22-month-old and half words

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My son is 22 months and has lots of words, many he's used for the last three months (at which point he only said "Ma", "Da", "That?" and "dog"), but most are the first syllable only and he doesn't seem to be progressing with the full pronunciation.

For example, he says "tah" for taxi, "pi" for pizza and "pan" for pancakes, and has done so for a few months, no matter how many times I say, "Yes, Daddy makes nice pizza," or, "Pancakes. Yes, we love them with blueberries," etc. etc.

He has one or two words that are more developed ("av-cah" for avocado and "out-sigh" for outside but these are exceptions).

He doesn't appear to have a hearing problem. Would you get his hearing checked, just in case, or wait until he turns two and mention it at his two-year-old check-up with the ped?

(Should add that I spent the afternoon with two kids his age, one of whom is bilingual and the other says sentences, such as, "I'm sitting on red cushion", so yes, I'm probably being a smidgen paranoid PFB mum.

[tory79]

Hi
I don't have any advice I'm afraid but just wanted to say my ds 21m is exactly the same. He's trying loads of new words at the moment but they are all just the first sound so eg ball is bah, moon is mah etc etc. the only time he pus more of a sound together is with flower as he says owa, and baba for bye bye.

And his little best friend is an excellent speaker, perfect pronunciation, short sentences (and he's a few weeks younger - grr)

I'm not worried at present, he was slow to get going but has really taken off in the last few days, and seems to have made a giant leap with understanding how beneficial talking is, so I'm sure hell figure out pronunciation soon enough. I also have no concerns about his hearing as he can hear the fridge being opened from a mile away

I just acknowledge and repeat the word he's trying to say and let him watch my mouth saying it - I'm sure hell get there

Glad you posted though as I do have moments of worry!

[NappyHappy]

My 20m ds2 is the same. Its mostly uh oh, ank ooooh and uv oooooh.

Ds1 didn't start speaking properly til way over the age of 2. He is now 5 and does not stop talking. Ever.

There was a little girl who is 4 weeks younger than ds1 who was speaking fluently at 18m!!!!!! I felt like a crap Mum but now I realise its all pretty normal and boys start talking later than girls.

Then just don't stop!

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It does seem mostly to be a boy thing. My son is gaining new words almost every daywell, half words so I suppose that's the crucial part.

[NappyHappy]

Yeah, Id say so he knows what they are. I took ds1 to SALT (paranoid pfb mum) and she said that it was fine and will come.

Now I hide from him some days he doesnt pause for breath!

[Sarah1611]

What happens when you get him to say the whole word? "Say pan- cake" or "can you say straw- berry?" Does he try? I wouldn't worry but I would encourage him to say the whole word, with massive praise on that.

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He sort of tries, but for really well-established words, they are stuck fast at "straw" (strawberry), and p-p-p (for "please"). He has a bash at adjusting for new words, and I cheer him on like mad

Today he added "gar" for garden, "tigh" for tight and "hap" for happy, so every day we have something new.

[sleepcrisis]

My Ds did (and still does) this, he is just 2. But I'm no longer worried as in the last 2 weeks he has picked up so many hundreds of words and each day some of them get longer and better pronounced. I was really worried ( and posted on here) when he was about 22 months. HV said so much will happen before 2yr check and I hardly believed her!

He still says da for down and ooo for thank you, but has started to say, for example, bus instead of bah and water instead of wah. I'm confident that he'll get there. Also he has started putting 2-3 words together.

[NapaCab]

Same here - my DS is 20 months and he's doing a lot of these half-words at the moment. Only I can understand what he's saying: 'muh' is 'mud', 'aw' is 'otter' (random but we had a book with a picture of one in it and he liked it for some reason) and so on. He mimics a lot but only partially. Still waiting on him making any sense to anyone except for me. He misses consonants too e.g. he says 'o'en' for 'open, missing out the 'p'.

It's frustrating when you hear kids the same age being so much clearer in their speech because I'm dying to be able to chat with DS and hear what he's thinking!