Abstract
BackgroundMany children who are late talkers go on to develop normal language, but others go on to have longer-term language difficulties. In this study, we considered which factors were predictive of persistent problems in late talkers.MethodsParental report of expressive vocabulary at 18 months of age was used to select 26 late talkers and 70 average talkers, who were assessed for language and cognitive ability at 20 months of age. Follow-up at 4 years of age was carried out for 24 late and 58 average talkers. A psychometric test battery was used to categorize children in terms of language status (unimpaired or impaired) and nonverbal ability (normal range or more than 1 SD below average). The vocabulary and non-word repetition skills of the accompanying parent were also assessed.ResultsAmong the late talkers, seven (29%) met our criteria for specific language impairment (SLI) at 4 years of age, and a further two (8%) had low nonverbal ability. In the group of average talkers, eight (14%) met the criteria for SLI at 4 years, and five other children (8%) had low nonverbal ability. Family history of language problems was slightly better than late-talker status as a predictor of SLI.. The best predictors of SLI at 20 months of age were score on the receptive language scale of the Mullen Scales of Early Learning and the parent's performance on a non-word repetition task. Maternal education was not a significant predictor of outcome.ConclusionsIn this study, around three-quarters of late talkers did not have any language difficulties at 4 years of age, provided there was no family history of language impairment. A family history of language-literacy problems was found to be a significant predictor for persisting problems. Nevertheless, there are children with SLI for whom prediction is difficult because they did not have early language delay.
Highlights
Many children who are late talkers go on to develop normal language, but others go on to have longer-term language difficulties
Severe specific language impairment (SLI), of the kind studied by Haynes and Naidoo [5], probably affects around 3% of children at most, and the data from this study indicate that 88% of these children had not produced first words by 18 months, which we will take as our definition of ‘late talker’
It is noteworthy that this study found that a family history of language or literacy impairment was a significant predictor of outcome, consistent with smaller-scale studies investigating outcomes of children with a family history of dyslexia [24] or SLI [25]
Summary
Many children who are late talkers go on to develop normal language, but others go on to have longer-term language difficulties. Children who are subsequently diagnosed with specific language impairment (SLI) in the absence of other developmental difficulties were usually late talkers. In a study of children at a residential school for those with specific speech and language impairments, Haynes and Naidoo [5] found that only 12% had produced their first words by 17 months of age. Parents of children with SLI often complain that their early concerns were not taken seriously, and that they are told that the child would ‘grow out of it’. This view has been articulated in a UK government report into provision for children with speech and language difficulties [6]
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