A Clinical Synthesis of the "Late Talker" Literature: Implications for Service Delivery

"Late talkers" are most often differentiated from their normally developing peers by their limited expressive lexicons. In the majority of the studies conducted on late talkers, these children are described as producing fewer than 50 words and/or producing limited word combinations by 24 months of age. The expressive language of some of the late talkers will eventually resemble their same-age peers; however, a substantial number of these children will continue to evidence difficulties with their expressive language acquisition. This article provides a review of the literature on late talkers in order to assist speech-language pathologists as they tackle those issues that are specific to service provision with this population of children.