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I have 5 kids, all have developed language differently. My oldest (and only formally identified as gifted) didn't speak 2 words together until after he was 2. My second child (who is now 8) is almost certainly gifted, but we haven't tested him. He was speaking 2 word sentences clearly at 12 months. His teacher at daycare, the year he turned 2, said that she loved having him in her class because she could have an actual conversation with him. We were even stopped by an airplane captain in an airport once because he overheard him talking and wanted to know how old he was. He was in disbelief when I told him 2. My other three children have been more "normal" in their speech develpment.

Here's a quick tour of normal language development, with the caveat that even typical children vary widely:

~12 months, first words. (First signs for sign-exposed babies are typically earlier, due to better motor control of the hands.)

~18-24 months, the "naming explosion": acquisition of up to 10 new words a day, using the processes of "fast mapping" (learning the name of a thing after one exposure) and "incidental learning" (learning from the speech of adults who are not talking directly to the child).

~12-24 months, "telegraphic speech": two word constructions, with basic grammatical roles (e.g. adjective-noun, subject-verb, verb-object).

~2-3 years, gradually increasing length of utterances to 3, 4, and 5 words.

~3-5 years increasing mastery of more complex grammatical structures, function words, prefixes and suffixes, etc.

Thanks MegMeg for the reality check.

Most pediatrician screening looks for problem, so the numbers they look for tend to be at the threshold between low-normal and delayed. Not the norm. There is also a ~6month (I think) difference between boys (the median boy) and girls (the median girl) and a huge spread between the low and high ends of normal.

DAD22, have you found any good research on language development for multilingual children? The data I have seen (we speak a language other than English at home, and DS5 and DS8 are enrolled in a Spanish immersion elementary school) often seems poorly researched, on both the "multilingualism is wonderful, it will make your child brighter" side and the "being exposed to more than one language too early will break your child's brain" side (caricaturing only slightly ;)).

I'll add our data to the pool, but will give a caveat - our ds was later in life (age 10) diagnosed with an expressive language disorder, and also has severe dysgraphia/possible stealth dyslexia and a few other acronyms DS12 did not have *any* words at 12 months, no words at 24 months either. At the time I just believed he was on the low end of a very wide spectrum and didn't realize it as anything either unusual or anything to worry about. DS did sign with us, although his signing vocabulary was limited by the small amount of signs his parents had time to learn lol. When he was around 3, he all of a sudden started talking, and when he did start talking, it was in long complicated sentences expressing deep thoughts and was a little bit like talking to a college professor most of the time, the kind of talk that made adults who didn't know him drop their mouths open when he talked to them.

Our dds were both adopted internationally (dd9, MG, adopted at 15 months, dd7, possibly HG? definitely high achiever, adopted at 11 months). Both had never heard English spoken until coming home with us. DD9 started talking at around 20 months and it was a combo of her native language and English, and her language was somewhat slow to develop. DD7 began understanding English within weeks of being home at 11 months, and by 13 months was speaking simple 2-word phrases. I don't have a count of how many words she had at any given point in time because... she's my third child...

polarbear

I did a bit of research regarding the decision to teach my first child two languages from birth (3 if you count signing). That was years ago now. What I remember was that her initial language development could be delayed, but that ultimately the exposure was supposed to make her more creative (though not necessarily smarter). I don't know which studies I was trusting, nor if they were deservedly trustworthy.

My grandparents taught my Aunt French and English as a child, and they believe it made her stutter. They claim that when they stopped speaking French to her, that the stuttering stopped. I just googled this, and it seems there is some scientific evidence to support their claims.

My plan has been to focus on English if my daughter showed any signs of stuttering or mixing the languages. She doesn't mix or stutter at all, and she has known that "Daddy doesn't speak Chinese" for quite some time now (currently 2.75 years old). There's also a woman at her daycare that doesn't really speak any English. I think it's good to have monolingual people in her life who will give her a blank stare if she mixes the languages.

It is so different by child. We have a friend whose daughter (I can tell she is smart now -2yrs) didn't utter a word until 18 mo, she is just now (26mo) putting two words together but her vocab is growing dramatically by day. My nephew was crazy old, I was convinced he had autism, but then he started speaking in complete sentences and seems bright.

DD on the other hand was using 25 words on a regular basis by 1 and had a crazy "vocab" of different animal sounds (over 25). She was also saying "all done" as she signed it. I didn't realize she was speaking early until at our 9 month apt Apt the doctor said I can't believe she is talking. I haven't ever ever had a baby who could talk by 9 mo. (she was saying "up", "agua", "mom", "dad", and "miu" (for milk). It didn't seem like a ton to me but apparently he thought it was.

I have read about several children on this board not talking until later then talking in sentences. Also, wasn't it Einstein that didn't talk until he was 3? Apparently his mom thought he was mentally challenged or something. Different for every child. The very early talkers do seem to be very smart, but that doesn't mean late talkers will not be.

My two were late-talkers.

DD9 had a few words at two. She made a lot of noise, but did not say much even at three. We had her assessed by an SLP who found her receptive language was 'fabulous'... which we already knew, and were advised to give her lots of opportunities to talk. Ridiculous advice aside, she began to speak in long paragraphs at 3.5 years. It was like she was just waiting until she knew she could do it perfectly.

DS3 was referred to a program for late-talkers at 28 months. He probably had 15 words at that point, but he rarely used some of them. I was not even remotely concerned about him, given his sister's history, but we registered for the program. The week of the first class, he started to talk. They regaled him as a 'success' and took all the credit. Really, he was just ready. On his assessment last month he is on par with a five year old for speech and receptive language (sadly his verbal IQ was rated at 34%-ile because the tester pushed his hands out of the way when he tried to point at a picture on the first question too quickly. This simple act had him under the table and refusing to participate).

DD9 has ADHD, dyslexic dysgraphia and likely stealth dyslexia. I wonder about DS... he has learned everything so very quickly: numbers, shapes, colours... all of them in a five minute sitting. With letters, he has a mental block. He can find the letters in his name but that is it. When he plays preschool computer games, he starts to cry as soon as the letters flash on the screen and asks me to 'put them away'. He certainly has other red flags for dyslexia.

It's happening again. My son spoke 6 words when he turned 1. He's 13 months now, and learning a new word or two every day. It's like he's had 4 months of progression in 2 months. While my daughter started daycare at 3 months, my son has been with his maternal grandmother instead. Their childhoods should be significantly different as a result, but here we are again. Weird.

My ds6 did not start speaking well until he was about 4. However when he did he started speaking in full sentences. He had trouble pronouncing certain words but his vocabulary in certain interest areas has always been above average. He was identified as gifted in the first grade. DD8 started speaking very early. She was singing the alphabet song at 18 months old and could speak in full sentences before she was three. She has not however been formally identified for the gifted program.

Since birth I've spoken to DS (2y4m) exclusively in English and DH speaks to him in Spanish. I'm pretty sure DS's English is advanced for his age (he talks in short paragraphs), but his Spanish has been slower to develop, although based on the charts, it seems to be age-appropriate. Lately DH has been home more and DS2's spoken Spanish is growing by leaps and bounds.