how many words should a 24 month old say?

I made the comment to the pediatrician at my two year old son's appointment that he talked well, but wasn't near where my older daughters' vocabulary was at the same age. The doctor asked if he said at least 30 words. I was surprised that was all that was expected at 24 months, but that's what she said. My girls spoke fluently at 2, while my son speaks well, he's not close to fluent. He has tons of words; I would guess the 300-400 range. He puts words together, but they are not always a sentence. According to our ped, putting a noun/verb together is a 2.5 year old milestone.

So to answer your question...all are different, but about 30 is expected at that age.

HI

I am an education major and also have a one year old who will be 2 in aug. same thing as you, though I don't have older kids to compare. My son talks, says many words and puts short phrases together such as I do, want juice,(just taught him that) bye (fill in the blank) etc. he counts, IDs numbers and some letters and some colors. But the fluency just isn't there and he does not talk in sentences at all, unless it is jibberish. He communicates his needs fine through some sign language, gestures and words and crying but I find myself wondering, shouldn't he be speaking better by now?

In my class, psychology of the learner, they said boys language is delayed compared to girls and they usually talk later then girls do .. Also, boys hear different, they don't hear the sounds of language like girls do. But boys also tend to start talking all of a sudden and very well rather than steadily and gradually like girls. Well that is what I learned, I hope it is true!

I was getting pretty concerned because my son was not talking and he turned 2 a couple of months ago. The ped and many friends (including a speech development specialist) told me not to be concerned because he was learing two languages (spanish and english) and that is why. He has had spanish-speaking nanny since 6 mos old and I asked her to only speak in spanish to him. You can ask him to do just about anything in both languages and he does and the ped said that is what you are really looking for...how many words they KNOW, even though they may not say them themselves. Well, I guess my son got the memo because right around his birthday he started trying to say more words. His babbling also is now never-ending! My instinct told me that everything was fine...I suppose it is true that we all do things in our own time.