I don't think there's a way to teach it. My daughter turned 2 over Christmas and NOW the words are finally coming--it was exactly the same with my boys. The other thing, I think, is how you consider "talking". I didn't consider them words unless my child could make them intentionally--like, Mama, I want your attention, so I'm saying mama. Children babbling mamamama are not saying mama, to my thinking. I also think children often have "words" for things that are not really understandable by us--and some moms take those as words, too. Some of it may be a semantics issue. On the other hand, NONE of my three kids had more than a small handful of words at 1...by 2 1/2, they were WAY advanced...and by kindergarten they are excellent communicators but not way advanced linguistically. Anyway--for my kids, it was almost 2 1/2 before I would really consider them much of a communicator, but yeah, they were social, they made their needs quite clear to me in other ways, they understood what I was saying, and they were all (even my daughter) more focused on the physical.

Geez, now they are worried about 12 months olds?? This is so something I would NOT be concerned with now. I know my pediatrician wasn't and he is wonderful and thorough.

I don't know, I guess my advice is to wait and see. I do think some children are inherently more verbal as children, then others. I know I spoke later then all of my siblings. However, I was much more advanced then they were...in other ways.

Sounds like he is being alarmist. If he has no words by 18 months then you should really start watching him closely.

12 months is *really* early to expect much by way of words. I'm surprised your ped. even said anything.

My own son said a few words (very indistinctly) at this age, but he was on the slow side for speech until 2 1/2. Now, he's 6 and reading at a 6th-grade reading level, with a speaking vocabulary to match. He just has the classic personality type of observing before he jumps into things -- and he applied that to speaking.

I don't think there's anything you can do to "teach" a child to speak -- honestly, I think you're doing everything right and you don't have anything to worry about. But I've read that it does help to have verbal interactions with children, even if they don't verbalize back -- e.g., "Where's the doggie? Can you point at the doggie?" But really, I think what you're already doing is great.

My son said maybe 10 words before his 2nd birthday, and even those he'd say a few times and never again. My dr. (who happened to be a family friend, so I felt comfortable being frank with her) asked us to send him to early intervention at 18 months. I refused. Here is why: My son was extremely alert and understood what we were saying to him. He could point to anything we asked him to. We could ask him to retrieve a book by it's title from the shelf and he'd get it. Point being, he understood, her just didn't want to talk. Also, he was home with my husband then (home with me now) and they went to storytime and Gymboree, all that stuff. And he was NOT any different than his male peers.
Literally the day after he turn 2 he just started talking. Now, he is almost four, his language is clear as a bell, and he talks constantly to himself or anyone who will listen. Good luck!

I agree with others that 12 months seems early to be concerned. I had some concerns about my twins at various times. At the early age, my pediatrician said that as long as the comprehension is progressing then it's okay.

If you are looking for things you can do at home, here are a few suggestions.

One, is just talk all the time and describe what you are doing. It seems funny to do at times, but just hearing you talk will help. For example, "I'm going to get you some milk. First I need to open the refrigerator. Then I need to grab the milk carton. Now I'm pouring the milk into your cup. Here is your milk." The more you talk, the more exposure the child gets. I had a tough time with this because I don't talk a lot.

Another suggestion is repetition. If, for example, you are playing with a ball with your child, repeat the word ball many times. Examples,"We are playing ball. Do you like the ball? Can you roll the ball?" As your child progresses in speech, you can then expand on it. If your child says ball, you can say "yes it's a ball. It's a blue ball. The ball is round." So you start small and when your child masters that, you add in extra words to describe the object. Don't be surprised if your child doesn't say the full word at once or if it's just a partial word in the beginning. Some sounds are harder than others and take a while (even years) to master.

The third suggestion I will make is to just read books to your child. Point to the pictures and talk about them. My kids tended to like books that had some kind of rhythm and/or repetition.

And a funny speech thing happened at our 4 year check-up. I was a little concerned about one because some of his words were kind of muddy. The pediatrician had him say the words "buttercup" and "silly rabbit" because that tests certain sounds (mouth movements). He couldn't do it so she said I could get him evaluated but it's likely he would pick it up on his own in time. But then when we got home, our nanny asked him to say the words again and he did it better than his brother did. And then he says, "I have to go back to the doctor so I can say buttercup."

Sometimes we don't realize that we aren't requiring our children to talk, especially when there are older siblings that tend to speak for them. When your child wants something, require that they say the name of that item before you hand it to them. At first, you take anything that remotely sounds like the word. You don't want to frustrate them too much but you do want to create a small amount of tension for them.

Also, don't get too worried and focused on what might be "wrong." Instead educate yourself by doing a little research on speech develpment in children and get some information on how to positively support your child.

Right now awareness is probably your greatest ally. Observe whether you are talking for him, interpreting what he wants, just giving him things rather than waiting for him to communicate, reading his non-verbal language rather than waiting for the verbal piece. Create an environment that promotes and supports his using words rather than you just giving/teaching him words. Allow him to be a little parrot - show him an object, say the word, then wait for him to repeat the word. Give him praise for any sound that comes out and then repeat the word again and wait for him.

My son didn't talk much till right after his second birthday.
Then it was non stop chatter chatter chatter from morning till night.
I read to him a lot - lot's of Dr Seuss books and other stories - cardboard books, etc.

Can't speak for you son, but in our situation, we've probably got both nature and nuture working against us.
Hubs was a late talker, so that might account for the nature end). Further our DS is both slow to warm up to people, enjoys independent play, and is an active daredevil. His disposition made it difficult to do a lot of labeling, or to slow him down enough to "teach" much at all.

On the nurture end, DS our firstborn, and the only grandchild. He has a lot of doting adults meeting his every need before he needs to speak up. To further complicate things, ours is a bi-lingual, and sometimes tri-lingual household.

Early intervention was prescribed, and speech therapy has been ongoing since he was 2. He says new words daily, and the vocab is coming along nicely.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

i think its a little bit of both.. you need to incourage ghim to talk, and teach him like you have been doing, but i also think if hes not ready hes not going to do it.. and i will say that i think one year old is still early to be overly concerned about it.. i was talking to one of my aunts recently about my daughter and she told me how my cousin (who is one of 6.. hes 4th in line) didnt talk until he was a little over 2 years old. The doctor thought he had a hearing problem or some kind of delay. After seeing a specialist she was surprised to hear that he didnt talk because he didnt have to.. he would just make noise and point at things and get exactly what he wanted.. and having 3 older siblings added to it.. once they started ignoring his pointing and actually made him say what he wanted they couldnt get him to shut up lol