The monkey is 21 months and doesn't talk. He has some words: No, mommy, mama, daddy, nigh nigh, bye bye, see you along with about 4-5 punjabi words. He is able to communicate what he needs through a variety of hand gestures, grunts and words. We actually can communicate quite well with each other and he understand when I ask him to put things places, go get his dad, go say night night to his dad etc. But he does not talk. He can't tell me how is day was or speak in sentences. Which I know is not a big deal yet. I'm not worried in one sense because there really is no point in worrying about something I can not change. He will speak when he is ready. On the other hand, I worry that something else might be going on. Should I get him checked? Isn't early intervention key?
I would be lying if I did not admit its a bit hard watching some of the kids that have developed faster or rather are farther along than he is. I can not make him talk earlier, he shows no interest in trying to mimic words. He only wants to mimic actions. Part of me thinks I'm being a competi-mommy, something I really really don't want to be. Some have said that monkey is not talking because he gets two languages which may be true, but I think really its that he's not ready to talk. He has no need to speak as we communicate well enough through our grunts, hand gestures and other dances. Plus whether he talks or not, I'm not going to love him any less. If something esle is going on, we'll figure it out eventually. Again I would not love him any less.
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11 months ago
6 comments:
A pediatrician friend of mine told me, in relation to one of the Isis brood that kids say and average of 100 words by the time they are 2 years old, but the standard deviation is about 50. If you suspect nothing else, why not ask Monkey's pediatrician at the 2 year visit?
I'm with Isis - get an opinon. No sense in worrying. I bet he's going to be one of those kids that speaks in complete sentences when he does speak. . . .
If you have a two language household - the paretns talking one language each - and the little one is a boy there is a large likelyhood that he will be a bit "later" to start talking in sentences. THere is some literature about the phenomena, and then when he starts talking he might mix languages a little but it is suggested that parents talk thier "own" language to the little one - and they are quite smart to pick it up.
One of my best friends has two kids, they're both bilingual and the girl was not talking as early as her friends and the little boy was a bit later as well... It might have helped that they live in Sweden and the man is English so they are surrounded by "the other language" but thier dad talks English to them.
But by all means, ask the doctor and maybe see if there is a "support group" or something like that where you ca talk to other parents in billigual families?! It can't be bad, afterall, to get an opinion
Bilingual kids do talk later. His receptive language seems to be fine...and if he has some expressive, he should catch up. Ask your doc anyway, but be prepared to be blown off.
He won't tell you about his day until he is 4, most likely.
One more reassurance that talking a bit later is totally normal in bilingual households. I live in a region of the country where more than half of the households are bilingual, and none of the almost-two-year-olds I see are speaking much. Then, between 2 and 3, they all more than catch up to the single-language kids.
Also common among these kids: when they do start talking, it's mainly just in one language (usually English, since they hear it more often). Ask them a question in the "other" language, and they'll clearly understand it but answer in English, at least for a while. But again, this mainly disappears around age 3.
Not that I really know anything, but if he understands what you're saying, he can probably hear fine which is a major worry for kids who don't talk, right?.
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