My toddler isn't talking yet, should I be worried?

Speaker: Kharyl Anne Piano, MS, Speech Language Pathologist

Kharyl Anne Piano, MS: Hi, my name is Kharyl Anne Piano, and I'm a speech language pathologist at CHC. So the question is my toddler isn't talking yet, should I be worried? This is a great question and a very common question that we get from families. So we would expect the child's first words to emerge around 12-18 months and then their vocabulary starts to grow to about 50 words by age 2 - 2.5. grow to about 50 words by age 2 - 2.5. And during this time it's really important to support your child's language by providing a language rich environment. So we can do things like model simple sentences by commenting or narrating on what you're doing, what your child is doing, the environment around you. You can also imitate their vocalizations that imitate their babbling and then also making sure that you're face to face at the eye level when you're speaking to them. I would suggest picking one routine out of your day to intentionally use some of these strategies with your child, and you can do it during meals, baths or bedtime. It's important to note that these milestones are ranges and you know your child the best. So if your child is not meeting these milestones, you should speak with your pediatrician, since early intervention is key.