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Our baby girl is 550 days old (~18 months), but can't speak like another baby girl that is 400 days old (~13 months).

We are worried about this. My baby girl understands anything, but when she wants to speak, she screams.

She started to stand and walk in 8th month but the other baby girl start walking in 12th month.

Some people say:

those babies who start walking early, will start talking late and vice versa

Is this true?

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    In normal, healthy babies, there's little correlation between talking, walking, potty training, etc. These skills can come at different times for different children, and the one to master one first may master the others last.
    – Marc
    Commented Jan 27, 2014 at 20:38
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    Einstein didn't talk until he was 4 (theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/mar/02/…).
    – gbro3n
    Commented Sep 3, 2015 at 9:28
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    I have the same concern: my 12.5 months climbs everywhere and almost runs, walking is done while carrying two objects at the same time and babbling, etc so no challenge walking (she started to walk unaided exactly at 10 months) but she doesn't say a single word yet
    – Thomas
    Commented May 2, 2021 at 18:33

5 Answers 5

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There's not necessarily a correlation between walking and talking, but it is very common for different children to meet milestones at different rates and in different orders. Some things are easier than others, and that differs from person to person, even as adults. Sometimes it's not a matter of competence, but of personality. Some people just plain like to listen more than talk, even as adults.

Especially you can't compare milestones between children with different parents. I know some parents who literally spend hours a day working on getting their babies to talk. Other parents are so good at anticipating needs that their babies don't have much need to talk. I'm not terribly surprised when the first baby learns to talk faster, although even then there's no guarantee.

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No, there's nothing to that as far as I know. What I do know for sure: comparing your baby's milestones to others' at every turn will drive you crazy. Instead, realize that as long as your baby's milestones are normal, they have low predictive value at best relative to her achievement in life.

In addition, if her receptive language skills are good, your daughter likely has no language-related problems at all. PBS developmental milestones show that it's perfectly normal for children to begin to speak anywhere from 12-19 months old, and I'm sure that there is no cause for alarm even a fair bit outside that window. In my experience, speech therapists may pooh-pooh moderate expressive language delays (which your daughter does not have yet) when receptive language skills are in place and there is no other sign of a problem.

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  • thanks my daughter can ...-From the very start, infants pay close attention to language. In the first year, they can distinguish all of the speech sounds that occur in natural language then they begin to specialize in the sounds of their home language. Most infants will: ... Commented Jan 8, 2013 at 8:08
  • - Respond to speech by looking at the speaker- Respond differently to the voice of a parent than to other voices - React to changes in a speaker's tone, pitch, volume, and intonation - Respond differently to their home language and another language - Communicate with bodily movements, by crying, babbling, and laughing - Attempt to imitate sounds maine.gov/education/speced/cds/cosf/devmileguide.pdf Commented Jan 8, 2013 at 8:09
  • From 1 to 2 Years : From the age of one to two years, kids often spend more time interacting with a wider range of people. They also start to gain a greater sense of self-awareness. At this stage, most can: ..... Commented Jan 8, 2013 at 8:10
  • thanks my daughter ... Recognize their own image in the mirror Initiate play activities Play independently, often imitating adult actions Act pleased when the accomplish something Start trying to help, often by putting toys away Express negative emotions including anger and frustration Become more self-assertive and may try to direct the actions of others psychology.about.com/od/early-child-development/a/… Commented Jan 8, 2013 at 8:12
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No, there is no negative correlation,and there is only a slight positive correlation between the two, in that some children with learning difficulties learn to walk and talk later.

Don't compare with others- follow developmental milestones provided- otherwise you run the risk of panicking for no reason. There it's a pretty wide range of expected ages to begin talking, walking etc.

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My now 20 year old pulled up to walk at just under 6 months and spoke early as well.
Being early at one doesn't mean the child will be late at the other.
My friend's child didn't speak until he was two and then full sentences flew out of his mouth with ease.

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Interesting question. Just some more anecdotal answers for you.

My daughter, now 4, walked at around 16 months, and was speaking just shortly afterwards.

However, my son, 23 months, walked at 10 months and was walking a soccer-ball across a room and back on the eve of his 1st birthday. But he only says no(or nope for fun), clearly. It is interesting how complex a conversation you can have with this little guy and he understands, but only verbally responds with "nope" and a smile. He does shout "da" for me, an "ah" for his sister (ah has absolutely no correlation with her name, by the way).

We taught both our kids sign-language (just for fun) and my son uses it nearly exclusively, and my daughter when she rather not speak.

We are not worried, remotely, since kids are products of their environment; and we've realized that the shade of the moon through the clouds on Wednesdays is more predictable than child developmental milestone timing.

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    So your son DOES in fact speak a language, just not English? That really matters in this case.
    – Weckar E.
    Commented Jun 15, 2017 at 11:14
  • @WeckarE. that's a very salient point, good catch. My son is now 5 and loves to talk... and learning other languages too, like German.
    – Lance
    Commented May 3, 2021 at 6:27

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