Speech Development Of Your Child

Worried Because The Baby Does Not Talk?

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of parents.
The first kind truly believes that every child is different. If you are in this group, a milestone miss or two would not shake you. Some kids walk early, some walk late. Some kids talk early, some talk late. So if your baby does not speak much even though he is two, you are not that worried. And you do not do anything about it.
The second kind are worriers. If you are in this group, you follow the milestone chart like a holy book. And despite your best judgment, it would hurt you when you see your child’s peers yapping away while your kid can just say 3-4 words clearly. You are always worried and you are always asking your child’s doctor why your baby doesn’t speak.
Clearly, we need to find a way between the two – a path that doesn’t involve you being worried 24×7, while at the same time one that doesn’t stop you from getting help for your child when required.
The first step is to understand the speech milestones expected for each age group. While it is not “abnormal” for your child to miss these milestones, it should give you clues about what are broadly considered as average expectations.

Speech and Language Development Milestones

1. 1. Less Than 12 months
      Language developments begins at infancy (and some research suggests that it starts in the womb). The initial couple of months he might communicate only by crying. However, in the following months, he will start cooing and babbling incoherently. After 9 months, he will likely say his first word. Whether this happens or not, by 12 months, your baby should be able to respond to sound in his own way and recognize some common words – like milk, nappy, mamma, dada
   2. 1 year-1.5 years
      You baby might start saying few words, mostly nouns that fascinates him (e.g car, ball, food, toys). Even if he cannot say full words, he might have started making new consonant sounds (e.g. be, pe, ge). He can also understand simple instructions like “sit down”

1. 1.5 years-2 years
   Most toddlers can recognize and say more than 20 words by now. At 2, he might also start stringing together two words to make a simple sentence like “throw ball” or “go there”. But often, he might make longer sentences which are gibberish to you. He should be able to recognize people whom he meets often, point at few things from his picture books correctly, and follow two step commands “take the book, and give it to me” or “go there and sit down”
2. 2 years-3 years
   Even if he missed some of the earlier milestones, he would most likely make up for it now. His vocabulary would improve a lot and he would often make up sentences that are 2-3 words long. He can also understand you better. He might even comprehend and communicate in multiple languages

Read about detailed speech milestones here

Warning Signs of Slower Than Normal Speech Development

1. Seek advice and evaluation if a child of over 1.5 years
   1. Does not respond to sound, but listens intently (could indicate hearing troubles)
   2. Does not use any gestures, like pointing, or waving ta-ta
   3. Prefers gestures over words and does not try to imitate any sound
   4. Uses only few sounds like “gaga” or “baba” for communicating everything
   5. Does not understand simple instructions
2. Seek advice and evaluation if a child of over 2 years
   1. Does not speak spontaneously
   2. Has a very limited vocabulary of less than 20 words
   3. Cannot understand instructions
   4. Cannot communicate much using words
   5. Does not point at common words in a picture book when prompted