Lets talk about How to Spot them and What You can do about it.
A child could be considered a late talker if they are between 18-24 months of age and still using primarily sounds and gestures to communicate.
If you are trying to figure out whether or not your child has a speech or language delay versus simply being a late talker, there are a few things that you can look out for to help you know whether or not you need to get extra help.
Ask yourself: Did my child meet all their other pre-speech milestones in language development?
I'm glad you asked! Let's go over what some of those are:
Around age 2-4 months: babies begin smiling and cooing with intention. Imprecise vocalizing.
Between 4-8 months: babies begin what is called canonical babbling. This type of babbling consists of repetitions of syllables da da da da , ba ba, bo bo etc). At this stage babies can combine consonants (b , d, m, etc) with vowels.
Between 8-12 months : Babies begin to include the use of gestures and sounds to communicate. Their sounds include many different sounds strung together and also lots of imitating. Gestures might include pointing, shaking their head, reaching arms up, clapping.
If your child HAS NOT met some of these pre-speech milestones, check for ear infections, which can temporarily impact kids language growth. If a child has frequent ear infections that have been left unresolved, that can be one reason for potential language delay. Also have hearing levels checked to rule out lack of access to sounds if they have a hearing loss.
If your child HAS met all of these milestones, you MIGHT have a late talker. Definitely still a good idea to reach out to your pediatrician and mention your observations. They may recommend a referral to a speech-language pathologist or they may tell you to wait a few more months and see how things go. I am always of the opinion that getting help earlier is better. If a child catches up, GREAT and you can discontinue therapy. If not, and something else is a contributing factor to their lack of language growth, there is tons of research out there about the benefits of early intervention and long term outcomes.
Have more questions about this? Reach out for a consult!
Attached is the article linked that prompted some of these thoughts!
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