Mothers Only- What age should a child learn to talk?

My son who is 26 months old isn't talking. Well, he says some words (about 10); he even has 3 complete phrases. But, he's way behind in talking. I'm also raising my child in a bilingual environment (Spanish & English). I asked his doctor for helps when my son turned 2. At this moment, He is doing speech therapy 2 time/week. Each session is just 30 mins. The idea is to teach parents how to help their children with their problems. I took him to an autistic center to get a full evaluation of him. Thank God, my son is ok. He's just a late talker. It may be because of the bilingual environment, o because boys usually develop speech in a lower step. Girls start talking earlier. Everyone has different opinion about it.

I even called a state agency that works with children under 3 to help them to develop all their functions before going to pre-schools. This agency (Child & Family Connections – Early intervention) is wonderful. A social worker came into my house evaluated my son situation, our social-economic condition & set a bunch of evaluation with different therapists & Doctors. She called me a week later, & she gave me a proposal about how to improve my son speech delay. This agency works with everyone who has problems from low-income family to highly rich people. The social worker coordinates everything, even insurance payments. If the family doesn’t have insurance &/or income the state pays everything. I was so impressed about my son evaluation that we are going to start new therapies @ home with these people. I’ll pay a nominal fee since my social-economic condition allow me to do so, but it’s just $50/month for 3 hours of therapies/week @ home until he turns 3. They even make the transition from home to day care once the child is ready for it.

Any way, I think Maria should take time now to teach her child to talk, since his late speech development can't hurt his school years. I even learned that my son is more visual than sensitive or auditable on his evaluation. It means I have to associate words with picture or objects. Being visual isn't anything wrong at all. My husband & I are also visual people (we got tested on it) & both are Engineers with 2 Masters + bilinguals. Being visual or sensitive or whatever we may be isn't wrong. But, if parent know their children way of learning from early years, it would be much easier for them to success in school. The point is to take advantage of the new medicine to improve our life. Tell Maria about my experience. Maybe she changes her ideas once she learned that other Hispanic families have this kind of problems and approach them in different way. I hope she change her mind on it… I know it may sound ridiculous to do all this work just to help out toddle to talk. My family thinks we are crazy. They say my son is just lazy or he doesn’t have anything to say. But I think they are just out dated… She should try to help her son. Therapies don’t hurt at all….

Maria should also appreciate your friendship. At least, someone is worry about her son development

Well, I have 2 boys and a girl, my first boy talked early and said quite a few things by the time he was 2 but most people could not understand him. But by the time he was 3 1/2 he figured it out. My 2nd son only said 3 words by the time he turned 2. ( mama, dada & bubba) Now he is 5 and you can't tell he ever had a problem and he never had any speech therapy either. My daughter just turned 2 and she can say anything in the book and talks full sentences. It is a known fact that it takes boys longer to figure out language. And if you will look at boys and girls in school boys have a harder time with reading than girls and are usually much better at math. Now that is not to say that your friend's little boy doesn't need speech therapy, she should have him evaluated by someone to see how bad it is. Some kids have problems with various things when it comes to hearing and pronouncing different sounds. But there is not really much you can do if she is not willing to listen to you. Sorry and good luck

Children learn (or acquire the skills) for everything at different ages and in their own time. The worst thing a parent can do is worry because little johnny or jane isn't talking as fast as the neighbors kid. Let the child develop the way he or she wants to and in their own time.

Only children generally speak earlier than the second child or third child. The second child in close proximity in age is usually guarded by and spoken for by the older child. It is a common thing to encounter. The older child answers the question asked of the younger child. It is a protection mechanism.

Also, the younger children are often drowned out by the older children, and eventually they stop trying.

What kind of doctor would tell a mother something like that. Is this a specialist doctor. Hogwash. I say. My littlest niece didn't say a word until she was actually held and talked "with" in a normal tone of voice, something no one had done before. Then she began making sounds like talking and soon was uttering little words ... The oldest niece had been doing all of her words for her ....

There is nothing wrong with a child learning two languages as a baby. they are like sponges at that age and can be bilingual at age 3. My bosses youngest learn to speak from her Mexican maid, and when i went to the door one day, the maid had the 3 year old come and translate into English that I needed to pick up her father's briefcase. So encourage multi language abilities they are valuable.

Forget what "one of your cousins" did. That child is not this friend's child. They are both unique individuals living in different situations.

I think that the doctor is right, there could be a speach problem. By 2 my children were speaking well, you couldn't understand a few things, but they knew so many words and could talk to just about anyone and they would. My kids started talking before they were one. My son has a speach imaprement which is being helped by taking speach in school. There is really nothing wrong with raising a child to speak 2 languages, kids pick up a 2nd language faster than an adult would. I knew quite a few people who live in a bilingual home and speak english and spanish fluently. But if he isn't speaking either languge well then I would believe that he has some speach problem. Being a mom I didn't want any advice from my friends who aren't moms but now its not a big deal, they can see things about my kids that I can't. In my eyes my kids are perfect and no one can tell me any different. You can't make her change her mind. I'm sorry I wasn't much help. Good luck to you both.

I'm not a mother, but I am a pediatrician. Language development progresses in a certain order and we monitor for milestones at certain ages. Typically, children at 12 months will be using mama and dada appropriately, and use roughly 5 recognizable words. By the time they are at 24 months, they have a vocabulary of approximately 50 words and can put two words together to form simple sentences (e.g. "mommy go"). It is important to recognize speech delays early, as children with delayed language development have been shown to have much more difficulty with school as they get older. A speech delay may also be the first manifestation of a hearing deficit.

The complicating factor with your friend's son is that he is being raised in a bilingual household. Children who are learning 2 languages at once often seem delayed in speech initially, but catch up gradually and will be fluent and accent-free in both languages when they get older.

Given what you described, I would also recommend that her son be evaluated by a speech or developmental specialist (I'm guessing her physician provided some recommendations or a referral). Waiting longer to see what happens is definitely not the right thing to do, as early intervention and treatment with a developmental problem results in the best long term outcomes.

There's a decent article at the link under the references for more info.

Every child speaks at his/her own pace. When I was little, I talked really early...my brother was tested multiple times to see if he was deaf b/c he didn't utter a word until he was 3. Now he never stops...at 20!!! My son is 2.5 and is having perfectly understandable conversations. My neighbor is 3 and you can barely understand 2 words she says.

Oh, yes, MOST mother's DO know their child better...however, a mother is much more likely to be in denial about their child possibly having a problem than a doctor. Either way, like someone else said, speech therapy won't hurt.

Im sorry but I think you need to back of a teensy bit. Every mother knows thier child much better than any other doctor or friend will ever know them. And just because its hard for you to understand what he is saying, doesn't mean that he isnt communicating. The fact that he is growing up in a two language home may delay his ability to talk, but it certainly isnt a bad thing. It is easier to teach children multiple languages at younger ages because the older we get the lazier our brains get.

And just because your cousins learned how to talk at an earlier age doesn't mean all children should. Boys are usually slower at learning than girls are anyhow. They take longer to potty train, longer to walk, and so on. And like you said yourself.. every child is defferent.

My son started "talking" at around his 2nd birthday, and he is a very smart boy. But by talking I mean alot of it was still jibberish, the language mostly only the mothers understand. He could say things like "I wub you mamma" and "Getoutaherrr" But it wasnt like he could walk up and ask me "mother might I have a glass of apple juice?" And even now at 3 1/2 some people cannot understand him. Mostly those who dont have kids.

There is nothing wrong with your friends child. And I would be careful telling her there is. That's a very touchy area, questioning the intelegence of someones child..

The fact that he is talking is a good sign. Kids at this age aren't experts at pronuncation and that's okay. As long as he verbally communicating. Where does he live? If he's in California the state has a wonderful program called California Early Start, this program is designed for children 0-3 years who have developmental delays. It is a free program and they will provide speech therapy and other services. Your friend should really have his speech development evaluated by a specialist to see if he is delayed.

My son is 16 months old, he starting talking at 12 months old. Now he says about 15 words. My son is very smart for his age. He can sign about 5 words too. But I'm a stay-at-home mom, so I am able to teach him. Maybe she could look into teaching him to sign. The American Sign Language website is great, just google it.

I have a friend who had a 4 year old...the child RARELY said a word. They took him to doctor after doctor after doctor, ran ever test including cat scans and mri s, nothing. Finally one day they were out driving, the car stalled on railroad tracks and he burst out with "Everyone get out of the car!" When they asked him how come he RARELY spoke he said very matter of factly "I didn't have anything to say". I say let the toddler be a toddler and stop expecing 2 year old to be able to recite the Gettysburg Address. If as he nears school age he has problems THEN have him tested.