18 month old recognition

My son just turned 4 today. He was the same way. He didn’t really start “talking” and labeling until closer to 2-3 years old. we’ve come a long way. Don’t beat yourself up. My son use to not talk at all. We did have an early intervention program. But here’s some advice and strategies that helped us.
•Label Everything. Absolutely Everything. It may sound silly, and it may become boring because you get no response but sometimes not everything needs a response if that makes sense. I like to think on the days my son stares blankly at me he’s just processing those words/phrases. I’ve noticed that my son won’t attempt to say words. He won’t try to say words unless he knows for sure he says it correctly. Every time I cook him something I put his plate down in front of him and I label and point to every food item “Wow! Look you have broccoli. Eggs. Chicken. Noodles.” Etc etc. Same thing goes for getting dressed.

Sorry for this really long answer haha.
•When he was struggling we would go towards sign language, look up some easy baby sign language. Such as ‘more’ or ‘eat.” It’s still considered a form of language.
•pointing was hard for us as well. Try hand over hand. Physically take his finger and extend it out to point. I use to put things away from my son (usually a preferred and non preferred item) and I would grab his finger and point to the preferred item “oh I see you want the blue ball.” My son use to point with 5 fingers😂it takes patience and a lot of practice.
•Don’t give up. Even if he doesn’t necessarily say the word even him just mouthing a letter or something is progress. My son says “juice” for every kind of drink. Obviously I correct him and say what that drink actually is.
Please message me if you need some more advice or if you ever get discouraged mama💙

We have a 2 year old who is still struggling. Speechie told me to use words together so when playing a game say ready set go. Or repeat words. Up up up. Down down down. Go car go... Etc. Or use tunes. Songs. Ive started saying i love you to our 2 year old in a specific tune and he'll repeat the same tune to me even if he isn't seeming to get the words. Gestalt language processing is the official name for this method. Might be worth looking into. Tho I found some of the info online a bit beyond me. These simple tips seem to help.