Thanks for guessing how many words Ellie knows!
The short answer is that we're up to 182 words!
The long answer is this...
After reading the article and thinking "Hmm, a dozen words seems a little low to me" I guessed she knew about 50 words. Daddy guessed 40. He also said it might be interesting to just make a list. Within 5 minutes, our list was already to 120! You can imagine our surprise, and we wondered how many other words there are if this list was just "off the top of our heads". After paying attention to the words that Ellie said for two days, the list got up to 182.
Now, let me explain what the list includes:
- Words actually spoken by Ellie. It does not include words she understands but has never said (like couch, chair, can you bring me...)
- Words she initiates on her own. It does not include words she repeats when we ask her to.
- Both words for animals and the sounds they make. If she says Kitty and Meow, it counts as two words. If she does not say Cow but does say Moo, it counts as one.
- It does count names of family members (Mommy, Daddy, Merlin, Gapa, Nana, etc).
- It does not include names of teachers (I know she knows Beth, Jana and Ana at least).
- It does not include double meanings (like Rock for the stone you pick up and Rock for sitting in a rocking chair).
- It does include words that are mispronounced (like Ocobus instead of Octopus) but where it's obviously consistent each time she says it and close to the proper sound.
- Some sentences are counted as a single word (All done, I love you, My turn)
So there you go. 182 words. Isn't that just crazy? Now I'm not saying that Ellie kicks ass over the average 20 month old. Instead, I'm saying that this article must be wrong, right? Maybe. I just don't know.
For those of you with 20 month olds... please give me a data point for comparison!
And just since I realize this post isn't particularly exciting to most of you, I will give you a list of some of the more bizarre words she says out loud:
Apron
Backpack
Bacon
Circle
Dark
Dance
Elbow
Guitar
Heavy
Honk
Hush
Ice
Necklace
Octopus
Oil
Sand
Stairs
Vacuum
2 comments:
You've got to be kidding me! I was thinking twice as much as "average" but she's off the charts. I dunno about the article but I think you've got yourself one brilliant little girl there.
In talking to other people, it seems that girls typically talk at a younger age than boys. I have only found one child with as few as 16 words, and she has 4 older siblings who talk for her. Her parents think that she just hasn't had the need to learn yet. People say the article is right, but that means there just has to be children out there bringing down the curve.
I keep up with a blog for someone who adopted a little boy from Ethiopia. He is a month younger than Ellie and is just now starting to stand on his own. That seems crazy to me since she's been walking for 8 months now. He also signs 6 words but doesn't really say anything. I'm not sure why he's behind (I don't think there is anything wrong with him), but I guess such children do exist.
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