How can I help my son start talking?

First, do you bring him for any medical check up? If your answer is no, then my next question will be, "Why not?". It will definitely reduce any kind of anxiety you might be experiencing right now. Or did the paediatrician suspect any abnormalities in your child? If yes, then the more you have to bring him for further checks. About the low muscle tone, you should try to include folic acid in his diet and other multi vitamins that is organic and safe for children. Especially because your child is young and growing rapidly at this stage, vitamins might help support better growth. Some children have their ear canal blocked and thus are not able to hear anything except for mumblings. Thus, he is unable to utter a variety of basic sounds. It is best that you converse with your child frequently so that he is able to communicate better.

As a former teacher of early education, I can tell you that children with low muscle tone often experience language delays. The reason is that when a child does not progress in one area, all other areas will also be effected. You may want to find out if he could also qualify for speech therapy. He is probably too young for an evaluation, but could have one as early as two years old. You can contact your local public school district first and ask if they would handle this. It would be free of charge and should he need speech therapy the district may cover it for you and send you a therapist to work with him. The important thing to remember is that when there is early intervention for any delay, children will catch up eventually. As for what you yourself can do at home? Just read to him, sing to him, talk to him and eventually he will begin to mimic you. Don't worry about him fussing. He is frustrated and that is perfectly normal for his age. Hopefully, with language development, he will begin to outgrow that.

If you have concerns, talk to you doctor about his development. He may not be that far behind, my granddaughter is 20 months old and she only speaks a few words. Kids tend to focus on one skill at a time. If the child is delayd, make sure there is not a medical reason. Be sure to have his hearing checked too. If all is well, the talk to him constantly. Keep a running monologue going describing what you are doing. Describe every action you are taking. Whenever possible, hand him the object you are talking about. Putting words with actions and objects he can, see will help him make the connection between the two.

Sing with him, tmcaligiuri! Let him just make SOUNDS and test out some jabbermouth stuff to get him TRYING to speak. Most kids enjoy music and will start to use their vocal chords. Even if this isn't real words, he will start learning what his voice sounds like, along with fluctuations he can make his voice do. At some point, probably pretty soon after, he'll want to start to shape how the sounds are and make words. Maybe he is already doing this - making sounds - and they just aren't 'qualified words' to YOU, but if he's being vocal at all, you might just be worrying too much about him not speaking actual words.

Hi tmcaligiuri. I know exactly what you are going through, I am the mother of a child who is developmentally delayed. My child is the total opposite of yours, while your child has low tone my child has high tone, well actually his tone fluctuates at times. He is 2 and only functions on the 2/3 month old level, he doesn't walk, talk, sit up, roll over etc. Does your child have a diagnosis? You also stated that you have been focusing on walking, so do you receive early intervention services such as therapies? Speech is partly controlled by movements in the muscles of the tongue, mouth and throat so a child with poor tone and uncontolled movements of the tongue/throat muscles will have a hard time speaking. Due to the decreased muscle strength, you can try all day to get your child to say things and it won't happen until you better develop and strengthen these muscles. Speech therapy will help to develop those muscles. If you don't have a speech therapist, I would definately get one. I have a speech therapist for my son and you wouldn't believe the things they incorporate into normal daily activites to help strengthen these muscles. I wish you lots of luck..I know how hard it is being a parent of a special needs child..Hang in there and have a great day. Welcome to mylot^.^

hello there... dont push him too much. he is just 17 months old and it will take time for him to learn things around you. This is your first? I have a 3 years old baby girl. you know? she is so slow with everything. She learned how to roll over at 8 months old and walking when she is almost 2 years old. can you believe that? well, now she is still not speaking good either... still working on it. You are not the only mom that worry about your own baby on how to speak but it take time. First word that the baby learn is Dad or Pa. you can't make him to say that word and then you give stuff to him... u give him a hard time and then he scare to talk and say stuff again. he is also trying but it is just hard for him to speak the clear word. when he becomes 3 years old, he will see how much he learns and he will talk more than you thought. so, you have to relax and enjoy with him for now. here are some tips for you: buy some good DVD for kid, songs for children and play those for him everyday... he will learn something. and you should say only one word at a time to him, such as mommy, eat, papa... only one a day... he might learn something. I hope you feel better after he say some words later ok? you will be surprise

If his sense of hearing is good, I dont see any worry with that, child development experts agree that girls have a faster speech development than boys, and this is a hypothesis that fits into your situation, just allow the little giant to develop his speech naturally, he is not yet even two years! My brother in law's son started talking at four!We were all extremely worried about his speech abilities! These delays are perfectly normal, keep prompting him and rewarding every speech effort he tries to make as you are doing now!

your son is still very young, i know of a few children exactly the same (i work in a childcare centre) and most mothers that are worried about their child skills see their doctor, but also speech therapist for advice.. if you do a search on the internet, for the child for particular age groups it will give you what your child should be able to do e.g crawl when their certain ages, words they should be saying etc. sorry i have seen a good site once before but dont have it on hand at the moment, so if you can find it, just let me know and ill look for it and get back to you

Chance are if he has low muscle town in his body that he also has weak muscles of speech! Also, if a child is delayed in one area, it ususally effects other areas too. I wouldn't worry to much, he will likely catch up later and you'll be posting about 'how can I make him stop talking!' Ha! I would definitely read to him a lot and sing songs with him..and as you are already doing, encourage him to name objects rather than to hand them to him immediately. I would make up silly songs that are nothing more than the 'sounds' of the various letters...and go around singing them while he is near you. Before you know it, he will imitate the songs (and teh sounds!).

Hypotonia (low muscle tone) will cause low tone in the muscles of the mouth as well. My daughter, 12 now has that as well. First let me say you need to get him enrolled in the Early Intervention program in your area. Call the school or social services to find out who has it in your area. This is a free program for children birth to age 3. With that they can help you with speech theropy. With my daughter we used total communication which was speaking out loud and sign language. It will be very important to your son that you start this as soon as possible. My daughter no longer takes speech but you can still tell when she is not feeling well because her low muscle tone slips back in. In fact when I catch myself saying what did you say a few times it hits me to check for a fever and sure enough she has one. It is hard for a child with low muscle tone to form words because it takes a great deal of muscle tone to form those words. In time he will learn to use his muscles but to this communication helps take away the frustration for him as well as you. The program will also give you a PT and OT to work with you on his gross motor and fine motor skills that are more difficult with low muscle tone. If you have any questions about it please let me know. I was actually a cordinator for this program before my daughter was born. She was 2 years old before she took her first steps. Once she started talking and not needing sign language if she asked me something and I told her no she would sign it just sure I didn't understand because how dare I tell her no*L* I would just laugh at her and say I understood you the first time it is still no*L* So again get your son the help he needs and everything will be fine. I am here if you need me.

You just need to talk with him, so he can pick up on words, read him books & buy him toys that talk or teach sounds etc - they don't pick things up instantly :) As for walking, don't be too concerned, my cousin didn't walk until she was 2 & that's not uncommon. I have noticed little boys seem to take a little longer but it's not a big deal really. My daughter was early with quite a few things, i just read to her, we bought her a Pooh Bear toy that spoke to her, told her body parts & sang a song, she loved it & caught on with things like that :) Just take it easy with him & don't expect too much too quickly, he'll get there when he's ready & be sure to continue with words that start with the letters you know he can pronounce!

Its ok, they all learn at different speeds, I would talk to him noramly about things around him, he'll catch on.

if you really think that your son's development is late for his age ask your pediatrician for some evaluation, he or she will be the best person to make recommendations.

You can't force them to talk they will talk when ready a friend of my son who's 6 month older than him didn't start talking fully but still non understandably til he was 3 n half yrs old. What you can do is to teach him simple sign language . don't be in a hurry to rush things my son didn't walk til he was past one yrs old. which was one year and 2 months which would make him the same age as your son started walking. He just shooted off one day. Kids will grow up on us quickly and how soon when we are chasing after them wishing that they were babies again or the talking back behavior then you go where is my sweet baby. Enjoy what he can do now than what he can't and only focus on how within a year your going to be worn out. My son will be 3 this august and oh my what a running about time because his nickname has been speedy gonzales for all his 2 yrs . As he getting closer to 3 his energy is increasing and I'm like so thankful for his grandma giving me a break otherwise I would be worn out and so worn of patience too besides.

oh don't you worry he will soon be talking and you will be wishing for those quiet days again believe me I have a son who was born with prader-willi syndrome and it took him forever to even roll over then he crawled backwards and never cood or babbled and although he is very delayed mind you he is 19 now he wont stop talking "laughinf" so don't feel the need to push just give him lots of stimuly and he will talk up a storm in no time

Get some baby books with lots of pictures and read the stories to him while pointing to the pictures, read them over and over till he knows them by heart. Soon he will point to the pictures and say the names. Encourage him and read the stories. You will be surprised at his response!

Making him cry is not one of the solution coz instead of you gain nothing you will also make him good at crying. I have 10 monhs old boy myself. And he can speak so many words although they are not clear but mostly understandable. What I and my servant have done is just talk to him as much as you can. Anything you and him hold, see, or point. This what I do to my boy and I guess I got the result. Why dont you try it. Good luck...!!!

You should say alot of small words around him to really get him starting. Ask to repaeat words after you and keep saying them. Whatever he does tell him what he does and ask him to say it. What ever he has ask him to say it. Just make sure you let him know what he is doing and keep him saying mnay words and sounds. Your child should be talkin in no time with aery good understanding ;)