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Have his ears been checked? One of our sons didn't talk much around 18 months old. His ears were checked and they found them full of ear wax. It took a couple of visits to clean them out and shortly after he's ask, "what's that?" at many sounds. We figured he was hearing muffled noises all this time and it affected his speech and talking. We jokingly said he wouldn't shut up after his ears were cleared.
Does your local school district have an infants and toddler's program? This program identifies kids under the age of 3 (at least here in Maryland) who might need some extra help before preschool. Since both of my girls were adopted slightly later (one at 8 months and one at 12 months,) I had them come evaluate each child, mainly for MY peace of mind since I had no clue what I was doing! Give your local elementary school a call and ask if they have an infants and toddler program. They should come to your house to evaluate your child.
That being said, your child sounds well within normal parameters for walking and talking. We had one daughter who was early with everything and the other for whom talking and communicating has been much slower to come. It's hard when you don't know what to look for. Your pediatrician can help you out, too. DOn't be afraid to ask what's normal!
You're doing fine!! Being a first-time parent can be SO daunting!
His ears were checked the end of last month (ear infection) So I don't think there is wax build up. Besides the newborn hearing screen that he passed we never checked for hearing, but he seems to hear just fine. I have a doc apt in 2 weeks so I will mention everything to the doc. Thanks everyone!
I agree it might not hurt to have an eval, but probably nothing to worry about At this age receptive language skills are the most important (that is they understand what is being said to them)
All little ones are sooo individual but I know as a mommy, sometimes it's better to put your mind at ease then to worry!! try to enjoy your little one and eat up every minute
My 18 mos old was two weeks premature and has had numerous medical issues since birth (most inconsequential--continuous ear infections that led to tubes!! which made us so relieved). At her 18 mos visit, I was told that she is the size of a 13 mos old and the weight of a 12 mos old. She had just started walking the week before the visit. We have been very worried but she is intelligent, communicates and is an adorable baby. Despite insinuations, she has a high fat diet but despises milk. I am not a big person nor is my husband. Out of my four children, only one is in the 50th percentile--therefore I've learned to chill out a bit. She'll either be really small for her age or have a great growth spurt sometime.
Yes, he is within the range of normal, however from my experience if you, as mom, feel a concern then you should indeed check it out. I've known far too many who were concerned, decided it was within normal and later found out there really was a problem. Then they wished they had checked it out when they were first concerned, instead of waiting.
I've also known many who were concerned, got the issue checked it out and found everything was just fine. At least they knew for sure though.
At the very least the doctor can tell you that he's fine for now, but let's keep an eye on it and see what happens.
If he is only 15 months, and is hitting his milestones later across the board, that is not cause for concern at all. My first was also late on every milestone, didn't walk till 14 months, didn't talk when everyone else did, and I got so sick of everyone saying "you should be worried" "there's something wrong with him" "take him to a specialist"
parents and family get so competitive and so pressure to perform oriented it is ridiculous.
Kids have their own timetable and it is perfectly normal and natural. Don't fall into that trap of treating him like something is wrong or comparing him to all the other kids which is really about parents bragging.
When my son did start talking (late) he talked in full sentences. He went from not talking at all to saying one day in the car, "Take me more garage sales, buy me more toys." It was hilarious.
When he did start to walk, he skipped crawling altogether and went straight to walking. He was a late reader too (age 10, nothing wrong with that either) and by age 12 was reading at high school level (and just got his university degree, he's sharp). People who said "he'll never learn to talk" soon said "you can't shut him up."
Respect his pace.
Also we never talked baby talk to any of our kids (all 3), choosing instead to talk in regular words and in a normal voice as we would to a regular person or any adult. The result is that children may talk later as a result of no baby talk, but when they do talk, it is with full sentences and an incredibly articulate full expanded vocabulary.
To me, baby talk has no dignity. And it was important to me to treat my kids with dignity across the board.
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