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Updated: Jul 11, 2026
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Infant Auditory Processing and Event-related Brain Oscillations
Published on: July 1, 2015
Babbling and first words in children with slow expressive development.
Mirco Fasolo1, Marinella Majorano, Laura D'Odorico
1Università di Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1,20126 Milano, Italy.
Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics
|September 27, 2007
Summary
Early vocal production in late talkers (LT) shows fewer consonant types and simpler syllable structures compared to typically developing (TD) children. This suggests a slower, not atypical, developmental pattern for LTs.
Area of Science:
- Child language acquisition
- Speech-language pathology
- Developmental psychology
Background:
- Early identification of developmental delays is crucial for timely intervention.
- Lexical delay is typically identified later in childhood.
- Understanding early vocal predictors can inform early intervention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate early vocal production characteristics as predictors of vocabulary development.
- To compare babbling and first word features in late talkers (LT) versus typically developing (TD) children.
- To determine if LT phonological development is atypical or delayed.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of syllable structure and phonetic characteristics in babbling and first words.
- Comparison of 20-month-old Italian children: 12 LT and 12 TD peers.
- Data collected during naturalistic mother-child play sessions.
Main Results:
- LTs exhibited lower phonetic complexity and fewer consonant types in early vocalizations.
- Significant differences were observed in sound class usage and syllable structure between LT and TD groups.
- LTs demonstrated a slower, yet similar, pattern of phonological development compared to TD peers.
Conclusions:
- Early vocal production, specifically phonetic complexity and syllable structure, can serve as potential indicators for identifying children at risk for later lexical delays.
- The findings support a model of delayed, rather than atypical, phonological development in late talkers.
- These insights can guide the development of early screening tools and intervention programs for children with expressive language delays.
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