Between 15 and 20 months, parents start noticing that a child has few or no words, and almost everyone around them says “wait, they’re young”. Here is the honest version: by 18 months most children say around 10 to 20 words (counting approximations like “ba” for ball), but the number of words matters less at this age than understanding, gestures, pointing and shared attention. If those are strong, a late start usually resolves. If they are missing too, that is the signal to act now, not at two. A speech and language assessment has no minimum age, and at Starwalkers Clinic in Dubai Healthcare City it costs AED 160–199 per session, or AED 1,999 for a 10-session package, with you in the room.

What is typical at 15, 18 and 20 months?

If your 18-month-old is not talking yet but does most of the right-hand column, you are most likely looking at a late talker, and the strategies below plus an early check are the sensible response. If the right-hand column is also thin, book an assessment this month.

Red flags that matter more than word count

• Not pointing to show you things by 15 to 18 months (pointing to ask comes first; pointing to share is the big one)
• Not responding to their name most of the time when there is no distraction (see child not responding to their name)
• Little or no babbling, or babble with very few consonant sounds
• Not copying actions, sounds or words
• Limited shared attention: rarely looks back at you to share excitement
• Loss of any words or skills they had, at any age (read my child lost words they used to say)
• Repeated ear infections or any concern about hearing

Any one of these is a reason to book an assessment now. None of them is a diagnosis; they are the things a speech and language therapist looks at first, and the things that change fastest with early support. Some of them can be early signs of autism, which is covered in early signs of autism in toddlers; the first step is the same either way.

Why “wait until two” is bad advice

Waiting is the default advice because many late talkers do catch up. The problem is that nobody can tell you in advance whether your child is one of them, and the children who do not catch up lose the months when language support works best and fastest. Early support for an 18-month-old is not drills; it is coaching you to change how you talk and play with your child, which costs little and carries no downside. A hearing test is also sensible at this stage, because fluctuating hearing from ear fluid is a common and quiet cause of late talking.

If you would rather check before you book, ask yourself the questions in the table above honestly, and if your child is also not pointing, not responding to their name, or has lost words, do not wait for the second birthday.

What to do this month

What an assessment looks like at this age

At Starwalkers an assessment for a toddler is an hour of play with you in the room. We watch how your child communicates now (eye gaze, gestures, sounds, any words), what they understand, how they play and connect, and we talk through hearing, feeding and family history. You leave with a plain explanation of what we see: a late talker who needs coaching at home, a child who would benefit from a block of sessions, or a child whose communication style suggests further assessment. Many families at this age leave with a home plan and a review date rather than weekly therapy. If your child is a little older, read our guides for 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds who are not talking, or how speech delay therapy works.

Who assesses toddlers at Starwalkers

Frequently Asked Questions

Parent guides

Straight answers to the questions parents in Dubai ask us most.

• My 2-year-old isn’t talking yet. Should I worry?
• My 3-year-old isn’t talking. Should I be worried now?
• My 4-year-old isn’t talking. What are our options?
• Speech delay therapy in Dubai: how it works and what it costs
• My child understands everything but doesn’t talk
• My child talks but nobody understands him
• Does speaking two languages cause speech delay?
• My child lost words they used to say
• Speech therapy for children with Down syndrome in Dubai
• My child is nonverbal. What are our options?
• Speech delay or autism? How to tell the difference
• My child repeats TV lines and everything I say
• Gestalt language processing (GLP) therapy
• AAC therapy in Dubai
• How much does speech therapy cost in Dubai?
• Affordable speech therapy in Dubai (AED 160–199 a session)
• Speech therapy in Dubai: 15 clinics compared