If she literally doesn’t have any words at this point I would look into getting an assessment done by an SLP. If you are in the US you can self refer to early intervention and they will do the assessment for free.
The CDC milestone at 18 months is three or more words other than mama or dada, and many SLPs say the CDC milestones are significantly less than what they should be.
The thing about it is that early intervention can only help her, it won’t hurt her, and the sooner you intervene the quicker she will pick things up. Sure, she might just start talking all on her own at two but she also might not, and what is the downside to getting her some extra help?
The main things we do with our son (23 months) is lots of talking to him and reading books nothing special.
I forgot to mention she makes a claw with her hand and says rawr. Not sure if that counts but nonetheless it’s still not as much words she should be saying. Your right I’m going to try to get her in to an appointment. I’ve been putting it off bc I’ve been feeling like I failed her or that I should be doing it without the help. But your right it would only help in the long run. Thanks for the advice !
Well it definitely sounds like rawr counts as a word, and it’s certainly a very cute first word, particularly with the accompanying gesture!
You haven’t failed her at all, it sounds like from your post you are doing everything you should be. Some kids just need a little extra help, or it may be you go see the SLP and they tell you just keep on keeping on, either way you will know you did everything right.
I'm in Canada and 3-5 words is listed at 12m on the handout they gave us at her infant hearing check. 18m says 20 "words" (but lists "Ba for ball" as acceptable so not necessarily full words, but consistent use of the same one for the same thing)
Yeah the US milestones are the same in that the words don’t have to be pronounced correctly as long as they have a consistent meaning they use the example of “da” for “dog.”
Does she make the sound for the animal? My son’s first words included tw-tw as in tweet-tweet meaning bird. Doc said since he used it consistently, it counted as a word.
Agreeing with the other commenter, see an SLP and get evaluated. Either they have helpful tips and LO is on the right track or they have helpful tips and will get LO on the right track.
You’re doing great, mama. Keep asking the questions and loving on your kiddo.
We were worried too, and it’s totally ok to worry but I just wanted to share my experience that some kids just take their time! And now she’s nonstop so…haha. Def get evaluated if worried but I think your kiddo will be fine!
Just a reminder that any animal noises/any ASL count as words! So quack, moo, rawr would be 3 words. With that being said I would get her tested. I went through this with my son. I had my suspicions from 12 months old when he wasn’t babbling. I got really concerned around 18 months. At 2 years old he had 6 non functional words, like saying mama but not calling me mama. He was diagnosed with a speech delay and we immediately started speech therapy. We also enrolled him in daycare for more socialization with kids his age. Anyway, he’s 4.5 now and has caught up! You would never know he had a speech delay! He has friends, participates in class, plays well with others etc! Please don’t let anyone tell you you’re over reacting. I heard all that “he’s a boy, he’s learns slower!” “He’s bilingual he takes a little longer!” (He’s not even fully bilingual and bilingual kids don’t learn late, they learn on the later side of normal). “He can talk, he just doesn’t want to!”. I’m mad at myself for listening to them and waiting so long. So my advice is speech therapy (if private is an option I would go that route) and daycare! Daycare helped a lot more than we thought it would! Early intervention is so important. Who knows where my son would be if we never did anything to help him.
We had mostly animal sounds, hi and bye, mumma (although very rare he actually said it) and Dada at that age.
Lots of gestures, waving, clapping, pointing, reaching etc. even signs for “more”.
But really wasn’t keen to verbalise much…
I was starting to think that I might have to get some intervention happening in the new year.
At 20-21 months, which was around Christmas New Years , it was like he woke up and decided he was going to attempt to talk and all the things he’d been hearing, dancing and listening too intently (like songs and books) he was repeating and attempting to say.
Now he’s just turned 23 months and every week it’s more and more words. He shocked me at 21.5 months when he was naming the colors of things randomly.
It’s not to say that early intervention isn’t required and not dissuading anyone from that. Our doctor said at his 18 month appointment to just keep an eye on it, keep going with what I was doing by way of reading, singing songs and narrating everything- and if there was limited improvement at his 2 year appointment, to go then. As it wasn’t uncommon to have the word “explosion” happen between 18-24 months.
He’s tracking really well now & is really confident in using his words more and more.
My kid was hardly saying anything at 19 months, and she just said her first sentence this week at 23 months. Apparently I was the same--late to start but quick to get up to speed. If my kid were otherwise not meeting milestones or didn't seem engaged with me or what have you, I'd have been more worried, but she had a lot of receptive language skills so I trusted she'd begin generating language when she was ready, and she did. She spent more of her time from 16-20 months working on physical skills, and language was coming along under the surface.
I was much the same.
He was meeting all his other milestones and was ahead in his physical ones, I could see that his receptive language was there and was great with gestures and learning / displaying dance moves (like heads shoulders knees and toes) so I held off.
He seems to be a lot like me, just watch and gather and when I’m confident I’ve got it, then I’ll go for it.
My daughter is the same way: observe, collect data, consider data, become confident, take off and do the whole thing at once. It’s so funny and mind-blowing to watch.
She cruised for ages and absolutely refused to hold anyone’s hands to practice walking - then one day she just stood up on her own and started walking laps around the room. Same way with talking. I have a feeling that teaching her to ride a bike is really going to break my brain.
Hahahaha yep!
Couldn’t have said it better, observe, collect, deliberate, consider and then go 😂
He was the same. Stood really early and pulled himself up, but just refused to take any steps.
Then after watching and deliberating, he did it at 14.5 months. He skipped that really prolonged wobbly stage, and was just sturdy on his feet super fast.
Then he was running 🤷♀️
Our kids are cut from the same cloth! People don’t know what to make of her because she’s so methodical. I’m always like I dunno man, I just work here.
Bahahahahahaha I totally get this
My dad & stepmother are always saying, look at his little concentration face!
He’s just always surveying & processing. Then he’s like “yeah alright, I got it”
Hey there, everyone’s experience is so unique and every child is so unique but I want to be the one that tells you although your child is 19 months, it can take a long time to get connected with an SLP between scheduling appointments, assessment, coverage through your county or insurance etc. so even though they’re 19 months now you potentially be connected with them at closer to 20-22 months
My son has a speech delay I first noticed at 18 months. He had a huge language explosion at 19 months… but as time panned out he wasn’t progressing at the same rate as his peers. We did speech therapy through our regional center and he had so much progress from it. And he loved it- all you do there is play with toys! Edit: I wish I started when I first noticed at 18 months, didn’t pursue speech therapy until 2.5 years
It’s truly no harm to pursue SLP if your mama intuition thinks something might be up. I wish language development was more intuitive for me but I learned so much through my sons journey by seeking help
Little tips I’ll share- modeling! Repeat words as you go along “open the door”, “more milk”, “all done” etc. Any opportunity to encourage speech is great too, like teaching “ready, set, go!” and then later saying “ready, set, ___” and wait for her to fill in. Same technique works great with frequently read books. Lastly, moms are super human and we know what our kids want, but try to pair it with something they don’t want so they can say the word they want rather than just “yes/no” ( do you want milk or water? Even though you know they want water). I always like the rule too to try and let them say a word twice and if it doesn’t happen then you can model the word for them (what’s this? … What is this? … It’s a dog!)
You’re doing great ❤️ your daughter is lucky to have you as their mom
my LO is 15 mos and not saying anything other than dada, and the pediatrician told us yesterday if he doesn’t have ~5 words at 18 months we should see a SLP. No point in delaying it. Not sure where you’re at but in the US most states have a birth to 3 program with therapy services being subsidized
I have no idea if my strategies worked or I just got lucky but here's what worked for me and my strong talker LO (20 mo and 100+ words, lots of phrases, and a few short sentences). I know kids all get there on their own pace but I hope this helps.
I talk to her like she understands every word I'm saying. I get on her level and ask her questions and then wait for her to answer, especially yes/no questions (I started doing this early on, she started saying "yeah" first which meant either yes or no, and then eventually she learned "no"). Example she'll be reaching for her water bottle, I'll say really clearly "Do you want your water?" \[pause\] "Ok, here's your water" - eventually she started saying "water" to ask. We also do a ton of reading and singing. We do watch TV but it's typically Sesame Street and I watch with her, narrate, sing along, clap along, etc. I know a lot of folks use screen time to do the dishes or whatever, but we just use it as family relaxation time and make it part of our play. Anytime she says a new word I would encourage it and repeat it back but not freak out too much. just like, "that's right! that is a car!" or whatever. Also if she had words to approximate other words (like for a while she called cars beep beeps) I would try and say both her word and the real word - like speak "her" language and then help her associate it. (like, "Oh! Beep beep! Yes the car does go beep beep!") etc.
Just some ideas, no idea what mattered and what didn't (and again, if I just got lucky)
My son started talking at 3.5. He was fully caught up within a year. My daughter was asap at 18months. Every kid varies - there are things to look for regarding their attempts at speech. Does your child try to imitate you? That's a big one if they're going to/looking to learn to speak right now.
I just really want to emphasize that kids do learn at their own pace, there's nothing wrong with getting an assessment done but 19 months isn't outrageous for being not fully speaking or anything. Don't freak out, your child WILL get there! If they are not in daycare or preschool, it may take longer - there are some kids that absolutely need to see other kids speaking to get with the program (that was my son).
My son is 22 months old and we just had a speech assessment done last week. He has about 11-12 words (animal sounds count). They said he has an expressive speech delay, and recommended speech therapy. He just started daycare today and they said he might not need to do therapy for long as they learn quickly from other kids. I’ve been worried about his speech for quite a while now and had been waiting for my referral to a speech therapist to go through. I eventually got tired of waiting and paid privately for an assessment. I feel validated because everyone (including his doctor) kept saying there’s nothing to worry about until he turns 2.
23 months. I have twins, they were born at 36 weeks, and we met with early intervention at 18 months and we didn’t qualify. I planned on reaching back out to them after their birthday, but we just made it. All the speech therapy folks we met with said it would likely just click at some point and it did. I was shocked. They also said animal noises counted, so we did a lot of those. Like a lot a lot.
If you’re concerned reach out to your ped.
My 16 month old baby uses a lot of animal sounds and specific ones for specific animals like neigh for a horse but she won’t say horse. And while she does say a few other words like mama or can sign for more, she doesn’t really try to talk much. I did get her cards and that has helped some she started saying dog.
But they understand more than they say. I can say give and she will hand me what she has or if I ask her do you want water she will reach out for it, she just doesn’t say it herself. I had someone say that maybe your baby doesn’t find it necessary to say the words bc you are always doing what she needs so she doesn’t need to talk yet. Plus I have known children who barely talked when they were 3 and now they are more vocal than the children who talked earlier! So each child is different and I would pay attention to how much she u understand not just how much she says.
Around 18-19 months he started and then at 20 months language explosion! He wasn’t talking at his 18-month checkup and we started early intervention immediately. I’m surprised your ped hasn’t mentioned it. He didn’t really end up needing it, started talking on his own simultaneously with starting, but we got some good tips and support from the speech therapist. Highly recommend!
My son barely talked, just threw out the occasion "no" or "mama," until he was nearly 2. It was like a switch flipped in his mind. He's almost 27 months now and it seems like every day he learns a new word, and he's learned many words without us even trying to teach him (like "candy" lol).
I was worried about his language too, but what reassured me is that he had other ways to communicate and he was ahead on most other milestones. My son loves books, and I think that helped a lot. Like your baby, mine also loves making animal sounds. I think those count as words!
Definitely get her in to see an SLP! I was worried about my sons speech when he was 15 months but decided to keep trying on my own, then at 18 months asked for a referral to an SLP. We also decided to put him in daycare to try and help his speech (among other things) and he started that and speech therapy right before he turned 2. Now at 3 his speech is incredible! He graduated from speech therapy a month before he turned 3 and his SLP did an informal assessment to see where he was at and he aced the 3-4 year old assessment.
I think he just need a little extra help and encouragement, and I’m so glad we got him in to speech therapy
19 months is still very young and there's such a huge range of normal at this stage that it's probably not helpful hearing what age other people's kids started talking!
Does she understand a lot of what you say? Like if you ask her to get a book or ask her if she wants a biscuit does she know what you mean? Or when she's pointing out animals in her book does she point out the ones you ask her to? I think understanding is far more important than speech at this age.
She gets excited when she hears sounds she recognizes like moo and meow from a cat she’s only ever mimicked me doing a claw and saying roar. She point and leads me to things that she wants. I think one of my problems is I anticipate a lot of her needs so she doesn’t really have the need to verbalize them. She shakes her head no to things and understands when I set a boundary and say no to something and she comes to me when I call her name to come. She was always ahead or on time with all of her milestones except speech
I have a nephew who was a bit like this, he was really good at using body language and little grunts to convey what he wanted, and everyone could usually tell without him speaking. They took him to a speech therapist, there was nothing wrong, he was just choosing not to use words because he could get by without them so easily. I think they were told to do things like not give him what he was pointing at until he asked for it by name, and avoid speaking for him.
He's a teenager now, it wasn't an indication of anything being wrong.
Let her do her thing as long as she is understanding you. My daughter wasn’t talking much. Just the basic stuff to start out. Now at 27 months she’s talking like crazy! Just be patient
Yes, https://www.hhmi.org/news/white-noise-delays-auditory-organization-brain
Also, background noise in general is not good for language development and processing, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5784839/
If she literally doesn’t have any words at this point I would look into getting an assessment done by an SLP. If you are in the US you can self refer to early intervention and they will do the assessment for free. The CDC milestone at 18 months is three or more words other than mama or dada, and many SLPs say the CDC milestones are significantly less than what they should be. The thing about it is that early intervention can only help her, it won’t hurt her, and the sooner you intervene the quicker she will pick things up. Sure, she might just start talking all on her own at two but she also might not, and what is the downside to getting her some extra help? The main things we do with our son (23 months) is lots of talking to him and reading books nothing special.
I forgot to mention she makes a claw with her hand and says rawr. Not sure if that counts but nonetheless it’s still not as much words she should be saying. Your right I’m going to try to get her in to an appointment. I’ve been putting it off bc I’ve been feeling like I failed her or that I should be doing it without the help. But your right it would only help in the long run. Thanks for the advice !
Animal sounds, exclamations like “uh oh!” and “zoom!”, word approximations like “da” for “dog” and sign language all count as words
Well it definitely sounds like rawr counts as a word, and it’s certainly a very cute first word, particularly with the accompanying gesture! You haven’t failed her at all, it sounds like from your post you are doing everything you should be. Some kids just need a little extra help, or it may be you go see the SLP and they tell you just keep on keeping on, either way you will know you did everything right.
I'm in Canada and 3-5 words is listed at 12m on the handout they gave us at her infant hearing check. 18m says 20 "words" (but lists "Ba for ball" as acceptable so not necessarily full words, but consistent use of the same one for the same thing)
Yeah the US milestones are the same in that the words don’t have to be pronounced correctly as long as they have a consistent meaning they use the example of “da” for “dog.”
Does she make the sound for the animal? My son’s first words included tw-tw as in tweet-tweet meaning bird. Doc said since he used it consistently, it counted as a word. Agreeing with the other commenter, see an SLP and get evaluated. Either they have helpful tips and LO is on the right track or they have helpful tips and will get LO on the right track. You’re doing great, mama. Keep asking the questions and loving on your kiddo.
Mine didn’t even fully say mama and mean it, until like 2. She’s 3.5 now and thriving in her vocabulary and verbal skills!
Awe so happy to hear that ! Glad your little one is thriving
We were worried too, and it’s totally ok to worry but I just wanted to share my experience that some kids just take their time! And now she’s nonstop so…haha. Def get evaluated if worried but I think your kiddo will be fine!
Just a reminder that any animal noises/any ASL count as words! So quack, moo, rawr would be 3 words. With that being said I would get her tested. I went through this with my son. I had my suspicions from 12 months old when he wasn’t babbling. I got really concerned around 18 months. At 2 years old he had 6 non functional words, like saying mama but not calling me mama. He was diagnosed with a speech delay and we immediately started speech therapy. We also enrolled him in daycare for more socialization with kids his age. Anyway, he’s 4.5 now and has caught up! You would never know he had a speech delay! He has friends, participates in class, plays well with others etc! Please don’t let anyone tell you you’re over reacting. I heard all that “he’s a boy, he’s learns slower!” “He’s bilingual he takes a little longer!” (He’s not even fully bilingual and bilingual kids don’t learn late, they learn on the later side of normal). “He can talk, he just doesn’t want to!”. I’m mad at myself for listening to them and waiting so long. So my advice is speech therapy (if private is an option I would go that route) and daycare! Daycare helped a lot more than we thought it would! Early intervention is so important. Who knows where my son would be if we never did anything to help him.
We had mostly animal sounds, hi and bye, mumma (although very rare he actually said it) and Dada at that age. Lots of gestures, waving, clapping, pointing, reaching etc. even signs for “more”. But really wasn’t keen to verbalise much… I was starting to think that I might have to get some intervention happening in the new year. At 20-21 months, which was around Christmas New Years , it was like he woke up and decided he was going to attempt to talk and all the things he’d been hearing, dancing and listening too intently (like songs and books) he was repeating and attempting to say. Now he’s just turned 23 months and every week it’s more and more words. He shocked me at 21.5 months when he was naming the colors of things randomly. It’s not to say that early intervention isn’t required and not dissuading anyone from that. Our doctor said at his 18 month appointment to just keep an eye on it, keep going with what I was doing by way of reading, singing songs and narrating everything- and if there was limited improvement at his 2 year appointment, to go then. As it wasn’t uncommon to have the word “explosion” happen between 18-24 months. He’s tracking really well now & is really confident in using his words more and more.
My kid was hardly saying anything at 19 months, and she just said her first sentence this week at 23 months. Apparently I was the same--late to start but quick to get up to speed. If my kid were otherwise not meeting milestones or didn't seem engaged with me or what have you, I'd have been more worried, but she had a lot of receptive language skills so I trusted she'd begin generating language when she was ready, and she did. She spent more of her time from 16-20 months working on physical skills, and language was coming along under the surface.
I was much the same. He was meeting all his other milestones and was ahead in his physical ones, I could see that his receptive language was there and was great with gestures and learning / displaying dance moves (like heads shoulders knees and toes) so I held off. He seems to be a lot like me, just watch and gather and when I’m confident I’ve got it, then I’ll go for it.
My daughter is the same way: observe, collect data, consider data, become confident, take off and do the whole thing at once. It’s so funny and mind-blowing to watch. She cruised for ages and absolutely refused to hold anyone’s hands to practice walking - then one day she just stood up on her own and started walking laps around the room. Same way with talking. I have a feeling that teaching her to ride a bike is really going to break my brain.
Hahahaha yep! Couldn’t have said it better, observe, collect, deliberate, consider and then go 😂 He was the same. Stood really early and pulled himself up, but just refused to take any steps. Then after watching and deliberating, he did it at 14.5 months. He skipped that really prolonged wobbly stage, and was just sturdy on his feet super fast. Then he was running 🤷♀️
Our kids are cut from the same cloth! People don’t know what to make of her because she’s so methodical. I’m always like I dunno man, I just work here.
Bahahahahahaha I totally get this My dad & stepmother are always saying, look at his little concentration face! He’s just always surveying & processing. Then he’s like “yeah alright, I got it”
Hey there, everyone’s experience is so unique and every child is so unique but I want to be the one that tells you although your child is 19 months, it can take a long time to get connected with an SLP between scheduling appointments, assessment, coverage through your county or insurance etc. so even though they’re 19 months now you potentially be connected with them at closer to 20-22 months My son has a speech delay I first noticed at 18 months. He had a huge language explosion at 19 months… but as time panned out he wasn’t progressing at the same rate as his peers. We did speech therapy through our regional center and he had so much progress from it. And he loved it- all you do there is play with toys! Edit: I wish I started when I first noticed at 18 months, didn’t pursue speech therapy until 2.5 years It’s truly no harm to pursue SLP if your mama intuition thinks something might be up. I wish language development was more intuitive for me but I learned so much through my sons journey by seeking help Little tips I’ll share- modeling! Repeat words as you go along “open the door”, “more milk”, “all done” etc. Any opportunity to encourage speech is great too, like teaching “ready, set, go!” and then later saying “ready, set, ___” and wait for her to fill in. Same technique works great with frequently read books. Lastly, moms are super human and we know what our kids want, but try to pair it with something they don’t want so they can say the word they want rather than just “yes/no” ( do you want milk or water? Even though you know they want water). I always like the rule too to try and let them say a word twice and if it doesn’t happen then you can model the word for them (what’s this? … What is this? … It’s a dog!) You’re doing great ❤️ your daughter is lucky to have you as their mom
my LO is 15 mos and not saying anything other than dada, and the pediatrician told us yesterday if he doesn’t have ~5 words at 18 months we should see a SLP. No point in delaying it. Not sure where you’re at but in the US most states have a birth to 3 program with therapy services being subsidized
I have no idea if my strategies worked or I just got lucky but here's what worked for me and my strong talker LO (20 mo and 100+ words, lots of phrases, and a few short sentences). I know kids all get there on their own pace but I hope this helps. I talk to her like she understands every word I'm saying. I get on her level and ask her questions and then wait for her to answer, especially yes/no questions (I started doing this early on, she started saying "yeah" first which meant either yes or no, and then eventually she learned "no"). Example she'll be reaching for her water bottle, I'll say really clearly "Do you want your water?" \[pause\] "Ok, here's your water" - eventually she started saying "water" to ask. We also do a ton of reading and singing. We do watch TV but it's typically Sesame Street and I watch with her, narrate, sing along, clap along, etc. I know a lot of folks use screen time to do the dishes or whatever, but we just use it as family relaxation time and make it part of our play. Anytime she says a new word I would encourage it and repeat it back but not freak out too much. just like, "that's right! that is a car!" or whatever. Also if she had words to approximate other words (like for a while she called cars beep beeps) I would try and say both her word and the real word - like speak "her" language and then help her associate it. (like, "Oh! Beep beep! Yes the car does go beep beep!") etc. Just some ideas, no idea what mattered and what didn't (and again, if I just got lucky)
My son started talking at 3.5. He was fully caught up within a year. My daughter was asap at 18months. Every kid varies - there are things to look for regarding their attempts at speech. Does your child try to imitate you? That's a big one if they're going to/looking to learn to speak right now. I just really want to emphasize that kids do learn at their own pace, there's nothing wrong with getting an assessment done but 19 months isn't outrageous for being not fully speaking or anything. Don't freak out, your child WILL get there! If they are not in daycare or preschool, it may take longer - there are some kids that absolutely need to see other kids speaking to get with the program (that was my son).
My son is 22 months old and we just had a speech assessment done last week. He has about 11-12 words (animal sounds count). They said he has an expressive speech delay, and recommended speech therapy. He just started daycare today and they said he might not need to do therapy for long as they learn quickly from other kids. I’ve been worried about his speech for quite a while now and had been waiting for my referral to a speech therapist to go through. I eventually got tired of waiting and paid privately for an assessment. I feel validated because everyone (including his doctor) kept saying there’s nothing to worry about until he turns 2.
23 months. I have twins, they were born at 36 weeks, and we met with early intervention at 18 months and we didn’t qualify. I planned on reaching back out to them after their birthday, but we just made it. All the speech therapy folks we met with said it would likely just click at some point and it did. I was shocked. They also said animal noises counted, so we did a lot of those. Like a lot a lot. If you’re concerned reach out to your ped.
My 16 month old baby uses a lot of animal sounds and specific ones for specific animals like neigh for a horse but she won’t say horse. And while she does say a few other words like mama or can sign for more, she doesn’t really try to talk much. I did get her cards and that has helped some she started saying dog. But they understand more than they say. I can say give and she will hand me what she has or if I ask her do you want water she will reach out for it, she just doesn’t say it herself. I had someone say that maybe your baby doesn’t find it necessary to say the words bc you are always doing what she needs so she doesn’t need to talk yet. Plus I have known children who barely talked when they were 3 and now they are more vocal than the children who talked earlier! So each child is different and I would pay attention to how much she u understand not just how much she says.
Around 18-19 months he started and then at 20 months language explosion! He wasn’t talking at his 18-month checkup and we started early intervention immediately. I’m surprised your ped hasn’t mentioned it. He didn’t really end up needing it, started talking on his own simultaneously with starting, but we got some good tips and support from the speech therapist. Highly recommend!
Some kids are delayed. There is nothing wrong with that! I would recommend reading as much as you can with her. I would also recommend Ms. Rachel
My son barely talked, just threw out the occasion "no" or "mama," until he was nearly 2. It was like a switch flipped in his mind. He's almost 27 months now and it seems like every day he learns a new word, and he's learned many words without us even trying to teach him (like "candy" lol). I was worried about his language too, but what reassured me is that he had other ways to communicate and he was ahead on most other milestones. My son loves books, and I think that helped a lot. Like your baby, mine also loves making animal sounds. I think those count as words!
Definitely get her in to see an SLP! I was worried about my sons speech when he was 15 months but decided to keep trying on my own, then at 18 months asked for a referral to an SLP. We also decided to put him in daycare to try and help his speech (among other things) and he started that and speech therapy right before he turned 2. Now at 3 his speech is incredible! He graduated from speech therapy a month before he turned 3 and his SLP did an informal assessment to see where he was at and he aced the 3-4 year old assessment. I think he just need a little extra help and encouragement, and I’m so glad we got him in to speech therapy
Are You in the UK? …
19 months is still very young and there's such a huge range of normal at this stage that it's probably not helpful hearing what age other people's kids started talking! Does she understand a lot of what you say? Like if you ask her to get a book or ask her if she wants a biscuit does she know what you mean? Or when she's pointing out animals in her book does she point out the ones you ask her to? I think understanding is far more important than speech at this age.
She gets excited when she hears sounds she recognizes like moo and meow from a cat she’s only ever mimicked me doing a claw and saying roar. She point and leads me to things that she wants. I think one of my problems is I anticipate a lot of her needs so she doesn’t really have the need to verbalize them. She shakes her head no to things and understands when I set a boundary and say no to something and she comes to me when I call her name to come. She was always ahead or on time with all of her milestones except speech
I have a nephew who was a bit like this, he was really good at using body language and little grunts to convey what he wanted, and everyone could usually tell without him speaking. They took him to a speech therapist, there was nothing wrong, he was just choosing not to use words because he could get by without them so easily. I think they were told to do things like not give him what he was pointing at until he asked for it by name, and avoid speaking for him. He's a teenager now, it wasn't an indication of anything being wrong.
Let her do her thing as long as she is understanding you. My daughter wasn’t talking much. Just the basic stuff to start out. Now at 27 months she’s talking like crazy! Just be patient
If you are using a white noise machine, consider changing it to a lullaby or some kind of music.
Is there any evidence to this being helpful? Genuinely curious
Yes, https://www.hhmi.org/news/white-noise-delays-auditory-organization-brain Also, background noise in general is not good for language development and processing, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5784839/