What is a Late Talker?

A late talker is a child who is between 1 1/2 years of age and 2 1/2 years of age that has good receptive language skills (what the child can understand) but has a limited number of words in his or her vocabulary.  Children who are late talkers have difficulty with their expressive language only.  Approximately 13% of two year olds are late talkers.

Some red flags for late talkers are:

• Your child was quiet as an infant (did not babble much)
• History of recurrent ear infections
• A limited number of consonant sounds
• Does not imitate your sounds or words
• Has mostly nouns in his or her vocabulary
• Has a difficult time playing with others
• Family history of communication difficulties

By 1 1/2 years of age a child should have about 20 words in their vocabulary, by 2 years they should have about 100 words and be able to put two words together to make a phrase.

Instead of taking the “wait and see” approach, contact a speech-language pathologist about your child’s speech and language development if you have concerns.  Remember, parents are the experts on their children.

Resources:

https://www.hanen.org/MyHanen/Resource-Centre/Articles/Research/Research-in-a-Hurry!-Using-verbs-to-determine-chil.aspx?_cldee=bWFyaWFAc3BlZWNoYW5kaGVhbHRoLmNvbQ%3d%3d

https://www.hanen.org/MyHanen/Resource-Centre/Articles/Research/Using-verbs-to-determine-children%E2%80%99s-risk-for-langu.aspx?_cldee=bWFyaWFAc3BlZWNoYW5kaGVhbHRoLmNvbQ%3d%3d

http://www.hanen.org/helpful-info/articles/how-to-tell-if-your-child-is-a-late-talker-%E2%80%93-and-w.aspx