# what age do toddlers talk in sentences?



## ElliesMomma (Sep 21, 2006)

what age do most toddlers start talking in sentences? just curious. thanks.


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## Livviesmom0207 (Mar 21, 2007)

My DD is 28 months and she speaks in sentences. I don't know what's "normal" though.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful than that!


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## paxye (Mar 31, 2005)

My second DS started at about 18 months...

My other two were late talkers....
DS#1 started at about 2.5-3y and ds#3 is 2.5 now and is starting....


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## angie7 (Apr 23, 2007)

My twins were talking in 3-5 word sentences by 15 months.


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## tankgirl73 (Jun 10, 2007)

DD was a later-ish talker. Started talking (more than just a few basic words) around 16-18mo or so, had basic 3-word sentences around 2 years or so. Now she's almost 2.5, and has complex multi-part sentences with pronouns and prepositions and "maybe" and "should" and "I can't" and advanced things like that. That's really exploded over the last couple weeks.


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## Mylie (Mar 15, 2004)

to put 2-3 word sentances together although is still not consistant with it yet..

I think all kids do it at their own pace..There is a little girl who is in L's daycare class..She is 23 months old and talks in sentances and knows her colors and numbers..









But there is also a little boy and girl born in the same month as her and one doesn't say as much as my little girl and the other is in between..

I think it is all up to the kids and what they are willing to grace us with...







:


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## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

I think there's a big wide range of normal.

Most kids will be able to put two words together (like "go park" or "see doggy") by 25 months. Longer sentences come soon after. Many kids put two words together much earlier-- as early as 14 or 15 months. A few perfectly normal kids wait until 2 1/2 to do it.

DD1 was about 23 months when she put two words together, and was using longer sentences in the three or so months after that. Counting, colors, and all that stuff came slowly between 2 and 3.

DD2 started putting two words together around 18 months, and could make longer, complex sentences by 2. She's 27 months now and can count to five but knows no colors.

DS is 27 months. At 2, he only very occasionally put two words together. Now, he's JUST starting to be able to put 3 together, and still mostly talks in one-word phrases with gestures to fill in the details. He couldn't possibly care less about colors or counting or anything like that, although he knows EVERY type of construction vehicle and quite a lot about farm animals.


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## ylimesp (Apr 28, 2009)

I am a speech language pathologist who has worked in the early intervention field. I like to see kiddos having 50 words by 24 months and beginning to put two words together like "my ball" "go daddy" etc. That is my basic rule of thumb.


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## KristaDJ (May 30, 2009)

Normal range varies _greatly_. Mine have spoken in long clear sentences well before two years but I've heard of and seen other perfectly healthy/normal kids not say much of anything at all until three or more.


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## heidirk (Oct 19, 2007)

DS1 had tons of words by 15 mos. Then he started substituting 'dat' for every word, except a few verbs.

we heard 'wan dat' ( I want that) and 'wha dat?' for about a year, slowly adding a word or two each month- maybe.

around 28 months I started to get worried, although, he did have quite a few signs, too, and would invent ones to express things like 'groundhog', and 'Star Trek' (don't ask







) I decided to just wait, because his development was on track and ahead for everything else.

after his little brother was born, his language exploded. He came to me one day and handed me the hand pump and a balloon, "momma, boo up noo?" I laughed out loud, and said sure.

The very next day, _this_ comes out of his mouth, "Momma bear made hot soup for them to eat."









He's never looked back.


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## Amylcd (Jun 16, 2005)

My first was talking in sentences at 15 months. The second sometime around 18 months.

My third said her first full sentence this week - she's 25 months. (She said "I can see you, Daddy")


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## fancyoats (Jun 12, 2008)

dd is 19 months and has started putting 2-3 words together in the last couple of weeks. she'll say stuff like "boo-boo ouch" or "amy sit" or "outside cold raining" or "airplane fly sky" (although it's more like "ay-pee fy-fy ty") "spiders eat bugs" ("pi-pi eat buh")

and my favorites: "butthole poopoo out" heehee!!!


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## LynnS6 (Mar 30, 2005)

It depends on what you mean by sentences.

The average age for combining two words is 24 months - things like "doggy ride" or "want juice". Some kids start this as early as 16 months (unusual), others wait until 26 months (also relatively unusual).

Between 2 and 2 1/2 most kids slowly expand the size of sentences so that by 2 1/2, you're usually getting things like "I want juice" or "where's my big ball?" But some kids are three before they've got simple sentences down, others are 2 when these come rolling off the tongue.

Between 3 and 4, most kids are working on complex sentences, things like "I like the ball that's red" or "I think I'll go outside". Again, there's a wide range of this.

When to be concerned:
When a child is over 24 months and doesn't have at least 100 words.
When a child is over 26-27 months and doesn't combine 2 words in spontaneous phrases ("what's that?" and "thank you" don't count as 2 word phrases).
When a child is over 3 and hasn't combined 2 words, or hasn't expanded at all into 3-4 word sentences.


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## missbuns (Oct 16, 2007)

yes, depends on what you mean by sentences. when i worked at a daycare center with 60 kids under age of 3 none of the kids below 18-20 months spoke in three/four word sentences with the exception of two. i can't imagine a 15 month old speaking in sentences but i guess it does happen! to me sentences are not "want milk" but "i want milk".

mine started around 22 months with "cat eat food" to "cat is eating food" now at 24 months. she also says things like "i need my blanket right now" and not "want blanket! want blanket!". before bed last night she said "tomorrow when i wake up play at Simon's house some more". she says long things now.

at 17 months she didn't even say mama! so it happened pretty fast for us, but i think her "real" sentences started around 23 months.


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

DD1 didn't speak in 3-word sentences until 26 months.

DD2, two weeks before her 1st birthday, told her sister "don't touch it, it's mine!". She was weird like that--she'd babble incoherently for a couple of weeks, then bust out with a big sentence, then nothing for a couple more weeks.


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## LuxPerpetua (Dec 17, 2003)

I think around 19 months dd started doing 2 word sentences. About two weeks later, though, she had a language explosion and was telling complex stories with multiple word sentences. I just remember being blown away by how rapidly she progressed.


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## kcstar (Mar 20, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *an_aurora* 
DD1 didn't speak in 3-word sentences until 26 months.

DD2, two weeks before her 1st birthday, told her sister "don't touch it, it's mine!". She was weird like that--she'd babble incoherently for a couple of weeks, then bust out with a big sentence, then nothing for a couple more weeks.

We were sitting down for dinner together, DS was FOUR MONTHS old, and he suddenly looks at both of us and says "Luv you." Then nothing for months again.

At 21 months he's saying a lot of things in the rhythm of sentences, but I'm not making sense of much of it.


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## readytobedone (Apr 6, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *missbuns* 
yes, depends on what you mean by sentences. when i worked at a daycare center with 60 kids under age of 3 none of the kids below 18-20 months spoke in three/four word sentences with the exception of two. i can't imagine a 15 month old speaking in sentences but i guess it does happen! to me sentences are not "want milk" but "i want milk".


yeah, i think of sentences as having a correct subject. maybe that is asking too much









but by that definition, DD started speaking in sentences right around her 2nd birthday. she went from saying "more milk" to "i want milk," and from saying "up!" when she wanted me to pick her up to saying "mama, pick me up."

we are working on the "please"


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## askew (Jun 15, 2006)

By 26-27 months DS had 5+ word sentences with correct use of tense and pronouns. He also knew all his colors, could count to 15 and read uppercase alphabet.

I thought it was unique because at 24 months he barely had 50 words and a few 2 word phrases. We were wondering about doing speech therapy. It seemed to all come overnight, like some light switch turned on in his head.


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## Mhorai (Mar 21, 2007)

I think there is a huge range here. My son was saying "I want bike park" and "I want draw bus" at 16-17 months. He just turned 2 and regularly says 7-10 word sentences.


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## kirstenb (Oct 4, 2007)

DS just turned 2 and has started putting two words together in the past few weeks. He hasn't started saying sentances though.


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## missbuns (Oct 16, 2007)

there is a huge range but i certainly don't think 15-16 months is *average* for proper sentences. "Ball!" or "Want ball!" sure, but "I want the ball, Mama!" not so common.

on AVERAGE i think they start to happen around 22-30 months. at least that's when it happened on average for the 100 or so kids i've been in contact with for the past couple years.


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## PatchChild (Sep 1, 2006)

My DS just turned 2 and is in early intervention including speech due to a hearing loss. He gets evaluated every 6 months because of it so we're always being told what is "average" for a given age. At a year and a half he was using 3 and 4 word sentences and we were told that was more like a 2 or 2.5 year old.

Apparently, using plural s and possessive s, as well as words like in and on, are more like 3 year old skills.


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## OkiMom (Nov 21, 2007)

My daughter is 26 months old and she uses 2-4 words in a sentence (when I can get her to talk that is). This morning she got into the Christmas ornaments and threw one, when it broke she looked at me and said "Mommy, the ball broke".


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## MayBaby2007 (Feb 22, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *paxye* 
My second DS started at about 18 months...

My other two were late talkers....
DS#1 started at about 2.5-3y and ds#3 is 2.5 now and is starting....

How can you remember that?! I have to write everything down or I will forget. DD is 24 months and I cannot sit here and remember what she was doing (milestone wise) 2 mos ago









DD is 24 mos. The longest sentance I can remember her saying is 10 words "I wanna take KK outside to play in the sunshine. Ok, Mommy?" (Ok mommy was a question, not part of sentance, lol). That's the norm for her right now I guess. And she never--_never_--stops talking. (Her zodiak is Gemini "The Chatterbox". Suits her very well







).

I can't remember when she started sentances--or talking for that matter. She was young, but not sure exactly when. I feel rotten not remembering this stuff







I think (I hope!) I have it written down somewhere. What's my name again?


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## treemom2 (Oct 1, 2003)

At 13 months, DD was speaking in sentences. DS was not speaking in sentences until 24 months. I was pretty worried about DS's speech development, I mean my DD was speaking soooo early and DS spoke so late. Then one day, he just busted out with talking. . .with a very large vocabulary and a lot of understanding (sometimes when I would talk to DD I didn't think she really was understanding what I was telling her). I have a book about speech development (my SIL a speech path gave it to me) and it talks about 2nd or subsequent children speaking later, boys speaking later, early walkers speaking later. . .so I think there are a lot of factors when thinking about normalcy


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## sewaneecook (Nov 1, 2005)

DS is 35 months and just started putting together 3 word combinations. He's definitely on the slower end for talking.


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## FoxintheSnow (May 11, 2004)

My ds (now 5) was a late talker. I don't think he started sentences till around 3ish. Everyone had me so worried about it, but now at 5 he is at age level for language.


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## leighi123 (Nov 14, 2007)

My ds has been speeking in full scentinces sense about 15months - at 12months he could only say 'da' which ment 'dad, dog and duck', but he was signing 20 or so words by then.
He started 'real' scentinces by 18months, he had a vocabulary of over 200 words then. Now he uses them all the time, and says really long ones. I've lost track of how many words he knows!

My sister said her first scentince at 2.5ish - she never really talked at all until around that age. Her first was 'Mommy, Leigh-Ann hit me'


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## sewaneecook (Nov 1, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *shannona* 
Reading to ur child every night before bedtime minimally really helps.

Or you can read to a child for about 30 minutes or so every day and he still isn't talking in sentences at 3 (phrases are used, but not sentences). However, he does know his letters and the sounds that each letter makes!


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