Hi there! Sorry I just saw this. :-) I am a speech therapist and my almost 17-month old is also not yet talking, not even "mama." I would suggest getting his hearing checked and getting a speech evaluation. It's very common for boys to be late talkers and nothing to fret about, but you do want to rule out hearing deficit as I see it get missed ALL the time with kids I work with. If you get a speech eval, they will definitely give you suggestions on helping to elicit more words, and depending on the severity of his delay, he may qualify for speech therapy. I know it's frustrating -- I have been frustrated being on this side of the situation for the first time since becoming a speech therapist 9 years ago!!

You need to talk him more,play games like finding things by using their names this will help him to recognise the things.

I'm having the same problem. What I do that seems to be helping is to consistently talk to her. For instance when I want to know if she is hungry I ask if she is hungry. She has recently started responding with either yes or saying hungry. With options to fruits I will point at the fruit and name it as im asking what she wants. nothing has come of this yet but i figure it will one of these days.
also, if i know she can say it (not suspect she can but know it cause she has before) then she wont get it unless she says it. she throws a fit sometimes when i do that but after a few minutes calms down.

I know how you feel. My now 6 year old was very limited with his speech at 18 months old. I took him to the doctor and they sent him to speech therapy. He has been going for almost 5 years. His speech has gotten better but its a process. He goes every week for 30 minutes at a time. He was also tested a year and half later and was told he was also Autistic. He has been through several different places for tests over the years to know what was going on. The school board tested him and he also is learning delay. With the school he also gets speech everyday at the school which has helped too.
Even through all the therapy over the years, I still have a hard time understanding what he says but at the beginning, when he wanted something I would have him show me what he wanted and then I would say the word over and over to him so he would know what the item was that he wanted.

My daughter will be 2 in April...I need some help in the same exact area. I also think we have already entered the terrible 2's. Her tantrums are intense. Almost like she is already 3,4,5 having them. She is very strong minded little one. And when she wants what she wants...oh boy do you know it. LOL.
I am not only a single Mom I am also a fulltime student studying to be a Medical Office Assistant. struggling financially. She does go to daycare..but I feel like I need to do more for her at home when it comes to her using her words...and also to work on controlling her tantrums. But lack the time. And I am unsure where to begin. She my first child. If any one has any guidance and help. It would be greatly appreciated.

@CarrieLynn,

I'm so sorry to hear that your daughter has been having so many tantrums lately. I work as a mental health therapist, who has worked with a wide variety of children and adults. I would suggest trying to connect with your daughter's emotions when she is feeling overwhelmed and try not to do too much lecturing, as she won't hear any of that. If you are able to show her that you understand her feelings, you can help her to calm down. I would highly recommend the book, "The Whole Brain Child" by Dan Siegel to help with that process. It's also helpful to focus as much as you can on praising your daughter when you see that she is staying calm or doing the right things. Kids tend to respond better to positive interactions than negative ones. I wish you and your daughter well!

@dodan007
Thank you for the advice, but I do not lecture her in the first place she is only a toddler. That is not needed. I took Human Services and have an associates degree. I have myself been a counselor for behavior issues and different mental illnesses for all ages from toddlers to the elderly.
So I am familiar with what to do in the area that you are speaking about. Unfortunately...that will not work for my daughter. She is a very determined...adamant..and strong willed and minded child already at her age. She know what she wants..and that is why the tantrums begin. Calming her down needs to be done differently. At the age of 2 they do not even know what feelings mean and not using words yet make it very hard for to even express her feelings. SO I am very unsure how I would help her process anything...that has to do with feelings when she is yelling screaming crying. and I am a very positive person who already uses positive reinforcement. It does not work. SO IDK maybe I should have classified that better in my first post.

@CarrieLynn
I had the same tantrum situation with my daughter, sometimes there was nothing I could do to calm her. What I found to be most helpful was just to sit next to her and let her just have it out. Sometimes I would calmly count and eventually she would start listening and calm herself down. Afterwards I would say I can see your frustrated, I want to help but I can't help when you throw a fit. And then I would go through the list of things that could be wrong and she would say yes or no. Overtime she grew out of the stage and began to be able to express herself better. I think she just threw fits because she got frustrated she couldn't tell me what she wanted. As for encouraging talking, for my daughter, she loved listening to me read to her and also I would try and make it more of a game. For example she loves when I talk in different voices and because she thought it was funny she would copy me. I wish you all the luck and patience. :)