Parents of late talkers—how has your child fared?

[Anonymous]

My DS was exactly like that (6 words at 29 months) and he caught up fully by about 2.5. His articulation was horrible for a while but by 4 he sounded like lots of 4 year olds (some letters were off but not atypical) and by 7 or 8 he had perfect diction. He is incredibly smart and a wonderful student at 10 with an IQ of 148 (tested a couple of months ago because we were considering private school due to distance learning). He has an amazing vocabulary and really excels in all facets of language arts. Don’t worry! And good luck with ST.

[Anonymous]

My child was very similar. Started ST around 20 months and still doing it once a week at age 5. There was never the “explosion” that others experienced, just slowwwwww progress. He was assessed again recently and is finally in the “normal” range for his age, albeit at the low end. I think he is turning out to be introverted and reserved, and I sometimes wonder if the language issues impact that, or if his nature was going to be like that regardless.

[Anonymous]

DS went from being a late talker to somewhat precocious by age 3. At 9 I can tell he has an appreciation and interest in word usage. He seems to like to try out new words, and repeats phrases that are new to him if they strike him a certain way. For example, a child in a book was described as being effusively friendly. A few days later we saw a classmate who was very excited and talkative, and ds said to me "she is so effusively friendly."

He has no real issues, and is developing typically.

Sometimes they just talk later.

[Anonymous]

My son was always on the cusp of not meeting number of words milestones. At 18 months he had about 8-9 words, while pediatrician said 10 was the milestone (50 average). He never had that huge language explosion that some others kept mentioning to me "just wait, at 2 it will come". Even at 2 and 2.5 he was always on the borderline normal. He was diagnosed with ASD at 3.

Btw, those posts that say "my uncle didn't talk until he was four and now he's a genius" are extremely unhelpful. For every such story there are several others that actually DID end up needing speech therapy.

Absolutely no harm in starting speech therapy early. Wish we had started at 18 months instead of 2.5. We lost out on 1 year of potential progress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was always on the cusp of not meeting number of words milestones. At 18 months he had about 8-9 words, while pediatrician said 10 was the milestone (50 average). He never had that huge language explosion that some others kept mentioning to me "just wait, at 2 it will come". Even at 2 and 2.5 he was always on the borderline normal. He was diagnosed with ASD at 3.

Btw, those posts that say "my uncle didn't talk until he was four and now he's a genius" are extremely unhelpful. For every such story there are several others that actually DID end up needing speech therapy.

Absolutely no harm in starting speech therapy early. Wish we had started at 18 months instead of 2.5. We lost out on 1 year of potential progress.

Um then likewise the “my kid had no words at 18 months and is now diagnosed with blah blah” are just as unhelpful.

[Anonymous]

If you met my 15 yr old son you would never know he had had delayed language and was in speech therapy starting at 18 months.

When he was 5 his teacher was surprised to learn that he had been diagnosed with receptive and expressive language delays because he recovered.

That in my experience is the whole reason for and value of early intervention.

He did have some struggles learning to read, but I was not shocked as I had learned that delayed speech and difficulty learning to read often go together.

Best wishes.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. Thanks for all these responses! Again, it's encouraging to see the range and reading these I'm glad we are going to get ST even just for an eval and to keep our eyes on things.

[Anonymous]

My 2 yo had almost no words, and would'nt even vocalize. She just got a huge scholarship to several colleges and is very successful and well-spoken. Some kids just talk late! We did speech therapy which was funny for a while because she just fllat out refused to speak. And the therapists would be giving it their all and she'd just look at them. Eventually, on her own terms, when she wanted, she spoke. Hang in there, OP. It's hard not to compare kids, but trust your gut, get the professionals in there, and she'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Thanks for all these responses! Again, it's encouraging to see the range and reading these I'm glad we are going to get ST even just for an eval and to keep our eyes on things.

Its a good idea to see a ST and get an evaluation. Worst case you do a bit of ST and kid catches up quickly. Who knows if it was timing or ST but better to be careful than not. Or, you can end up like our situation where its more long term and the ST support was helpful over the years and being in with a provider/stability helped. But, even with a language disorder, mine is doing great.

[Anonymous]

I had a late speaker. He said only mama by 18 months and just didn’t say much until he was 2.

Now he is 11 and is still a quiet kid. He is a strong student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is 18-months and we are going to a speech therapist next week to help with what I believe is an expressive language delay. She has very few words That she uses consistently (this, door, bath, dada) and other words she says once or twice never to say again, almost like she files them away. She does communicate by pointing and seems to have fairly good receptive communication—for example, she can follow simple directions. Her motor skills seem totally fine. I am wondering for parents who have BTDT how did speech therapy work out, did your child eventually catch up and when? If your child is now in school, do they continue to have speech and/or learning difficulties? My older DS was on the opposite end of the spectrum and had advanced language at this age so it is tough not to compare and worry.

Yes, both boys caught up and are chatterboxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son was always on the cusp of not meeting number of words milestones. At 18 months he had about 8-9 words, while pediatrician said 10 was the milestone (50 average). He never had that huge language explosion that some others kept mentioning to me "just wait, at 2 it will come". Even at 2 and 2.5 he was always on the borderline normal. He was diagnosed with ASD at 3.

Btw, those posts that say "my uncle didn't talk until he was four and now he's a genius" are extremely unhelpful. For every such story there are several others that actually DID end up needing speech therapy.

Absolutely no harm in starting speech therapy early. Wish we had started at 18 months instead of 2.5. We lost out on 1 year of potential progress.

Um then likewise the “my kid had no words at 18 months and is now diagnosed with blah blah” are just as unhelpful.

Why? An early evaluation can do absolutely zero harm. But waiting can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son was always on the cusp of not meeting number of words milestones. At 18 months he had about 8-9 words, while pediatrician said 10 was the milestone (50 average). He never had that huge language explosion that some others kept mentioning to me "just wait, at 2 it will come". Even at 2 and 2.5 he was always on the borderline normal. He was diagnosed with ASD at 3.

Btw, those posts that say "my uncle didn't talk until he was four and now he's a genius" are extremely unhelpful. For every such story there are several others that actually DID end up needing speech therapy.

Absolutely no harm in starting speech therapy early. Wish we had started at 18 months instead of 2.5. We lost out on 1 year of potential progress.

Um then likewise the “my kid had no words at 18 months and is now diagnosed with blah blah” are just as unhelpful.

Why? An early evaluation can do absolutely zero harm. But waiting can.

College entering super late talker PP here- agree with this. Get an evaluation just to put your mind at ease for sure. But don’t worry too much!

[Anonymous]

My son at 18 months had 6 words. One was mama. Three of them were sign language signs (more, milk and broken). The other two were ba' (daddy) and ba' (ball)

No speech therapy. I have no idea why... in hindsight we should have done it. Life was pretty frustrating for a while.

Anyhow fast forward to 4th grade where we had him tested for all sorts of issues and it turned out he had a verbal IQ of 138 which was pretty decent I think for a late talker. He had an incredible vocabulary.

In high school he had a verbal SAT score of 780 and got a 5 on his AP exams for English Language and English Literature. (Proud mama here.) Got a college scholarship and is doing really well and communicates just fine!

[Anonymous]

My DS was similar. Went to speech from 20 months old to 6 years old. Now he’s 16 and no learning disabilities. He also tested as gifted in language ability by age 8. You can’t base anything long term on a DC needing speech at 2 years old.