User:Obrown12/sandbox

A late talker is a toddler that experiences a delayed language barrier. Children deemed “late-talkers” are between the ages of 18-30 months old who understand language but contain a limited spoken vocabulary. Many children that experience this communicate in multiple different ways including facial expressions, hand gestures, drawing, eye contact, etc. These children may lack in verbal communication but develop motor skills, play skills, and social skills at the same rate as a speaking child.

Majority of late talking toddlers are quickly deemed or misdiagnosed with a learning disability such as Autism Spectrum Disorder due to the developmental milestones that a child in this age range should be completing. At 18 months a toddler should be able to say at least 50 different words and at the age of 30 months they should be able to say 450. The most common cases are found in males. There is no specific reason as to why late talking occurs mainly in males then females.

Professionals believe that “Parental Implemented Intervention” should be done as soon as you believe your child is delayed. Wether that is with speech or motility. Physicians do recommend the child reach the age of two before undergoing extensive testing to rule out any learning disabilities. Most will suggest learning strategies to promote speech as well as a language pathologist. Some may also believe that waiting will allow the child time to outgrow the delay and time to catch up.

Strategies that can be used to improve the speech delay in a child such as self-talk, use of sign language, parallel talk, expansions, and receptive vocabulary building. Self-Talk is verbally explaining what you are doing. Describing the items that you are holding and the actions that you are taking with said item. Verbally communicating your senses whilst doing a task. Using sign language is another form of communication that you and your child can share while they are unable to voice what they are needing or feeling. Parallel talk is similar to “Self-Talk” the main difference between the two is that you are no longer explaining what you are doing as parent but the things that your child is doing. During parallel talk you are explaining to the child the items that they are holding/using at the time and the actions that they are taking. Expansions is a speech building technique. When using this strategy you are adding a word to the word that your child is saying for example if the word is “car” you could add a color to the car such as “blue car”. This approach will allow children to begin expanding their one worded phrases to a possible full sentence after practicing this method. Lastly, receptive vocabulary building is the understanding of words before they are spoken. Children must learn a word before they are able to verbally communicate them. To practice this method parents are encouraged to point at objects whilst vocalizing what that object is as well as labeling object so the toddler is able to later identify them.