Wordless Everyday
We took the baby gate down this week, because it doesn’t have much use once the baby can climb over it. He’s almost climbed out of his crib the last two mornings and after nap on Monday. He can get things himself with the Get It Yourself stool, which is much more annoying than it is helpful. Caroline was sickly today and asked if I would go upstairs and get her Baby Jesus and I asked Linc if he could do it. He did. He also brought her favorite blanket down, covered her up and gave her a cuddle.
But Linc still doesn’t talk.
He had his 18 month check up last week (at 19 months) and the pediatrician referred us to Birth to 3 to have him evaluated. She said he should have at least a few words at this age, even if his receptive language and comprehension is very good. I’ve read differing opinions on whether or not signs count when it comes to language, but even if I include please (which he signs a lot) and all done (which he signs sometimes), his only other words are Dada and Dog. And even those basically sound the same. He won’t say anything on command and he doesn’t even try to repeat things if you say them to him. He mostly grunts.
Up until now his needs and wants have been simple enough that we’re able to guess them. If he leads you to the kitchen, he’s probably hungry and I can offer a few things until he picks one. If he’s crying, we can suggest a cuddle or ask if he has a booboo and he can communicate with head shakes or pointing. But he’s becoming an actual full human person with feelings that are deeper than hungry or tired, and it’s becoming very frustrating for all of us that he has no words to help. I know explaining his frustration with full sentences (“Mother dear, I am just SO famished and that sandwich you made me is not what I want. May I please have an orange instead?”) is not what ANYONE gets from their 19-month-old, but “Orange!” or “Milk!” or “Blankie!” would be nice. I would settle for “Yes” and “No” said with intent.
Evan was also pretty slow to talk, although he had a lot more signs at this age. Birth to 3 came out and did an evaluation and it was very reassuring, even though they ultimately decided he didn’t qualify for intervention. I’d much rather do that again and have them say “Nah, we think he’ll catch up on his own” or “Let’s not do anything yet but we’ll be back in 3 months to check again” or even “Yes, let’s get him into speech therapy” than do nothing at realize at his 2 year appointment that he STILL isn’t talking at all.
Plus maybe he’ll stop punching me in the face if he can just TELL me he hates me? Because that would honestly be better at this point. Oh, toddlers.
So, Brady my 6.5 year old didn’t not utter a word until after the age of 2. He understood everything which sounds similiar to Lincoln. He would follow directions and yet get so frustrated when he couldn’t communicate with us. One day, in November at 25 months he said his newborn sister’s name in response to a question. He has not stopped talking since. Lincoln is the third… think about all the talking around him! I totally agree getting him evaluated but I’m guessing he’s gonna start talking when you least expect it!
I know you’re not looking for advice or whatever, but Dexter was behind on speech too. At like 20 months I had “Early On” come evaluate him…I assume it’s MI’s version of what you had come out…and he qualified with a pretty big speech delay…think like 50%, or 6 months?. I can’t remember really now, but it was a similar scenario. He barely talked, didn’t really sign, but understood us very well. What little he did say was pretty clear, but he just didn’t talk much. Not much babbling either. But he got crazy frustrated with us when we couldn’t figure out what he wanted. We did the early on program till he was almost 3. He was completely caught up by then and we decided he didn’t need official special ed, which is what the next step would have been. early on consisted of the speech therapist coming out every other week and then monthly. she would give us ideas on how to get him to talk more but we honestly didn’t really follow her advice. he just sort of caught up I guess. her theory was that Rory did his talking for him, which our daycare confirmed. daycare noticed a huge change in him when Rory went off to school.
I also agree that getting him evaluated is a good idea. My daughter was evaluated at 2 years because of her speech, and ended up going to a special ed preschool. She was never diagnosed with anything, she just needed some help. Now she’s 8, and in the GATE/PALS program at school. I guess what I’m trying to say is to try not to worry either way. :)
Etta was always getting threatened with a speech referral at every pediatrician visit. She had words, but not many, and she never seemed to want to put them together or any inclination to make sentences. Each time, the doc would be like, if she isn’t doing X by the next time we see her, we’ll refer her, and we kept barely missing the cutoff. She’s finally no longer seeming so behind, but is definitely behind her sister. I am glad you’re on top of this, and hope he proves to be an Etta: just taking his own time.
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my third just had her 18 month visit as well. Ped said similar things to me. I think they just always get what they want so why talk? she just started with no and uh huh….