According to The Hanen Centre, “a late-talker is a toddler (between 18-30 months) who has good understanding of language, typically developing play skills, motor skills, thinking skills, and social skills, but has a limited spoken vocabulary for his or her age.”
uses mostly nouns (names of people, places, things), and few verbs (action words) difficulty playing with peers (social skills) a family history of communication delay, learning or academic difficulties. a mild comprehension (understanding) delay for his or her age.
This symptom may be secondary to problems with their vocal tract or hearing, autism, neglect, or abuse. For toddlers to be diagnosed as late talkers, they need to see a doctor and a speech pathologist.
According to The Hanen Centre, a late talker is a child between 18 and 30 months with a good understanding of language and typical development in other areas (hearing, vision, motor, and cognitive skills) but has a limited spoken vocabulary compared to peers for their age.
There's no obvious reason for their language delay. Researchers are looking into the role that genetics may play. Many Late Talkers seem to catch up to their peers by the time they begin school [1]. However, 20-30% of late talking children continue to have problems with language development.
A speech delay is an early indicator of ASD in young children, but it is NOT the only signifier. Every child is unique. It is often said “If you've met one individual with autism, you've met one individual with autism.” The opposite is often said for late talkers.
Children who present as late talkers tend to catch up to their peers by the ages of 3-5 years old, but could be at risk for developing later language or literacy difficulties, or even mental health needs.
In addition to being a late talker, there are other communication-related challenges that may be signs of autism, including: Being non-responsive to his/her own name. Trouble getting your child's attention. Slower development of gestures to communicate his/her needs.
A child with a speech delay tends to naturally use body language and eye contact. Autistic children, on the other hand, may have trouble with social interaction, play skills, communication, and behavior. Children with autism may prefer to be alone.
Many kids with speech delays have oral–motor problems. These happen when there's a problem in the areas of the brain responsible for speech. This makes it hard to coordinate the lips, tongue, and jaw to make speech sounds. These kids also might have other oral-motor problems, such as feeding problems.
Speech delay occurs most often in those with an athetoid type of cerebral palsy. The following factors, alone or in combination, may account for the speech delay: hearing loss, incoordination or spasticity of the muscles of the tongue, coexisting mental retardation or a defect in the cerebral cortex.
Einstein famously didn't start talking until he was 3 years old. Other famous late talkers include mathematical genius Ramanujan, a nobel prize winner (Gary Becker), a US talk show host (G. Gordon Liddy) and even Mussolini.
Some late talkers may talk by three to five years of age. These toddlers are called late bloomers. To distinguish late talkers from late bloomers, studies have shown that late bloomers use more gestures to communicate their needs compared to late talkers.
A late-talker has mastered 50 words or less by age 2, and can't yet combine words, such as “more juice”. Reach out to your pediatrician or a pediatric speech-language pathologist if your child is exhibiting at least three of the following signs: Hearing issues or frequent ear infections.
Factors contributing to speech development in a child can range from the immediate environment around them and their personality (some children are shy) to their gender, as boys are usually late talkers when compared to girls. Hence in most of the cases speech delay isn't associated with low intelligence.
A delay in speech or language is one of the earliest signs we have for kids that do go on to get a diagnosis of ADHD later in childhood. In this 2012 study, researchers found that two-thirds of the elementary-aged kids with ADHD had a speech or language delay at 18 months.
If you are feeling like your child just isn't listening to you, it may be a deeper-rooted issue. Behavior problems in young children can come from a receptive language delay or a deficit in the child's understanding of language. Behavior may also rear its ugly head if the child cannot adequately express themselves.
Boys often produce their first words and sentences later than girls – but these differences are only in terms of a few weeks or months. According to Adani and Cepanec (2019) language disorders are only slightly more prevalent in males than in females.
Speech Delay Myth #10: Speech And Language Delays Run In Your Family. There is some truth in the heredity of speech and language problems. The child's dad or granddad may have been a late-bloomer, but there is no guarantee that your child will catch up with his peers' speech development in the future.
Research has shown us that Late Talkers follow one of these paths: Between 20–30% of Late Talkers do not grow out of their language delay. These children have ongoing difficulties and need intervention to help them with their language and literacy skills [1]. They may receive a diagnosis of language disorder.
Some children with expressive language delay "catch up" during the preschool years ("late bloomers"), whereas others have persistent delay (see 'Natural history' below). Early evaluation can help to correctly identify late-talking children who will benefit from intervention and/or additional evaluation.
Of course, autistic individuals laugh when they are happy, or if they find something funny. However, they often laugh to release fear, tension and anxiety. What is very difficult for their parents to comprehend (and accept) is that they might laugh or giggle non-stop when someone is crying.