Lead
"Our child still isn't talking." Somewhere past the first birthday, that sentence takes up residence in the back of a parent's mind. On the walk home from the playground, where a same-age child was saying "woof-woof" and "vroom," a wave of anxiety arrives without warning. Open social media and there it is — a post about a thirteen-month-old already stringing two words together. Come home, watch your own child, and there's still just "aah" and "ooh."
This anxiety does not come from a failure of attentiveness. It comes, in fact, from paying close attention to a child's development. But before letting that attention tip into urgency, there are a few things worth thinking through carefully.
This article covers the medical range for first words, the difference between expression and comprehension, the social signals that precede language, and what it means to choose not to rush.