Late Talker

Q: Our 27-month-old son is a late talker, only saying a few words. His hearing appears to be fine (and he’s never had any ear infections). His lack of speech has me more concerned. Should I worry or wait it out?

A. Most children develop speech in one of three ways: by babbling, by babbling and thinking, and by thinking. The babblers make all their grammatical and speech “mistakes” out in the open. You hear every new sound and word all the time, from wrong pronunciations to grammar mishaps. Babblers let their language development all hang out, so to speak.

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The middle ground group does a mixture of babbling and pondering what the grammar rules are before speaking. Sometimes, this group will try out new sounds out loud, while other times, these kids will figure it out in their heads before saying a word.

The quiet ones in the last group are the kids that most parents find somewhat troubling in that they rarely talk at all until suddenly they’re using full sentences. These are the kids who want to know all the rules about language that they can before uttering more than a few words—and thus scaring their parents half to death with their quietness.

By around age 5, all three groups usual arrive at the same level of proficiency in their native tongues. Or, as the Introduction to Language textbook put it, “Five-year-old children are almost as proficient at speaking and understanding as are their parents.”

It sounds like you might have a “thinker” who wants to figure out the rules before speaking too much. As long as he seems to follow instructions, understand what you're saying, and communicates what he needs, you probably have nothing to worry about.

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