Help--Very Little Speech at 17 Months

DS says two words pretty definitely, possibly one other, though I haven't heard him use it lately. He is 17 months old. He understands a lot of what we say and can point to pictures of objects in books if we say the names. He can also communicate in some form through gestures, makes eye contact, and can follow simple commands. But I am getting worried that he may have a speech problem.

I figured I would talk to his doctor about the possibility of EI services if there is no improvement next month when he goes for his 18 month visit. But in the meantime, does anyone have tips to share about encouraging speech?

We read tons of books to him every day--I really don't know how many. He loves them and will hand book after book to us. We ask him questions and wait for a response, but usually there is none, not even a babble. We enunciate words and try to use some simple ones repetitively during the day.

Are there other things we could be doing or did anyone else have this problem and find your child just picked up lots of words suddenly?

Message edited 5/3/2009 5:54:59 PM.

Re: Help--Very Little Speech at 17 Months

How many consonants does he have? By 18 months they are supposed to have at least 5 consonants. Jack really only had one consistent one (Da)


If by 18 months you don't see an improvement call EI. They really work wonders!

Re: Help--Very Little Speech at 17 Months

Logan didn't say a whole lot until around 19 months.

At 23 months I wish he would stop yelling "WANT TO GO OUTSIDE MAMA" over and over at the top of his lungs.

Re: Help--Very Little Speech at 17 Months

i'm a speech therapist who worked in EI for a little while. at 17 months, hes still young, and i bet in the next few months you'll see a big word explosion in him! especially if he is able to follow some simple directions, that shows he understands a lot, which is the first step.
talking to him all day is good, things like while you're getting him dressed say "sock on" or "blue shirt", things like that so he can hear the words for things.
BUT something a lot of people don't do is create oppurtunities for kids to use words. for example, give him only a couple bites of a food you know he likes. when he starts to fuss or grab for more say "more??" and wait for him to immitate the word. you can also do this like while you're pushing him on the swing- if hes having fun, all the sudden stop him and ask "more??" eventually, he'll start using the word "more" because he'll realize it gets him something. Same thing with the word "help".... give him a toy or snack in a container he can't open.. when he hands it back to you, say "help?".... and eventually he'll start immitating that, too. those are good ones to start with because it shows them that "hey! this talking thing actually gets me something!!" so its very motivating for them.
also, giving them choices- if you know he wants a drink, don't just hand him one, ask him "milk or juice?" and see if he'll try to immitate one of the words...
it sounds like he'll be fine, though and i bet in the next few months you'll see him using a lot more words!

Re: Help--Very Little Speech at 17 Months

EI is really the way to go and I wouldn't hesitate to call them even if your ped says to wait.

I didn't really have an issue with speech but one thing I used to do is always ask an either or question. "Juice or Milk?"; "Apple or Orange?"; "Pants or sweats?"

This will also help with tantrums (which usually start at 18 months) because a big part of the terrible 2s is they have a hard time communicating & their desire to have control.

When we would read books with pictures for example "How do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?", we started out with "Where is the hat?" and the kids would point to the hat. Then later, I would say "What is this?" and they would say "Ball." or "Hat."

HTH. I am a huge proponent of EI - it's a win-win situation. You either get your child the help they may need or you get the satisfaction of knowing they're ok.

Re: Help--Very Little Speech at 17 Months

I think the early the better for EI. And an evaluation cannot hurt.

Noah was like that at 17 months and his Ped wasnt that concerned, but sent us at 18 months for an Eval anyway. At that age my son had only one sound NA...That was it.

Im glad we went.

MY son never got that " word spurt" people talk about and has a severe speech delay.

at 17 months, I would focus more on constanant sounds like Diana mentioned and two letter sounds like BA, DA, MA, PA, LA, Bo, DO , CO etc. Does he articulate any of those sounds?

Boys are late talkers as well, thats something to consider and remember.

Re: Help--Very Little Speech at 17 Months

Thank you for all of the wonderful suggestions and feedback on your own DC. I do keep hearing about the word explosion, and keep getting a little more apprehensive that it has not arrived yet.

DS can say Ma (one word is Mom), Da, p (but no vowel connected), and va. He used to say la la, but I haven't heard that in awhile.

We have tried asking him things like juice or milk, but he just stares at us every time, and gets mad that he isn't getting his drink. Maybe it would be better to start with words like more or help though, and see if that leads us anywhere. I will try more tomorrow (might be especially good since his way of letting me know he wants more is pointing and shrieking, which works, but is annoying)!

I am writing down many of the tips people have listed and will try to do some of these things with DS over the next month. Then if there is still no progress, I will most likely look into EI services after his 18 month visit. If nothing is wrong and he just needs more time, it would give me peace of mind. And if there is some speech issue, it would be good to know early.

Re: Help--Very Little Speech at 17 Months

I just went for my son's 18 month old check up and the doctor was not concerned at all yet with his speech. He can say 4 words when he feels like it but the Dr. told us to wait till he's 2 years old to take action if needed. I'm hoping he will have that explosion everyone is talking about.