Posted by Eleni Prokopeas on Jul.28, 2009

©iStockphoto.com - jhorrocks

Take a minute and watch this adorable baby carry on a conversation…

Speech Development in Babies

Now, you may be wondering do all babies talk this much.  The answer is NO!

Science has found a significant correlation between fetal testosterone levels and vocabulary, suggesting that fetal testosterone might be involved in shaping the neural mechanisms underlying communicative development.

That is: the LOWER your testosterone, the greater your vocabulary.

One study found that girls had a significantly larger vocabulary than boys at the ages of 18 and 24 months after birth. Their discovery replicated previous findings of a female advantage in language ability, but revealed this sex difference at the earliest point of development.

Testing your child’s testosterone livel to see if it’s within normal range is worth looking into if your baby is not talking. But at the same time, if your child has a delay in speech that might also be an indication that something is wrong.

Having two girls and one boy to compare, I can honestly say my girls started talking 6-9 months before my son turned 2 years old.  The doctors and everyone kept telling me boys don’t develop as fast as girls and I had nothing to worry.  Well, that was the farthest thing from the truth.  As the months past, he just was not developing speech or saying any new words, later we tested him and found he had PDD / Autism.

Looking back now, I can see there were little signs all around me, I just didn’t see them because I didn’t know what to look for and really did not know much about autism.  My doctor did not test his testosterone level so I don’t know if that was a factor for my son. My biggest concern back then was that he was not talking and that was his biggest problem as he got older.  We started an intense program before his second birthday but even with all our efforts he only spoke 50 words at 4 years old.

I am happy to say that motivated me to look in other directions such as in biomedical, chelation, therapies, healthy diet, lots of supplements and today at 7years old, he is an average second grader that won’t stop talking about sports and his interest.

Don’t take it lightly if your child is not talking, that could be a sign something is wrong.
The earlier you start intervention, the earlier your child will start to get better.
Today, he won’t stop talking but after all those years of silence it’s just so beautiful to hear him go on and on and I never tell him to hush!

Sources:

Richard-Creations.net

Science Direct March 11, 2002; 24(4):418-424

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Posted under Alternative Treatments, Autism, Family, GDM Kids, Tweens, Teens, Video & Interviews, Videos.