Hi, I’m Amanda, a licensed pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist (Speech Therapist). I am passionate about empowering you with the tools to get your child talking. I love working with parents to take the guesswork out of getting your baby, toddler or preschooler talking.
One of the most common questions I get asked by parents is, “How many words is my child expected to say? ” It’s important to know what counts as a word. When children are learning to talk their words are not expected to sound exactly like the adult version.
What counts as a word?
1. Word Approximations- This is common in very young children. A word approximation is when a child says part of a word versus the entire word. For example, “ba” for ball.
2. Animal Sounds “oink”, “moo”, “woof”, “quack”, “meow” (These are easy for children to say and imitate. This is a great place to start if your child is not talking yet.)
3. Sound Effects: beep-beep , vroom (These are perfect sounds to make while playing with cars.)
4. Exclamatory Words: These words easy for children to imitate and are fun to say. Some examples include “wee”, “yay”, “ow”, “uh-oh”.
5. Sign Language
We count it as a word if your toddler uses the word CONSISTENTLY, INDEPENDENTLY and INTENTIONALLY to refer to someone or something. If your baby or toddler says the word once, it would NOT count as a word. It is important to keep these word types in mind when counting the number of words that your child has. You may find that your child says more words once you refer to this list of what counts.
If you found these tips useful be sure to download your FREE Speech Sound Development Guide with first words tips to learn what sounds to expect and how to encourage those first words!
