Late Talker Screener

For toddlers between 18-20 months

Does my toddler have good understanding of language, typically developing play skills, motor skills, thinking skills, and social skills, but has a limited words for his or her age?

Does my toddler use less than 24 words?

Does my toddler use different types of words, such as nouns (“baby”, “cookie”), verbs (“eat”, “go”), prepositions (“up”, “down”), adjectives (“hot”, “sleepy”), and social words (“hi”, “bye”)?

For toddlers between 21-24 months

Does my toddler have good understanding of language, typically developing play skills, motor skills, thinking skills, and social skills, but has a limited words for his or her age?

Does my toddler use less than 40 words?

Does my toddler use different types of words, such as nouns (“baby”, “cookie”), verbs (“eat”, “go”), prepositions (“up”, “down”), adjectives (“hot”, “sleepy”), and social words (“hi”, “bye”)?

For Toddlers 24 months +

Does my toddler use less than 100 words?

Does my toddler combine 2 words together such as  “daddy gone”, “eat cookie”, or “dirty hands.  ” Don’t count words that are memorized chunks such as “all gone” and “bye-bye” don’t count

Does my toddler have any of the following “risk factors”?

• quiet as an infant; little babbling
• a history of ear infections
• limited number of consonant sounds (eg. p, b, m, t, d, n, y, k, g, etc.)
• does not link pretend ideas and actions together while playing
• does not imitate (copy) words
• uses mostly nouns (names of people, places, things), and few verbs (action words)
• difficulty playing with peers (social skills)
• a family history of communication delay, learning or academic difficulties
• a mild comprehension (understanding) delay for his or her age
• uses few gestures to communicate

Does my toddler get frustrated?

Does my toddler have frequent tantrums when they can’t communicate what they want?

Does my toddler hit, bite, or act out with peers because they can’t express themselves with peers?

If you answered yes to three or more of the questions above, we recommend a speech evaluation 

Early Intervention is key. Research shows that spoken language can be accelerated significantly with intervention. We can build new neural pathways in the brain, especially in the first 5 years. The “wait-and-see” approach to children who talk late is a result of misconceptions about typical language development. “All children develop at their own pace” is another common phrase parents come across when looking for an explanation for a child’s delayed development. While children do develop at their own pace to some extent, we know that there are certain milestones which should be reached by a specific age. When they are not reached, this becomes cause for concern.  While some children seem to catch up on their own, others do not. 

References:

1. Olswang, L.B., Rodriguez, B. & Timler, G. (1998). Recommending Intervention for Toddlers With Specific Language Learning Difficulties: We May Not Have All the Answers, But We Know a Lot. American Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 7, 23 – 32.
2. The Hanen Center (www.Hanen.org)