A ‘late talker’ is child under 18-30 months who is delayed in their expressive language, but who seems to be typically developing in all other areas. Late talkers typically understand most of what is said to them and have strong foundation skills for language, such as social interaction, play skills, joint attention, and use of gestures. While many late talkers can catch up, it is hard to determine which will and which children will continue to have difficulties with language. That is why we always recommend early intervention to ensure your child has the best chance for success!
While your speech pathologist will educate and empower you each session with strategies to facilitate your child’s language development, there are some tips you can start with right now!
1. The 5’s
Children learn language from their caregivers, but sometimes we talk too much and take away opportunities for the child to initiate interactions and process and learn what we’re saying. When playing and interacting with your child try to model language by:
- Saying less
- Stressing
- Speaking slowly
- Showing (using a gesture or show toy)
Then repeat, repeat, repeat!
2. Reducing Questions
Because we want children to speak so badly, we tend ask lots of questions. Often, these questions are too frequent, too hard or not relevant to the child’s interest. While there is a place for answering question, at this stage we want to balance our questions with comments. We can do this by turning our questions into comments.
For example, if a child is driving a toy bus, instead of saying “what colour is the bus?” you could say “The bus is yellow”, then pause and wait for your child to say something.
3. Expansion
When your child says a word, praise them by imitating what they said, then add a new word. This confirms to the child that they did a great job, while modelling additional and relevant language to the interaction. It is easiest to expand on power words like ‘go’ and more’. For example if you child say:
- ‘more’ say ‘more cookies’
- ‘go’ say ‘go truck’
- ‘dog’ say ‘big/small/brown dog’
And remember to repeat, repeat, repeat!
There is not wrong word for expansion, as long as your adding relevant information to the interaction or toy, such a size, colour, action or labelling.
References:
- It Takes Two to Talk® — The Hanen Program® for Parents of Children with Language Delays
- The Early Intervention Handbook (2020) – The SLT Scrapbook
