Helping late-talkers with language
Late-talkers are kids who use fewer words than they should for their age. These late-language emergence (LLE) children are often identified between 2 and 4 years old.
While many of these kids will naturally catch up to their peers, some will not — and it is impossible to tell which group a child falls into until after the fact.
To help improve their expressive language skills, speech therapy is recommended to many late-talking toddlers. At this age, it’s best to pair speech therapy with at-home practice. Families and caregivers naturally spend the most time with a child in their own environment, which is the most comfortable place to improve their language skills.
Try these speech therapist-recommended strategies to develop vocabulary at home.
Use parallel talk: Parallel talk refers to narrating what your child is doing. This gives them examples of language — and all they have to do is listen.
By doing this during their preferred activities, you encourage your child to pay attention to functional words as they’re used in real-world ways.
Talk about what the child is doing, such as “Jenny is putting the block on top. She is stacking the blocks!” or comment on their play: “The block fell down!”
Give your child extra time to encourage speech: Parents often “fill in the blanks” of what their child is trying to communicate, anticipating what they’re going to do before they communicate it.
Giving children a lot of “wait time” can encourage them to communicate using words or signs. For example, you can encourage your child to say the word “ball” by saying “I see you looking over here. I think you want the … ” and providing them an opportunity to fill in the word.
Even if your child does not say the word, once you have offered sufficient pause time you can complete the sentence yourself: “… ball! You are asking for the ball.” This is a low-pressure way to encourage verbal communication without demanding it of your child.
Model words you want your child to know across contexts: One of the best ways to teach a word or concept is to demonstrate it in a variety of contexts.
For example, if you want to teach the word “close,” you could use this word when closing doors, boxes, windows and toys. This way, your child will learn that “close” is an action word that occurs across many objects and contexts.
One option is to pick a “word of the week” to focus on so you can provide many examples of the word. This can be used for labels, actions and descriptive words.
Recast and expand vocalizations: Parents can model the correct usage of words by repeating or recasting vocalizations from their child and turning them into well-formed words.
For example, if your child says “uh” while gesturing they want to be picked up, you can repeat the correct pronunciation of “up” to give them an immediate example of how the word is used in context.
Another helpful language technique is to expand your child’s utterance by adding one or two words. Using the same example, if your child says “uh” to indicate they want to be held, you can say “Pick up!” to provide them good examples of words and word combinations.
Use words during your child’s favorite activities: This is a great time to model language because you know the child is engaged and motivated. You can really do this across any activity your child likes!
For example, if Johnny likes coloring, you can model different words while doing this activity. Try coloring “fast!” and “slooooow” to teach descriptive words with a tangible example. You can also focus on some high-frequency action words like “make” (a drawing, object, etc.) or “get” (a specific color, piece of paper, etc.).
Try to focus on one to two words per activity and use them frequently — the more examples per word, the better.
Use verbal routines and/or songs to model words: Routine and familiarity can be highly beneficial in teaching words, since kids begin to expect and predict these routines.
Using simple words or phrases such as “Good morning” or “Wake up” can be a great way to model during a daily routine. You can say these in an exaggerated way, such as “Waaaaaaaake up!” or “Good niiiiiight” to make it fun and engaging.
Songs are another good way to demonstrate words since they are the same every time. You can sing songs a few times and then have the child fill in the blanks, such as by singing “The people on the bus go …” and pausing. If the child does not fill in “up and down,” you can say it for them. You can also use gestures to make them more engaging.
While these strategies are often a good start, each child and family has individual needs. If you are concerned for your child’s language development, seek out an evaluation with a speech-language pathologist for personalized guidance.