19 month old not talking

January 9, 2006

Hi, I am new to this group and hope someone here has some suggestions

for me. My son currently 19 months old is not talking. He started

babbling at around 6-9 months and actually babbled quite a bit until

the last couple of months when that has decreased. He can say mama,

and will say it unrelated to me, but not very often (1-2 times a

week). He does not use gestures to indicate what he wants or is

interested in. As far as following simple commands, it is hit and

miss. Sometimes he can follow " get the yellow ball " and other times

he completely ignores me. He is an active toddler and i have no issues

with his physical and motor skills. He can build blocks together and

throughly enjoys playing with his toys ignoring everyone else around

him. Getting his attention can sometimes be a struggle and he will not

always respond to his name when called.

I do talk to him everyday about what is happening and things around

him and have been reading to him since birth. He will not sit still to

read just one little book, so I usually end up reading to him while he

plays with his toys, He will run over and look at a few of the

pictures during the book, but does not point at anything and I have no

idea what he is understanding from the books. If i let him touch the

books then he runs away with it and treats it like any other toy and

therefore no other reading gets done.

We have been to the peditrician and he wants to wait until he is

older. I have referred him to a speech and language center provided by

government health care, however they feel he is too young to be assessed.

I have spent hours searching the web for things i can do as a parent

to facilitate his language production, but have come up with not much.

I have recently started signing with him, however getting him to look

at me when I make the sign is a task in itself.

Please help !!

How to promote language in him ?

How to read to him properly ?

I hope this had made sense to all of you and will appreciate your

feedback.

Thanks

Recommended Posts