9 to 20% of 2 year olds will be late talkers. Some toddlers will naturally resolve and develop age-appropriate speech and language skills on their own. Other toddlers, however, will persist with ongoing delayed speech/language skills without intervention. Some predictive factors for late talkers include:
- Maternal smoking during pregnancy
- Low income
- Being male
- Minimal interest in reading books
- Internalising behaviours (e.g. feeling sad, social withdrawal, nervousness, stomachaches)
Zubrick, S. R., Taylor, C. L., & Rice, M. L. (2007). Late Language Emergence at 24 Months: An Epidemiological Study of Prevalence, Predictors, and Covariates. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR, 50(6), 1562–1592.
Recent Comments