Are you working with a late talker with slow progress? Late talkers who add words s..l..o..w..l..y are often missing one or more of the foundational skills for language development. That’s why they seem to get “stuck.” Kids like this make a little bit of progress, learn a few new words, and then nothing…. for…

One of the lessons I’ve learned about working with late talkers is to use their learning preferences to help them in areas that are more difficult for them. Today I want to share ideas for using visual supports with late talkers with visual strengths. The most common example is a late talker with obvious visual…

Every single parent you’ll encounter today, tomorrow, this week, and next year is looking for the SAME thing…   HOPE.   They all want hope. Hope that whatever is going on with their child will get better. Hope that you have answers they don’t.   Don’t believe me? Then start listening to what parents say……

The Truth about Flashcards for Toddlers Who Don’t Yet Talk I almost titled this post “Why Flashcards Don’t Work to Teach a Nonverbal Toddler to Talk,” but I opted for the one above instead. Many parents and even some therapists default to using flashcards in an effort to teach a child new words. From a…

As speech-language pathologists and parents, when a toddler is not talking yet, we rush in to try to help them learn to say new words and pronounce them clearly. When these first attempts don’t work, we become frustrated, sometimes very frustrated, with the lack of progress. This is the point where I usually meet parents…

Learning to imitate sounds and words is a critical skill in a child’s quest to become verbal. Many children who are late talkers, those who have more specific language delays/disorders such as apraxia or autism, have great difficulty learning to repeat words. When toddlers don’t begin to say words on time, one of the first things…

As a pediatric speech-language pathologist, I often get referral information for a child with the primary concern listed as “speech delay” or “communication delay.” These are often catch-all terms that can mean a child is not saying as many words as other babies his age, is talking but is hard to understand, doesn’t follow directions,…

This week I’ve fielded the same question from a few families and therapists who have emailed me about how to prompt a child to talk. They’ve asked about kids who can talk, but don’t initiate to begin conversations with other people. Many times these kids don’t ask questions, and sometimes, they don’t request very many…

Do you have a child who grunts instead of talking? Many parents of late talkers say that their child grunts instead of using words and ask for ideas for helping a child learn to talk. Here’s an excerpt from an e-mail I received from our “Ask the SLP” post. “My son is 18 months old…

What’s the number one factor that unites mothers across cultural, social, and economic boundaries? It’s worry. Most of us obsess about our kids. In this article, we’re going to discuss signs of speech delay in toddlers and when to worry. But first things first… In the first few months of motherhood, it’s all about our…

Earlier this week I sent an email titled, “The Trouble with Social Games.” In it I addressed 3 reasons social games don’t work (at first) for some toddlers with language delays, but I didn’t include one of the main reasons social games don’t work… We’re not creative enough! By we, I mean the adult who…