# Do animal noises count as words?



## Oliver'sMom (Jul 17, 2007)

I have a 20 month old son who can say 5 words (two of which are mama and dada), but also can say about 6 different animal noises. 

I'm worried about him having a speech delay. Should I even be worried at all? I've read that children his age should be saying at least 15 words...he isn't there even with the animal noises!

How much are your 20 month olds talking? My older son was talking in full sentences and singing entire songs at this age, but I'm pretty sure that's not the norm either


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## chel (Jul 24, 2004)

My just turned 2yr old was just evaluated for speech issues, and yes, animal sounds count.

Your son seems more advance than my dd at that age and she was evaluated as being in the normal range. My oldest was also talking in full sentences by now


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## SunRise (Apr 18, 2005)

You bet they do (in my opinion)! My daughters first words were arf arf and meow meow. (learned from the cat and the dog)

My daughter, who is now 24mths old was a big talker since a young age, babbling on a phone at 14 mths, using words are 18nths and forming 2 word sentence before age 2. On the other hand my son was an observer and kept everything in his head until he had perfected the english language and didnt start talking until later part of his 2nd year.


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## fizgig (Aug 3, 2007)

They definitely count, so do "social sounds" like uhoh, whoops, etc.

20 months is really young but he is behind the curve a bit and I would consider getting a hearing exam if he isn't talking more by 24 months. Some kids just talk a little late and catchup on their own but at a certain point it can't hurt to get him evaluated. Early intervention can be really hit or miss depending on where you are but they can come do an eval for free and at least give you a sense of what is up.


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