My son is 17 months. He doesn't make sentences unless he's repeating short phrases we say, but I think he has a pretty good vocabulary. I believe it is because we have read to him so much since he was born, and we point at everything and talk about it to him. Do you read to her? If not, start doing so more and you'll begin to see a difference! Also remember that babies are different; some may do some things quicker than others, but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong unless the child is way behind for her age.

Hello, I'm a speech therapist and a mother of a 2yr 3 month old. As for a 17 month old, remember all kids are different when it comes to language development. Girls develop language skills sooner than boys, but the average 17 month old should be accurately imitating most words, speaking in jargon but with changing intonation, saying things like "bo" for boat, producing echolalic speech which is repeating things that you say. Do keep in mind that some kids are speaking a great bit more, my daughter was using simple sentences by 17 or 18 months. For most girls, the 2 year mark is a big turning point for language acquisition and for most boys it is around 2 1/2. This doesn't mean that they will magically begin speaking in sentences at 2 or 2 1/2, they will simply begin a huge language growth process. You would be amazed at how much they acquire between the 2 and 2 1/2 year mark, that 6 month window is amazing. Please don't freak out if your child isn't speaking just like another child in play group or daycare, just keep reading, LABEL EVERYTHING, and have fun! If you choose to show videos make sure you are available to watch them with him and talk about everything that is happening. I often tell parents that at the end of the day you should feel like you have been talking non stop! It will be to your child's benefit. And please use adult talk, DO NOT use baby talk! Slow your language down so that they can better understand, but speak in a normal way. I hope this helps! Good Luck and God bless!

My oldest son was talking at 9 months old and then when he hit one he was speaking quite well. By the time he was 2 years he was speaking in sentences and using 15 letter words in a sentence. I was told that not many children at the age of 2 use large words and able to put them into a complete sentence.

A neighbour of mine her son is one month older thsn my son and he still does not talk at that well, but his mom always talks "baby talk" to him and my husband and I never talked to our son that way. In fast she told me that I was raising my son the wrong way and that I should be talking baby talk to him. Our children are now 3 years old and her son uses 3 words in a sentence and my son uses 9 words or more in a sentence. Goes to show you the differences in how one talks to their children.

I know each and every child is different and develop at their own rate.

My granddaughter is 11 months old, she can say at least 12 words. Mama, Da Da, bye bye, Hi Da Da, Grampy, Moo, Bark Bark, Hi, more please, baby, happy baby, puppy. She gabs all the time. And it is so cute!!!

my daughter is 2 1/2and shes a little smarty pants shell say alot of sentences for example "mommy im tired i want sleep in my bed" or when she has done something wrong shes a good subject changer! i say time for time out she says noooo mommyy, dont make me kiss you!
sometimes out of boredom shell say silly thing like "onomatopeaia boing boing!" she makes up her own knock knock jokes (this my fav <3)

knock knock
whos there
CHEEEEESE
cheese who?
cheesey cheese HAHAHA got you!

ive always sang alot with her mostly songs like itsy bitsy spider and patty cake and a few other i know that have hand signals with them and ive always used kind of like our own sign language for just about anything like food or water or playtime i think it helped alot!