How many words...

[Googsmom aka Jennifer]

So when Brook and I went to her "visit the school day" the teacher lady said that most kids around the age of 2 1/2 can say 250+ words wether it be signing or speaking.

Is this true?

Brook is doing GREAT w/ her signing and we take alot of ST road trips to show her what she is signing. Like the other day we went to the zoo to practice the animal signs Or we go to the beach, forest, store, etc to practice

When I was talking to Mary's other mom a few days ago we were discussing this and she got worried. Some of you know Mary has another 2 yr old sibling 3 months older than Brook. I guess I never noticed he wasn't talking. ~K~ says he has hardly any words she can understand. Wanted to know about Brooks ST lady and I told her it was me . She contacted the ESD girls Brook deals with and they are coming to do a evaluation on him. She's kinda worried. She doesn't know what's wrong.

Question I guess is:
250+ words by that age? Have you heard of this too?
What could be the reason behind ~J~ not talking?

[momofrussell]

250 plus for a child w/DS or a typical child that is 2 1/2?!!!!!!

WHAT PLANET IS THAT PERSON ON AND WHAT PIPE ARE THEY SMOKING???

And I am speaking for the typical 2 1/2 yr old AND the child w/DS..........

A.

[damarasmom]

I have to say that 250 words seems VERY high to me at that age...If someone said that to me I'd be outta my mind...Damara does NOT have that large of a vocab including signs and verbal and she is 4 1/2!!!
I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in that!

[Googsmom aka Jennifer]

Thats what I thought too A and S. I thought it was alot but that is what was on the paper and she said so. Of all the papers I have from her I can't find this one. I think I was so mad/upset/confused I left that one there I'm positive thats what it said though b/c it stuck in my head. I'm sure I asked that question too... who?... I do believe she said all kids. I'm just confused so I was asking the experts, ie: everyone here Brook is up to almost 150 words w/ her signing, still no verbal words, but I thought she was doing fine. I'm not comparing Brooker or ~J~ to this paper or this teacher ideas either, just wondering if anyone else has ever heard this. To each his/her own in their own time is my way of thinking

What planet you ask... I think she belongs on the Willie Nelson planet.... LOL... he sang alot of songs about that wacky tabaky last night... LOL

[char]

My granddaughter is 3 years and 3 months, and she does not say or sign 250 words, and she has ST and her parents work with her daily. I'm not even certain my children used 250 words and that age, and I know for a fact that my youngest did not because someone always talked for him! He had three older siblings, and they were not going to make him do a thing.

Char

[Chris too]

Gee. I counted up Stevie's working vocabulary just before she turned 3 & I quit counting at 300. Yes, she spontaneously used over 300 words before age 3 & more now. My other kids were at this level of speech at around 20-24 months, except for David. I was worried about David & had him evaluated at about 2 1/2 because he didn't talk much at all. The therapist who evaluated him told me he was right on the edge of a cliff for talking. Sure enough, two weeks later he was using 6-7-8 word sentences with perfect clarity. Sand-bagger. Maybe my kids (including Stevie) are just gifted in the language department; I dunno.

[Chris too]

I want to add that even though Stevie has this big vocabulary & makes her own 3-4 word sentences, she doesn't talk on the level of the other kids in her pre-school - she is most definitely delayed in speech, but not by much. I'd say that the teacher was pretty close to right on with her statement.

[lespring]

When Angela started preschool at age 3 yrs 2 months, she had only about 10 words she could say, and of those I could understand all of them but strangers could only get 2 or 3.

However, she had over 600 signs! And that wasn't even accurate, because that's where we stopped COUNTING! So, I'm thinking at 2 1/2 she probably had somewhere around 300-400 or so.

Now, you have to remember I'm a sign language interpreter, so I had a sign vocabulary in my brain and I signed EVERYTHING I said to her. She picked it up very quickly and her vocabulary tested at or above typical children. By age 5 she'd slowed down a lot, but she also stopped signing, and I'd stopped signing to her. I think even I could only understand about 60% of what she said by that point, but she jabbered CONSTANTLY!

[momofrussell]

Chris too, my youngest had an extensive vocab as far back as 18-24 months herself and i know it CAN happen, but I am thinking just "norms" for the sake of the argument, KWIM?

My oldest could talk at a young age but wasn't a "talker" if that makes sense... she was a "looker".... my youngest on the other hand IS a "talker" and has always had an extensive vocab. Russell... LOL.... he can't speak and his signing very lacking also.

Maybe 250 for a typical child isn't far off at that age, I don't know. It seems high but to be honest, I never counted either! Maybe it IS the norm.....

A.

[liasmom]

I think at about 3 1/2 Lia had 100 signs/words total. I thought she was doing great. Every child is different Stevie is totally gifted in the speech dept. My grandson and friends son both did not talk much til 4- and they do not have ds. Nancy

[ALLISA]

This is such a hard question.....our kids have ONE thing in common....an extra chromosome....aside from that.....they are individuals......

Erin does NOT have 250 words now ( and she is 8).......but......I DO know kids with ds who had 250 words by age 2......so......I think there is no right answer......

I remember when Erin was SO SO little, looking up in a "DS Book" to see WHEN she should be hitting milestones ( walking, crawling, sitting, etc)....and being so dismayed that the range was 12 months----48 months for walking.....how was I supposed to "measure" her if I had a 4 year variance ?

Same as speech.....

Now the reason my Erin didn't have speech and still is very delayed is her PDD NOS dx.....BUT.....doesn't mean that is what "J" has......Erin lacked ALL communication....not just speech....she just totally didn't get the idea of communicating....KWIM ? If a child wants a drink and can't SPEAK....they can do other things, PECS, taking mom by the hand, etc, etc.....Erin.....didn't ahve the faintest idea what to do.....so the poor thing just cried.......

Speech itself isn't AS important as the ability to communicate....if he is doing that.....I'd say the speech will come.......

[mollysmomma]

molly probably has that many, and every once in awhile they slip out, but im learing that she does what she has to do in speech to make her ST happy....but in NO WAY is she using them conversationally!

I heard her say "elephant" the other day....something was on TV...all 3 syllables as clear as a bell. That's the only time I've heard it.


and something else...no matter HOW hard we prod, she will NOT show us she can write her name. Then one day, we were signing in at school, and i told HER to do it...and there it was...M-O-L-L-Y! RIGHT on the line it was suppose to be on!

She has lost more words than she currently is using, and that always is a heart breaker for me...and it's ATTITUDE! Like she USED to say "ice cream" but now? It's like "I'm holding a cone and pointing at the freezer....DUH!" but she refuses to say it.


and STUBBORN? if we try to force it??? She'll throw down the cone and walk away.

I am grateful she still says and signs...."please and thank you"


OH OH OH
she won't call me mom....although she has slipped up on that one, too, so i KNOW she is able...she continues to
call me "EYE"

e
pulling out my hair mom
of molly the mule.

[kerri]

Hi, I haven't posted in a very long time, but I've been lurking a bit lately and I had to respond to this. The agency where I do EI uses the HELP Strands Developmental assessment and it says that at 24-30 mos a child should have 50+ words. 250 for a typical child is ridiculous.

[Googsmom aka Jennifer]

Thank you to all who replied Some interesting things to think about. Brook is doing wonderful in her signs and we continue to learn about 3-5 new ones a day and i'm so very proud!! (You don't know how many times I have beemed to tell someone about Signing Time when they ask how Brook learned) Mary is starting to teach the other two little one's at her dad's house signing too Her and my neice are also doing very good w/ signs. My neice can read a whole book to Brook just signing. (I've mentioned before how smart that kid is.) We have even been doing sight words and pictures. I made up a bunch of index cards with the word on it in bold black ink and I ask her what it says, and she signs it. Same w/ the pictures. I ask her what it is and she will sign it. She loves to learn so I will just keep plunking along to teach her
Every kids is smart no matter how many words they know!! Just like in the "grown up" world there are some things that people are better at others. Kids are no exception Kids are kool

ETA: Brook can only sign about 9 of the words in the stack but about 15 of the pictures. I didn't want it to sound like she knows all her sight words or pictures

[steffaroni]

Hiya....

Ya know never did count any words or signs Liv used. In my opinion its the quality of the words and the ability to get your point across rather than the quantity. For example, we live in L.a. right? So the fact that I never stressed the importance of signing cow or pig seemed adequate. Not seeing too many cows or pigs round these parts. lol ..

BUT... I want more, show me,family members? wants n nees and everyday activities like bathing washing dishes etc were considered important to me. We did the word match with Liv with real pictures. Now the words meant nothing to Liv at the time but later on she could recognize the words really easily. I'd take a picture of the milk carton, a spoon a fork etc everyday items. Then we would practice em with words rather than signs as Liv was dying to learn em and showed nothing but enthusiasm.Her first big words were her families names she knew them really young as we are her fav ppl. I am telling you I think the addition of real life pictures(not 4-5 per picture but one) of ppl places and things are what expanded Livs vocabulary. I just added the words to the bottom of the pics(index card was pasted to the bottom half of pic) and wrote in black bold marker the words. Like I said I didn't bother with the written word till later . BUT to this day the way Olivia learns new words is by us making books(homemade) with new words added and she helps me write the story which are usually about actually always about herself, family or friends. At one point we were making 5 books a week and she was learning so many new words this year(hey I took a break this summer)I hafta share one of her books on you tube one day. But Suzi that is for amuch later date much later. But thepics worked much better just remember only one item per picture.You'll have a stack going and I betcha she will ask you to do em all the time since its stuff n ppl she loves most. (((HUGS))) Steff