All the talk about Eve's daughter and her speech has got me worried about my kids again. I decided to make a new thread because everyone blames their speech development on being twins. So my question to you is when did your kids start really talking? Mine are 21.5 months old, and have just in the past few weeks started really saying words. We are nowhere near sentences of ANY sort. These are the words they can say... Mommy, Dada, baby, sit, cookie, cracker (all food is cracker to them, and it sounds like "kaka")byebye, & cup. Oh, and Maddie picked up "D*mm*t". Real nice huh? I can't think of anything else they really say. They occasionally point at stuff, but that's all. The docs say it's normal for twins, and they do talk in twin talk, but I worry so much!!! Any advice??

By Palmbchprincess on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 10:37 pm:

OOPS! Should have put it in parenting board!! Sorry about that!

By Bobbie on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 11:13 pm:

Yes this is normal... Callie my oldest didn't talk until she was almost 2 and a half... And she was a single birth.. But she started talking in full sentences like she knew how to talk all along just didn't... The girls were probably 2 and 1/2 when they first started talking in small sentences and then one day it was like would you please be quiet... One thing that will drive you nuts. Will be when they talk for each other. The girls still do that and they just turned 7 on Monday.... They will be fine...

By Palmbchprincess on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 11:31 pm:

Thanks Bobbie, and Happy Birthday to the girls!!! Everyone keeps telling me they will be fine, but when I see other kids their age it makes me worry. Their latest thing is running around saying "Mommy!! Mommy!!" for no good reason. What do you mean talk for each other? One thing I already notice is that Maddie is bossy. I was too as a child (heck I still am!! LOL) so she's always telling Shane "Sit! Go!". Now I know why parents have grey hair!!

By Bobbie on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 11:46 pm:

Yeah Bossy!!! I think there is one in ever set of twins... And the Mommy Mommy thing is common too. The girls would do that stuff too, kind of chanting/repeating words mommy being one of them.. And what I mean by talking for each other was basically the bossy stuff. Say Emily what would you like to drink. Katie pops off juice... Like Emily can't speak.. Katie still talks way more than Emily does.. Emily is like Daddy and Katie is like me. But Dillan is like me and Callie is like Daddy. Trust me it will all be fine...

By Momoffour on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 12:17 am:

palmbchprincess I am the mother of twins almost 3 year olds. Josie has just started the Mommy mommy thing everything she sees its mommy mommy look whats that all day long. Its funny but at times drives me nuts. she will burp now and its mommy mommy what was that

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 04:02 am:

DD 14's speech didn't really start taking off until after DD11 was born. The second baby was born when the first one was 2 years and 8 months. She said lots of words, but hardly any sentences. After the baby was born, all of a sudden, she was talking like crazy and getting to the point where she said a new word every day.

By Kittycat_26 on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 07:58 am:

Crystal, Timmy's not a twin but the same age as yours and he's not talking really at all. He says the same words, more or less, that Shane and Maddie do. You can get him to mimic you but only on a good day.

If they blame your twins speech on being a twin, I wonder what they are going to blame Timmy's speech on?

By Amy~moderator on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 10:54 am:

They sound right on track to me. And my kids did the "mommy, mommy" thing too.

By Vbw1978 on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 01:38 pm:

My little boy is 2 almost 2 1/2 & he is talking words now he can tell me when he wants something ,but no sentences yet. I dont think that there is any reason to worry, my doc told me that he is just fine that they talk whenever they want.

By Palmbchprincess on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 01:46 pm:

Thanks all... I feel a little better, since they aren't the only ones not speaking in sentences yet!!

By Conni on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 02:01 pm:

Crystal, I am not a Mom of twins but am a mom of 3 single births. I can tell you that EACH of my children started talking at different times. My first born was singing the ABC's, counting, talking in short sentences at 2. (actually a little before 2) He said all kinds of words from 6 mos-12mos of age.

2nd born--didnt talk near as quickly. Probably 2-1/2 he was talking alot. All he wanted to do was be read too. LOL If I wasnt reading to him, he was sitting and looking at his books waiting for me to read to him.

My baby (turns 4 next month)--Didnt really talk at all until 2-1/2--I mean barely said any words. I took him in to the doctor because I decided he had hearing problems!! lol My doctor checked him at different appts and told me to QUIT worrying so much. I even had people say things to me like 'Oh I guess you dont have much time to work with the 3rd kid' AAAAAAHHHHHH We talked to the kid and sang to him non stop. I mean literally he had someone in this house talking to him alllll the time. Anyway... Thats a whole other post.
My point is literally 2 weeks after that 2nd dr's appt to check his hearing, etc... He started talking in COMPLETE sentences and has not shut up since. I do mean that in the nicest way. LOL I mean not a quiet moment since. talk talk talk talk talk. He didnt pronounce every letter perfectly either. But he has began speaking more clearly over time.

He still to this day refuses to sing the ABC's he will be 4 next month!! He ONLY wants to sing you songs that HE has made up on his own. ugh And he has an answer for everything and I find him bossing around his big brothers all the time. They are hilarious!

Your post reminded me of how I was feeling when Blake was the same age as your twins.

By Pamt on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 05:25 pm:

I'm not a mom of multiples, but as a speech pathologist, I think you have reason to be concerned. Yes, many people have a "my child didn't start talking until 2 or 3 and then started in sentences" story. I hear them all of the time. And plenty of pediatricians will tell you to "wait and see" and "quit worrying." However, the fact of the matter is that when you go by NORMAL developmental norms a 24 month old child should have a vocabulary of approx. 200-300 words, speak in short incomplete sentences, use regular verb endings and plural "s", and use some pronouns and prepositions. Even at 18 months a normally developing child should have a vocabulary of 20+ words and be putting 2 words together (i.e., more juice, daddy bye-bye).

Will Shane and Maddie probably ultimately develop normal speech and language on their own without intervention? Likely yes. Do twins typically have delayed speech and language? Yes. However, just going by what you have posted (and keep in mind this is just an opinion based on your post and not a professional consultation) I would certainly want to have them evaluated. Even taking the twin issue into consideration they might have a 6-9 month delay. The ages of 2-3 are the most crucial for language development, when a child learns new words on a daily basis and blossoms into sentences, descriptions, being able to tell the events of the day, etc. For example, the average 3 y/o has a vocabulary of over 1000 words! You want to have them prepared to take the best advantage of that crucial language time as possible, I'm sure, so a jumpstart in the language dept. wouldn't be a bad idea. Just because a child has a language delay doesn't mean that he is any less intelligent or that he hasn't been stimulated enough at home. Most often it is something that just happens and we'll never know the cause. I don't know how speech therapy in the military works, but that might be a place to start. Also, almost all states offer free home-based early intervention services, regardless of income and that might be worth checking into. Here's a link for you http://www.eci.state.tx.us/.

Some other considerations...Do they "talk" a lot when they play by themselves? Can they pretend play? (Play skills preceed language development) Have they had a lot of ear infections? How do they make their needs known and/or indicate pain? Do they get frustrated if you don't understand what they are trying to communicate?

I'll try to post some early language stimulation activities you can do with them at home later. You can also email me at speech-chick@cox.net if you want. Just so you know, therapy this age is all done through getting on the floor and playing...no sitting at a table working on speech per se. Play is a child's work and how they learn best. I have a lot of 18 mos-2 y/os that I see and usually mom comes back for tx with the child. I spend the session basically showing her different ways to play with her toddler to encourage language at home and then she is really the one implementing the therapy program at home. HTH!

By Palmbchprincess on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 06:51 pm:

Pam,
Thanks for your input. I'm going to email you with a few answers to things you brought up, and a few more questions for you. I'll have to call Tricare and see what they offer for speech evaluation. I'm also going to check out that link. Thanks again everyone!!

By Pamt on Monday, March 22, 2004 - 10:38 pm:

Crystal,
I've tried to email you back twice and it keeps being refused. Do you have a blocker on...or something else going on with your email?
Pam

By Palmbchprincess on Tuesday, March 23, 2004 - 01:39 am:

Pam,
I don't have a blocker that I know of, but who knows. That's strange!! Email it to Tattoofireman@yahoo.com. Thanks!!