Late talkers

Right from birth, the development of children is monitored by parents and health professionals.

The purpose of welfare clinics in Ghana is to ensure that your child is developing well.

Although every child is unique and develops differently, there are milestones that children are expected to reach at every stage of their lives.

These milestones include neck control, sitting, crawling, standing, walking, following instructions and talking.

Children go through some stages in the development of their speech and language.

Within specific age ranges, children’s speech and language skills are expected to be at a certain stage.

In Ghana, this can sometimes be hard as we do not yet know the exact expectations of Ghanaian children in terms of speech and language skills.

Although we find the speech and language developmental expectations in countries where most children are exposed to just one language useful, it will be helpful to have equivalent developmental expectations of Ghanaian children as most of them are exposed to more than one language, and thus, would have different developmental journies with their skills (as compared to children exposed to just one language). 

Factors

Despite this challenge, your child’s speech and language development is often determined by some factors.

These factors include how much talking they are hearing in their environment, how people respond to what they say, their ability to learn language and other skills at the same time.

As this varies from child to child, it can be difficult to tell where your child’s speech and language development will be in the next six months, for instance.

The term ‘late talker’ refers to a toddler under 30 months whose vocabulary is limited for their age but is developing typically/well in all other areas.

It is often assumed that all late talkers will often catch up with typically developing children and therefore do not need any help or intervention. However, research shows otherwise. 

Research

According to research, late talkers will be either of these two groups: a) between 20 and 30 per cent of late talkers who do not grow out of their language delay will, therefore, need intervention with their difficulties or b) between 70 and 80 per cent of late talkers who seem to catch up to their peers by the time they enter school.

Research shows that late talkers who seem to catch up with their peers continue to have difficulties with other areas of language which includes vocabulary, understanding, rules about how words are put together in language, rules about sounds used in language, listening, reading, creativity and speech processing skills.

These may also impact other skills that rely on language, such as, planning, organising, forming relationships with others, paying attention and controlling some behaviours.

It is, therefore, important that children who are identified as late talkers are helped as early as possible, as these difficulties have the potential of affecting their academic skills and quality of life.

Early intervention can reduce the impact of this difficulty.

If you are concerned that your child may be a late talker, it might be helpful to see a speech and language therapist for assessment and support.

The writer is Speech & Language Therapist/Clinical Tutor,

University of Ghana.

E-mail: jobamp@hotmail.com