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My daughter didn't say her first words until she was 18 months old, which, coincidentally, is also when she started speech therapy. The early concerns were less that she didn't have words, and more that she didn't have a varied sound repertoire. She only had /m/, /b/, and /a/ sounds that she could make. She was evaluated through our state's early intervention program. The evaluation is free, and they have a time limit that they must do it in, like 60 days or something from referral. Once they have the evaluation, they will tell you whether or not your child qualifies to recieve services or not, and if so whether you have to pay or not to get them. Both the eligibility requirements and the amount you have to pay vary by state.
My daughter is now 5 years old, and she still gets speech therapy 2x per week. Now it is through the school system with an IEP. She has graduated from articulation delay (her articulation still sounds immature, but it is on the low-end of age-appropriate now), but she still has a language delay. In addition, we have discovered that she is globally delayed in many other domains besides just speech. When she was a baby, her speech was our biggest concern, but now we have other concerns instead. The speech delay was just an early indicator, but the upside is that it got us involved with the early intervention program.
So many people told me not to worry about it, to wait and see, that she was probably just a "late bloomer", etc. But I am glad that we got involved with early intervention when we did. Even if she did "grow out of it", I don't think a little speech therapy would hurt.
Regarding the tongue-tie, it comes up often in the breastfeeding support setting because it can cause difficulties with getting a good latch and good milk transfer. My experience in this setting is that mothers tend to get it clipped as soon as possible (even within a few days of birth), and often feel like it immediately makes a world of difference. With breastfeeding anyway. I have no experience with it in a speech delay setting.
He's not really behind, just a bit lazy and doesn't NEED to speak because you give him what he wants.
Personally my kids were like little Royals, they had to sit at a dinner table and eat civilly, ask for things with a please or thank you, and generally behave like little people in public.
I always found it easy to do, we'd take them out to eat and all it took when they acted up was mummy whispering "all these people can sit nicely and eat, why can't you?" Kids are such natural mimics, they will behave (generally) the way people around them behave.
My children were and are a total joy to take out even to fancy places, because they knew their manners.
NOT SAYING your baby doesn't have manners, but I am saying, the more you expect of him, the more he will accomplish.
I agree with your post, and I raised my kids this way too.
OP, however, is worried about late speech, not his behavior. You cannot assume he is lazy.
Wait until he's ready to talk. The doctors told my mother I was retarded because I wasn't talking at 2. I have a masters degree in chemical engineering. It doesn't mean anything that he's not talking yet.
I'm thinking you were a listener like my older son. He didn't talk until probably 2 1/2 to 3 years old. Not "mama", nothing. He actually sat up a little late also. He was always quiet and exploring. He was a straight A student in school, has a Master's degree, speaks and writes in 3 or 4 languages now and just made LTC in the Army Active Reserve at 37 years old. Listening is good. Competition among parents when it comes to their kids is BAD.
In early March, 2009, we took him to a specialist because he was not talking. He was just a few weeks shy of 2. He had a few grunts and sounds...much like your son, it sounds.
On his 2nd birthday, March 28th, it's like the roof opened and the words came out. It was SHOCKING. He started talking...forming sentences, etc. that day. And has not shut up since!
17 months is still really early...I would not sweat it..at all!
If he understands language, obeys verbal commands, don't worry about it. Einstein didn't say a word until he was 5 or 6. My son didn't speak until he was four, and then immediately started speaking in complex sentences, and when being screened for kindergarten we were told he had a very high IQ with a vocabulary that practically went off the scale for his age.
My son also resisted learning to read at school until a late age, because he was afraid if he learned to read himself, I would stop reading to him. When he was 6 we were reading Watership Down and Ray Bradbury and Lord of the Rings and Out of Africa and Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Rouse's Gods Heroes and Men of Ancient Greece and going to school and drawing scenes from those books in art class..
If he understands language, obeys verbal commands, don't worry about it. Einstein didn't say a word until he was 5 or 6. My son didn't say a thing until he was four, and then immediately started speaking in complex sentences, and when being screened for kindergarten we were told he had a very high IQ with a vocabulary that practically went off the scale for his age.
My son also resisted learning to read at school until a late age, because he was afraid if he learned to read himself, I would stop reading to him. When he was 6 we were reading Watership Down and Ray Bradbury and Lord of the Rings and Out of Africa and Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
That is definitely incorrect that Einstein "didn't say a word until he was 5 or 6" (at least I have never heard a reputable source state that fact.
Most sources say Einstein started talking at three or four, and once he started talking he used long, complete sentences very typical of a child his chronological age. I recently read a source that stated that even this was all myth and he actually started speaking in short sentences between the ages of two and three, right on target for boys his age.
Last edited by germaine2626; 05-30-2014 at 03:03 PM..
I haven't read through this entire thread, so excuse me if this has already been mentioned.
Have you checked thoroughly for physical problems? Don't be too quick to jump into speech therapy. That becomes a never-ending pursuit, and leads into all sorts of other therapy. Oftentimes they take credit for what would have occurred naturally.
My ds appeared to be delayed in speech. He really never attempted to form words, just screamed instead Or he would make little trilling sounds, almost like a bird. At age 19 months, he wasn't forming any words.
I happened to notice one day, he was tongue-tied! It wasn't they typical situation, where the tip of the tongue is tied to the floor of the mouth. It was a thin membrane about in the middle of the bottom of the tongue that connected the tongue to the floor of the mouth. I took him to a pediatric oral surgeon, who snipped the membrane. He started forming words within the next two days!
This kid had been to all the "right" specialists, pediatricians, etc, but not to a dentist, because he wasn't yet "due" for a dental exam. I can just see where we'd be if we went the "therapy" route, we'd be chasing that yet.
Before I get flamed for "dissing" speech therapists,let me be the first to say they can do amazing work, when indicated. Just that oftentimes a thorough physical exam is not performed first. OP I would suggest a pediatric oral surgeon. You might need to go to a major medical center, I took my ds to Houston Children's Hospital. Good luck!
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Or he would make little trilling sounds, almost like a bird. At age 19 months, he wasn't forming any words. 
