What is a late talker?
Written by Talia Leszcz, Speech Language Pathologist
Hearing your child talk is one of the most anticipated and magical moments of parenthood. If you feel like you’ve been waiting a long time for this special moment - it is totally normal to wonder – is my child a late talker? And is this something I need to worry about?
According to The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA), late language emergence is defined as a delay in language development in a child who is otherwise developing typically. Commonly, this refers to a child who has fewer than 50 words and no two-word combinations at 2 years of age. While a child younger than 2 may not yet be classified as a “late talker” there are skills we expect to see that can predict whether or not your child might become a late talker. We wrote an entire post about speech and language red flags that you can use as a general guideline to see if your child’s language skills are on track.
Before we jump to any conclusions, let’s quickly review how children communicate and what is considered language.
How do children learn language?
Babies begin learning to talk from the moment they are born. Long before a child says their first word there are a variety of skills and abilities that emerge that lay the foundation for spoken language. These include things like babbling and making different sounds, following directions, engaging in back and forth interactions and using a variety of gestures to communicate. All of these skills are important steps towards producing language. In fact, social interaction and non-verbal communication are some of the most important precursors to spoken language. This can include using eye gaze to share attention and interests or imitating actions. Specifically, we know that using gestures is actually one of the most important predictors of later language development (Sansvini et al. 2021). Research shows that gesture use at 16 months predicts spoken language skills at 3 years (Capone & McGregor, 2004).
While a late talker is defined as a child over 2 years of age, lack of gesture use in younger child may predict if a child will be a late talker. Gestures can include simple actions like giving objects, reaching to be picked up and pointing as well as later more complex actions like flapping arms to refer to a bird and signs. All to say, if your child doesn’t have spoken words, it doesn’t mean they’re not communicating with you. In fact, be sure to count your child’s signs and complex gestures as words when it comes to finding out if your little one is meeting their milestones or not.
Do I need to worry?
There is a lot of variability in how children develop language. About 11-18% of all toddlers are late talkers (Sansavini, et al., 2021). The majority of these children go on to catch up to their peers and can be considered “late bloomers”. However, about 20% of late talkers have a harder time catching up to peers and are at risk of ongoing speech and language delays. If your child is a late talker it is important that you don’t just “wait and see.” Act early and book a free consult with one of our speech therapists.
About 20% of late talkers have a harder time catching up to peers and are at risk of ongoing speech and language delays.
What can I do now if my child is a late talker (or has language delay)?
There is so much you can do right now to support your child’s language development. Children learn language (and all the precursors to language) by interacting with you! Whether reading together, playing together or simply going about your daily routines like getting in the car or changing a diaper. Talk to your child in short, simple sentences about things that interest them! Emphasize and exaggerate key words. Get down to your child’s level so they can easily pay attention to you and you can better see what interests them. Model and exaggerate using gestures. These strategies will help all children but are especially important to use with late talkers. Want more ideas to help develop your child’s language? Check out our app for activities and strategies you can start to use right away to help your child!
Sources:
American Speech and Hearing Association. (n.d.). Late language emergence. ASHA Practice Portal. https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/late-language-emergence/#collapse_6
Capone, N. and McGregor, K. (2004). Gesture development: A review for clinical and research practices. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 47(1), 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2004/015)
Sansavini, A., Favilla, M.E., Guasti, M.T., Marini, A., Millepiedi, S., Di Martino, M.V., Vecchi, S., Battajon, N., Bertolo, L., Capirci, O., Carretti, B., Colatei, MP., Frioni, C., Marotta, L., Massa, S., Michelazzo, L., Pecini, C,. Piazzalunga, S., Pieretti, M., … Lorusso, M.L., Developmental language disorder: Early predictors, age for the diagnosis, and diagnostic tools. A scoping review. Brain Sciences. 11(5), 2021, 654- doi: 10.3390/brainsci11050654. PMID: 34067874; PMCID: PMC8156743.