Parents of late talkers—how has your child fared?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, did your ped express concern about expressive language? Your kid sounds just about on track to me. Only a handful of words are expected at 18 months.

Agreed. I don't think there is harm in speech therapy at this age but I am surprised at home many PPs sought speech therapy for an 18 month old with limited speech. My DD only had two words at 18 months and was not doing some of the other things they look for to be "on track" (for instance, she didn't make animal noises even though she heard them in songs and at playgroup).

But our pediatrician was not worried after we determined there was no hearing issues, and suggested we just see how it progressed for the next few months. She gained a few more words and got more talkative after starting at a part-time nursery school, and by two she was super talkative. She's now 4 and her PK teacher says she's an unusually verbal child (for better or worse, lol) and she's doing great with pre-literacy skills. No ill effects whatsoever.

Anyway, again, I don't think there's anything wrong with seeking out speech therapy if you are concerned, but I would not panic at 18 months or even 20-22 months, as long as there is progress. It seems like a lot of kids get a rush of language right before their second birthday. I'm not even sure that's considered "delayed" because it's so common.

This is OP. Thanks everyone, for your messages about your trials and tribulations with late talking! It really has helped. And to answer this question, DD really very rarely uses words. It's hard for me to describe precisely, but it's like she doesn't prototype spoken language and build on anything she learns with expressive speech. For example, she's said mama but like for 2 days before she quit saying it never to call me mama again. She hasn't said mama in maybe 6 months. She doesn't call me anything. She does say dada for her father though, again rarely. Only other consistent words are door/bath/this. "This" is probably her most consistently used word. Some day she'll say no words at all, just groan, point, get frustrated. She doesn't even try to repeat sounds after us. She has no animal sounds. We taught her the signs for "eat," "more," and "please" and she's used eat and more for a couple of days weeks ago and abandoned signing ever since. At her 15-month appointment the pediatrician flagged her for early intervention because she wasn't saying mama or dada and she wasn't walking yet (though she started soon after and rapidly caught up)--the pediatrician admitted she was being overly cautious that nothing seemed like a really worrisome delay but early intervention services are there for a reason and the worst that could happen is we don't qualify. We're doing private therapy instead since EI is virtual where we are, but EI uses ages and stages and at 18-months they look for minimum 8 words beyond mama/dada, and also the beginnings of two & three word phrases.

For DD I guess I'd describe as she has the blocks but seems stumped at how to build with them and isn't keen on trying. Other than speech I don't really have too many other worries--she's cheerful and exploratory, loves to be with others and share with them things she finds interesting, and is very busy. I'd be floored if she suddenly started talking at 20 months like some of your children did. I hope it happens and the therapy isn't needed, but wanted to cover my bases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, did your ped express concern about expressive language? Your kid sounds just about on track to me. Only a handful of words are expected at 18 months.

Agreed. I don't think there is harm in speech therapy at this age but I am surprised at home many PPs sought speech therapy for an 18 month old with limited speech. My DD only had two words at 18 months and was not doing some of the other things they look for to be "on track" (for instance, she didn't make animal noises even though she heard them in songs and at playgroup).

But our pediatrician was not worried after we determined there was no hearing issues, and suggested we just see how it progressed for the next few months. She gained a few more words and got more talkative after starting at a part-time nursery school, and by two she was super talkative. She's now 4 and her PK teacher says she's an unusually verbal child (for better or worse, lol) and she's doing great with pre-literacy skills. No ill effects whatsoever.

Anyway, again, I don't think there's anything wrong with seeking out speech therapy if you are concerned, but I would not panic at 18 months or even 20-22 months, as long as there is progress. It seems like a lot of kids get a rush of language right before their second birthday. I'm not even sure that's considered "delayed" because it's so common.

Im one of the PPs. My ped made the referral at my kids 18 month appointment. He said it may take months for an appibtment so may as well get it now. I was surprised to get a call back eith appointments set up for 2 weeks from the referral. In MoCo its a free program so it easy for the dr to make the referral and get the parent peace of kind from professionals

[Anonymous]

My uncle didn't talk until he was four. It was the fifties, so nobody seems to have paid much attention, and even if they did, there weren't many services available. My uncle learned to read a few months after he started talking, and became a published author & translator.

[Anonymous]

My niece and nephew who were late, very slow/almost labored talkers are in late elementary and middle school doing absolutely great. They were still a bit slow and deliberate with their words in k but by third grade or so you’d never know there was a speech issue.

[Anonymous]

My DS was slow to talk. Never flagged by pediatricians officially, but always hovering around the cut off of normal. Our DD was very early to talk and spoke in full, completely comprehensible sentences at the same age where DS still used single words that were halfway between the real word and babytalk pronunciation-wise.

By 3, his language had completely exploded but we had him screened for articulation issues (by Early Stages) because he was still very difficult to understand. He qualified for an IEP (30 minutes/week) for articulation, but expressive and receptive content both tested as above average. By the time he actually started services at 3.5, the provider said he was a bit behind average, but would never have qualified for an IEP anymore. The speech therapy has been very helpful though. He's still clearly a bit behind the average young 4 year old pronunciation-wise, but is mostly comprehensible; TH/CH/SH remain an issue & Rs are non-existent, but I'm sure he'll get there and his articulation issues are no longer much of an impediment to being understood.

I have no idea if the articulation issues caused the late talking or vice versa or if there is some underlying cause for both, but he's otherwise pretty normal (motor skills) or ahead of the curve (other academic skills -- e.g., he can read Dr. Seuss level books already), so there don't seem to be any other obvious delays.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't worry so much at 18 months. When they are 3-4 and still struggling at 4-5-6, its a bigger concern. Majority of kids catch up around 3 and the rest of our kids struggle at least for a few more years. It also depends on if its receptive or expressive or both. But, do start ST.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS was slow to talk. Never flagged by pediatricians officially, but always hovering around the cut off of normal. Our DD was very early to talk and spoke in full, completely comprehensible sentences at the same age where DS still used single words that were halfway between the real word and babytalk pronunciation-wise.

By 3, his language had completely exploded but we had him screened for articulation issues (by Early Stages) because he was still very difficult to understand. He qualified for an IEP (30 minutes/week) for articulation, but expressive and receptive content both tested as above average. By the time he actually started services at 3.5, the provider said he was a bit behind average, but would never have qualified for an IEP anymore. The speech therapy has been very helpful though. He's still clearly a bit behind the average young 4 year old pronunciation-wise, but is mostly comprehensible; TH/CH/SH remain an issue & Rs are non-existent, but I'm sure he'll get there and his articulation issues are no longer much of an impediment to being understood.

I have no idea if the articulation issues caused the late talking or vice versa or if there is some underlying cause for both, but he's otherwise pretty normal (motor skills) or ahead of the curve (other academic skills -- e.g., he can read Dr. Seuss level books already), so there don't seem to be any other obvious delays.

There are some kids who struggle with speech but can decode/read early. Its great he's reading now.

[Anonymous]

DD had essentially no words at almost 3. We got her into a speech therapy program that didn’t seem to help much, and she grew out of her issues several months later. She is extremely talkative and bright now, a few years later, to the point where she has been the “go to” kid in her class for speaking at assemblies and such.

Everyone told me at the time not to worry, kids get there on their own, etc. but I was practically frantic about her early lack of speech. It all worked out in the end, as it apparently does with lots of kids.

[Anonymous]

My daughter will be 18 months next week and I know I need to call to make an ITC referral for her because she only has one word that she uses constantly (CAT but only says the T sound) and receptive is a question mark- she will follow a direction correctly one time then the next day give me a blank stare with the same direction. However, my understanding is that the speech therapy now is done over the computer and therefore I really think it would be a waste of time and money for someone her age. I keep hoping one day she will just talk and we can skip it altogether but no luck so far.

My older son was also speech delayed. He had NO words at the same age, but I feel his receptive was better than my daughter- he understood everything. We started the in home ITC speech therapy (pre-covid) at 18.5 months old. He picked it up after the first month and graduated out of the program with 50 words/2 word sentences before 23 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS was slow to talk. Never flagged by pediatricians officially, but always hovering around the cut off of normal. Our DD was very early to talk and spoke in full, completely comprehensible sentences at the same age where DS still used single words that were halfway between the real word and babytalk pronunciation-wise.

By 3, his language had completely exploded but we had him screened for articulation issues (by Early Stages) because he was still very difficult to understand. He qualified for an IEP (30 minutes/week) for articulation, but expressive and receptive content both tested as above average. By the time he actually started services at 3.5, the provider said he was a bit behind average, but would never have qualified for an IEP anymore. The speech therapy has been very helpful though. He's still clearly a bit behind the average young 4 year old pronunciation-wise, but is mostly comprehensible; TH/CH/SH remain an issue & Rs are non-existent, but I'm sure he'll get there and his articulation issues are no longer much of an impediment to being understood.

I have no idea if the articulation issues caused the late talking or vice versa or if there is some underlying cause for both, but he's otherwise pretty normal (motor skills) or ahead of the curve (other academic skills -- e.g., he can read Dr. Seuss level books already), so there don't seem to be any other obvious delays.

There are some kids who struggle with speech but can decode/read early. Its great he's reading now.

I actually think speech therapy is largely responsible, because many of the games and stuff are actually very phonics focused. He had way more exposure to phonics early on as a result than our way more verbal DD did and seems to be about a year ahead of where she was on literacy-related things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS was slow to talk. Never flagged by pediatricians officially, but always hovering around the cut off of normal. Our DD was very early to talk and spoke in full, completely comprehensible sentences at the same age where DS still used single words that were halfway between the real word and babytalk pronunciation-wise.

By 3, his language had completely exploded but we had him screened for articulation issues (by Early Stages) because he was still very difficult to understand. He qualified for an IEP (30 minutes/week) for articulation, but expressive and receptive content both tested as above average. By the time he actually started services at 3.5, the provider said he was a bit behind average, but would never have qualified for an IEP anymore. The speech therapy has been very helpful though. He's still clearly a bit behind the average young 4 year old pronunciation-wise, but is mostly comprehensible; TH/CH/SH remain an issue & Rs are non-existent, but I'm sure he'll get there and his articulation issues are no longer much of an impediment to being understood.

I have no idea if the articulation issues caused the late talking or vice versa or if there is some underlying cause for both, but he's otherwise pretty normal (motor skills) or ahead of the curve (other academic skills -- e.g., he can read Dr. Seuss level books already), so there don't seem to be any other obvious delays.

There are some kids who struggle with speech but can decode/read early. Its great he's reading now.

I actually think speech therapy is largely responsible, because many of the games and stuff are actually very phonics focused. He had way more exposure to phonics early on as a result than our way more verbal DD did and seems to be about a year ahead of where she was on literacy-related things.

Completely agree. With us, ST had a lot of visuals with both the word and picture and we did a lot of apps/learning videos/flash cars and other things to encourage speech and ours started reading really early. I know several kids with language delays/disorders who were early readers.

[Anonymous]

My 2.5 year old son sounds similar to your daughter at that age and he did end up not really progressing so we have him in private speech and EI. He is making lots of progress and I really do believe it’s the therapy. If you have any doubts there is no harm in getting her evaluated. Early intervention works.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PPs. I'm a new poster and slightly concerned parent of a 16 month old. Pediatrician said late talking is more common for boys and see how he is doing at 18 months. If he's not talking more by then we will contact EI. But another thread totally freaked me out that we were losing valuable time he'd never recover from.

[Anonymous]

My first dc was not talking at all heading towards 2 years old. We started ST at 20 months and continued through preschool. Now he’s doing great and while he’s not particularly talkative, that’s his personality and it doesn’t hold him back.

For PPs wondering about starting ST so early, the red flag was that he was not even trying to talk at all. He never babbled and made very limited sounds of any sort. I think that was a bigger issue than just low word count.

I was skeptical that he needed ST so young, but now seeing his younger sibling develop normally makes it even clearer in retrospect. We found a great ST and he started progressing right away.

[Anonymous]

Pragmatic language issues since 2 yrs old that with speech therapy at 3.5 yrs old improved to a manageable and appropriate level within a year. As more speech-related expectations were placed on DS, he couldn't keep pace. He had to go back to speech therapy when he started K for pragmatic language issues, stuttering, and other speech issues. He stayed in speech (and other therapies) until 4th grade. He still have some minor issues with speech dealing with gathering his thoughts and then speaking. Sometimes, he will still start-stop-start-stop-start and then rephrase what he wants to say. This depends on the topic and he's nervous or anxious about the topic or who he is speaking with. Most of the time he sounds like a well-educated, talkative 13 yr old introverted kid.

I have another son who spoke on time, but later developed an issue with stuttering that was really hard to beat the older he got.