My mom always likes to tell people how I was talking in complete sentences at 18 months old. So when my children reached that age and weren't saying much at all, she kept asking "Why aren't they talking?" I didn't feel pressure for my kids to talk early, and told her that I knew they comprehended most of what I said. So if they didn't talk until they were ready, I was fine with it. I talk to my children a lot (on their level, not using baby-talk) and read to them daily. I felt like I was doing what I needed to do to help them develop good communication skills, and sometime after turning 2, the words starting coming (and haven't stopped since!) Any time I see infomercials for products that claim to help babies learn to talk, I have to chuckle. I think baby sign language is great (and have used it with both of my kids), but I didn't feel like pushing my kids to talk earlier than most was going to make them more successful later in life. I respect parents who feel differently, but that's just my opinion. A new research study has found that late-talkers are at no greater risk for behavioral and emotional problems than toddlers who talk much earlier. The Australian study followed 1,400 children from age 2 until they were 17. Parents were asked about their child's language skills six times over the course of the study. Researchers "compared 142 late-talking children who had no other developmental delay to 1,245 others who were on track with language skills. The researchers found that late-talking children tended to exhibit behavioral and emotional issues when they were younger, but these problems diminished as the children grew to be more proficient speakers." Experts note some flaws in the research, such as the exclusion of children who were diagnosed with a developmental or intellectual disability. The study also doesn't explain how many of the late-talkers had professional intervention as they were growing up, so there's no way to know whether or not help also prevented behavioral and emotional problems. Experts also warn that it's never a good idea to ignore warning signs if a child's language skills are delayed. Most kids catch up eventually, but they recommend some professional intervention between ages 3 and 5 if a child isn't talking. The majority of children begin to develop a vocabulary and string 2 or 3 word phrases together around age 2. Between 7 and 18 percent of toddlers don't meet this benchmark. What do you think? |
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