My daughter is almost three years old and she doesn't understands a single word I say nor does she speak. She only knows 'no', 'bye bye' and 'hello'. But she says "hellomama" to everyone, as if it was all one word. If I tell her to close the door, pick something up, sit down, lay down, or anything, she stares at me with a blank stare as if I'm crazy.

Whenever she wants something she just points at it and talks gibberish, I've tried not giving her what she wants until she asks for it by word and still, she won't speak. We try not to confuse her, so we tried teaching her just one word at a time and that didn't work.

For example:
We have been trying for about six months to teach her the word "Water". We would be happy if she used that word with any form of liquid really, but nothing. Whenever she wants something to drink she points at it, I say "water" and she just stays quiet. I tried sitting down with her for about an hour a day for six months with a glass of water, and I point and say "Water" and still, nothing.

I'm about to give up and just wait until she gets tired of me ignoring her and start speaking.

And by the way no, she doesn't have any medical reasons to not be speaking and she hears perfectly well.

Help?

You may have to take her to a speech therapist so she can learn how to speak. I took my son almost 3 at the time to a speech therapist and he was first taught sign language to enable him to realize he was communicating with the world. Then, very gradually the therapist taught him sounds and then words and now some 26 years later I can't shut him up (just kidding).

A few weeks with a speech therapist can work wonders provided you do the homework that the therapist suggests between visits.

I know you say she 'hears perfectly well' but have you actually had her hearing tested? You need to explore all options. She should be verbalizing by now, maybe not in sentence form because all children go at their own pace and doesn't actually mean there is that much wrong. Get her hearing tested, it could only help in the longrun. Talk to her pediatrician.

Tick