delayed verbal development

[mona600]

hi,
I have a 17 months old daughter and she could only speak, Mama, Papa and Baba. Her new born screening was fine , my husband and I have normal language/verbal development. She understands what we tell her, she knows and points where the moon or the stars are, or get her slippers or eat her food. She loves to play with children. Does she just have delayed development? What are the things that I may do at home to improve her verbal development? I don't want to wait till she gets 2 years old and realize it's too late for me to do something about it. I am located in the Philippines and I am not sure that I will find an expert to help her.

[mona600]

thanks, i feel and think well now...
your information is taken, i'll listen more attentively to her and i'll try to find the dvd and be more conversational to her. teach her to repeat words when i get home.
maybe it's also beacuse of her nanny, she doesn't talk to her all the time. I work Mondays-Saturdays, from 8-5, it surely is a factor, i believe
Thanks a lot to both of you.
God speed

[888mom]

My husband was 2 before he said his first word. His mom said his language really took off after that and he didn't have any further problems or delays.  By 2 1/2 she said he was up to normal for speech and by 3 he was reading.  That's why I didn't think too much about my daughter when she was 18 months old.  When she turned 2, I had concerns.  There is a difference between speech and receptive language.  When there is a lack of receptive language (i.e. understanding directions, responding to their name, etc), then there is usually more concern.  I didn't know there was a difference before my daughter turned 2.  At 17 months, I wouldn't worry too much.  

Some things speech therapists do for kids with just speech delays, is repeat a word lots of times.  Sometimes waiting to give the child an opportunity to say the word, but not waiting too long so they don't get too frustrated at you.  If you are able to buy things on the internet, and if you have a VHS/DVD player that plays in your country, you could try Baby Babble videos.  Well, anyways, the videos repeat words through play with toys, which you can do on your own too.  They repeat sounds as well.  Like ba ba ba ball while a ball is going down a toy.  And just playing with sounds in general, with or without words.  Getting your child to babble back to you is also important whether or not it's actual words, you can have a "conversation".  

[MJIthewriter]

At 17 months it's a bit early to say.  About age 2 or 3 would give you a better idea.  Just keep watching and noting differences. Sounds encouraging from the sounds of it she understands language. I did too before I was able to speak. Just for some reason I couldn't speak back in a way my parents could hear.