# How clearly should a 21 month old be speaking?



## photochef (Aug 14, 2005)

Because my daughter has a ton of approximations, but only a few words that come close to a correct pronounciation. When do things start to clear up? I know she knows a LOT more words than she can say, and this frustrates both of us, because we both REALLY want to be able to communicate better with each other.

Her best words:
Poopies = puppies
Moah = More
and
No is clear.

All else, you have to know her.

Where are your kids?


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## askew (Jun 15, 2006)

I have read that by 3 people should be able to understand clearly what is said. I think toddlers pronunciation refines over time. Your DD sounds totally normal. My 2 yr old still has lots of words that are not 100% clear. Like wed for red, and lellow for yellow etc.


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## Blue Lotus (Jun 16, 2006)

I don't remember where I read it now, but what I found was that by 2, an aduld that doesn't know your child will understand about 25% of what they say. By age 3 it is over 50%, and by 4 closer to 75-80%. Parents will obviously understand more









Have you tried teaching your LO some signs? They make a HUGE difference in communication. There are some excellent sites online.

DD is pretty well understood by friends & family, when she chooses to talk. But it still helps that she has a good signing vocabulary.


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## pbjmama (Sep 20, 2007)

Articulation should develop alot more in the coming months. My ds is in speech therapy for delay but mostly articulation (32 months) and it was somewhat difficult to find someone to do an evaluation and therapy for him at this age.


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## PatchChild (Sep 1, 2006)

My DS is 20 months. None of his words have ending consonants. He works with a speech therapist because of his hearing loss and she says that at this point, no ending sounds is totally average and expected.


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## veganf (Dec 12, 2005)

It varies so much. My first child could speak in complex sentences at a year old, yet #2 didn't say his first words until 23months, and #3 was in between. I wouldn't worry about it, she sounds fine.


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## photochef (Aug 14, 2005)

Speaking of signing, she knows a lot of baby sign words and uses them in conjunction with her word approximations.

We have no ending consonants for most words, no beginning consonant
for many words.

Here is an example of how most words go:
French Fries = Acha (signed with F-F for fries)
Grapes = Pitch
Cheese = Tee
Music = mumu (signed with music)

So you think it is a self-solving developmental thing? I don't have other kids her age around to compare her to, except for one cousin 2 months ahead who at 18 months was speaking in clear sentences "It's dark outside! I wake up!" and here I feel so excited when she strings three words of a concept together with pauses between the words.

I know not to compare her to other kids in a competitive way, but I don't want something to be wrong and not do my best to help her. KWIM?

I know she's smart, she potty trained herself overnight a month ago and hasn't had a single accident. She reads a few sight words, and know a lot of the alphabet and the sounds for the letters. She can follow complicated instructions : Go to your room and bring a pair of white socks from the bottom drawer of your dresser. Take this empty trashcan and put it on Daddy's side of the bed by the bathroom.

But this one thing seems to be way behind the other things she can do.


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## pbjmama (Sep 20, 2007)

She is not behind, at all. Developmental things happen in stages, it sounds like she is ahead of average in all other areas. Her receptive language is obviously great. Give her some time.


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## iris777888 (Apr 3, 2007)

Our DS is in exactly the same place at 23 months. He can follow very complex instruction, signs, is clearly very smart, but speaks about the same as yours. We get the vowel sounds only of some words, and have under five clearly understandable words he uses on a regular basis. If you know the context, you can usually pick up on what he's try to say, but not always. Occasionally he'll use other words, sometimes even a few together like "close the door" and not ever try to use them again.

Both sides are often frustrated here too, but we're trying not to pressure him on it. He was early on learning/doing everything else so far that I just keep thinking he's probably doing fine and will be one of those kids that it suddenly just clicks at some point.


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## dantesmama (May 14, 2006)

She sounds perfectly normal. My 3yo had *horrible* pronunciation until just recently - at your dc's age, it was like listening to a foreign language. Some kids just take longer to figure out how to pronounce everything correctly. Btw, ds1's speech got a LOT better when I started supplementing his diet with omega-3s.


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