Speech-impaired toddler loves Google Home so much his first word was 'Google'

A father is claiming that Google Home and its animal noises helped spur his speech-impaired son to say his first word. That word was "Google".

The 39-second YouTube clip shows a mother and son making use of "OK Google" to request the home speaker to play animal noises. The boys father is in the background listening in. After hearing cat and elephant noises, the boy manages to say "Google".

The uploader and father Patrick Crispen said his son is in speech therapy "because of significant receptive and expressive language deficits".

"Put simply, he doesn't speak. At all. Zero words," Crispen said in the blurb of his upload.

The boy is 19 months old.

"We've had a Google Home since last holiday season, and my son absolutely adores its animal sounds," Crispen said.

"So, you can imagine our pleasure and surprise when my son started doing this, this weekend. That's right: My son's first (and currently only) word is 'Google'."

The home speaker comes loaded with the Google Assistant and can be requested to perform a series of basic tasks such as playing music, setting a reminder and, obviously, playing animal noises. If it is connected to smart devices in the home, it can dim the lights and adjust the temperature. You can also Google questions for quick responses.

The YouTube video was uploaded on 4 December and has already been viewed more than 12,000 times. Comments for the video are disabled.