Late Talker or Receptive Language Delay?
Are you concerned that your child isn't talking as much as you think he should be by his age? Are other children in your playgroup talking a lot more and putting words together more easily and following directions better? There might be more going on than just "he's not picking up words" or "he's just a late talker." A receptive language delay/disorder may be an underlying factor in why your child is not picking up words as easily as other children around him.
Late talkers often have a receptive language disorder that is overlooked. It makes sense that a chid can't use words that he doesn't understand. Words don't make sense to a child who is not understanding fully the meaning behind the words.
Children who have difficulty understanding language or processing language have difficulty following directions. This can easily be mis-diagnosed as a behavior problem both at home and at preschool or day care. You might think that your child understands just fine because he understands many words. The breakdown typically occurs, however, when it's all put together in longer utterances and when simple nouns that your child may know individually are combined with adjectives and verbs and prepositional phrases.
Some characteristics of children with comprehension or processing problems include the following:
- repeating the last couple words of a question instead of answering it
- ignoring questions
- not following more than a single step direction
- giving off target (unrelated) responses to questions
- shaking head for yes or no instead of answering
- may understand the individual words and vocabulary, but not when it's all put together in a longer direction or question
If this sounds like your child, I strongly encourage you to have your child evaluated by a speech/language pathologist or early intervention specialist. Click here to learn more about this process. The earlier your child receives intervention for this, the better off he'll be and the chances of overcoming this specific delay with be greater.
Ways you as parents can help at home:
- teach your child how to use words and what they mean - instead of just teaching them to say words
- teach words in context and generalize across many contexts (if you're talking about the word "shoe", use the word when you are tying his shoes and when you are putting your shoes on and when you go to a shoe store and see shoes or when you look at a book with your child and come across shoes, etc.)
- exaggerate words and actions while teaching meaning
- exaggerate vowels instead of consonants (b-a-a-a-l instead of b-b-bal)
- when giving a direction, break it way down if necessary
- shorten your sentences when giving directions and asking questions
- model the answer to help them learn how to respond and what you're expecting
- tell your child to do something - if he doesn't do it or doesn't understand, show him and then if necessary physically assist him
- don't just teach your child nouns, also teach verbs (action words), adjectives (descriptive words) and prepositions (location words)
In a subsequent post, I will address asking and answering questions with your child and what types of questions should be mastered by what ages.
I hope this article has been helpful. Please fill in below with any comments or questions you may have on this topic.
Thank you
Filed under Birth to 3 years old, Language Development, Receptive Language by Tami
Comments on Late Talker or Receptive Language Delay? »
Very true, was nice to read the summary of what we learn as moms of HI children.I will put this on my blog if it is ok .
rouchi
impem.blogspot.com
Ruchi Goyals last blog post..Audiogram
Hi Rouchi,
Sure you can put this on your blog. I would love it if you could link back to my blog though. Thanks.
Tami
Good article! Since receptive language comes before expressive language, it makes sense that a receptive language disorder can cause delays in beginning to talk, and disrupt the development of expressive language skills. In elementary school students, central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) can easily be mistaken for attention deficit disorder, since the behaviors often look very similar on the surface. However, treatment for ADD will not benefit a student with CAPD. Correct diagnosis is so crucial for successful treatment.
Robert, SLPs last blog post..TV and ADHD
Hi Tami, would do that.
Robert,
Thanks for your great comment.
Tami
Excellent! My guy is 3 1/2 and just diagnosed with expressive/receptive language disorder/ Processing Disorder…..He has been in ST basically his entire life though- Anyways, I am going to highlight your tips….I'd love to hear about answering questions…We do have a great ST ( and he recently started EC through the school district), but its always nice to get other professionals ideas) Its honestly EXTREMELY HARD working with these issues! If you have any discipline tips that would be great too….its maddening sometimes…..I get so frustrated, when I am not sure what he "gets" and I can't let me get away with everything…..AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Hi Sheri,
Sorry for the late response - life is busy as you know! That's great for him that he started preschool and will be getting speech therapy services at school too - right? I myself work for EC through one of our large school districts here in Colorado.
As far as discipline tips, all I can really come up with right now is just to make sure he's understanding by breaking down directions as much as you can and physically showing him what you mean if necessary. Don't expect that he's understanding more then even a single step direction.
A friend and fellow speech pathologist has made these CD's called Exploring Language Through Song and Play. They are fabulous for preschool age children and your son may really like them. The set comes with 2 activity books that go with the CD's. I'm selling them for her here on my site (upper right column) and I'll be incorporating them in my preschools as well.
Good luck - sounds like you are on the right track with him.
Tami
MY CHILD DIDNT NOT START SPEAKING UNTIL THREE AND HALF. HE FOLLOWED COMMANDS BUT WOULDNT SPEAK UNTIL I QUIT MY JOB AND HAD TO START HAVING ME SPEAK DIRECTLY TO HIM, HE WAS ABLE TO READ BY FOUR AND LEARNED ABC,S, AND THE TYPICAL 3-4. HE WENT TO K AND I THOUGHT THIS WOULD ENCHANCE HIS LANGUAGE MORE,IT DIDNT HE HAS COME A LONG WAY, THE SCHOOL DID NOTHING DESPITE HE HIM ABLE TO READ AND ALREADY LEARNED BASIC K SKILLS, NO ONE WORKED ONE ON ONE SAID SPEECH TECH DIDNT HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO WORK WITH HIM, THE PROGRESSION HAS BEEN A SUCESS
Hi,
Thanks for this interesting article. My son completing 4th year of his age on 28th January 2010 and he behaves in same manner as you described in your article for receptive/expressive disorder in a child. However I have certain question and I hope you will be kind enough to answer them in details.
1-At what age normally this problem is overcome by a child?
2-In adult life do these children lag behind others in any aspect of life?
3-Is this a congenital, acquired or some metabolic imbalance?
4-Do these children need any medical treatment beside speech therapy?
5-How does speech therapy help in overcoming this problem?
6-Do these symptoms appear in any other form in future on they completely subside by the time?
Your early reply will be highly appreciated.
Best Regards
mr zeeshan i have the same concerns i want to know to will he be ok normal as an adult what is childhood autisim? is it possiable that mild hearing loss due to ear glue causing receptive delay?
My son was literally diagnosed with a moderate receptive speech delay and mild speech delay today and am wondering what I can do at home to help this issue. He is four and I'm so frustrated with myself for not seeing the signs earlier. I simply didn't know "receptive" speech delay existed. I thought he was just a "little behind" kids his age.
If you have any helpful tips, etc. I'd love to hear them. Thank you!
Correction - moderate receptive speech delay and mild expressive speech delay… Sorry
Excellent post - I came upon this after a google search on receptive language delay. I have a 3.5 yr old with this diagnosis and am looking for answers. Zeeshan posted excellent questions that I would like to know as well!
hi my son is 2 year and 5 mounth old.he speaks some words but not in a sentences.he understands every things.he knows where is his clouths toys every thing.but he does not speak.i m worry about him.if u have some soiuation of my problem then pls help me. thanks. priyanka.
Thank you for this very informative article. I have recently made arrangements to have my 3 year old son evaluated as he has several of the issues you describe in this article. I delayed seeking help sooner because my son is an intelligent boy and I assumed he was just a late talker but now as kindergarten nears, I want to make sure he's ready.
My daughter has a receptive langauge delay that I just learned of last week. She is 4.5. The thing is she is SO BRIGHT that it was shocking even to the therapist.
Expressive language, she is actually able to communicate at the level of a 6.5 year old. But she has difficulty in understanding the things that people say or the questions that are asked. She actually started reading 1 week before she turned 3, but other than reading, she was not very verbal at all.
In fact, my now 2.5 year old talks more than my oldest was at 3.5. So strange.
Aloha Tami!
My 3 3/4 year old son was evaluated by a speech path about 2 months ago and they reported that he has a mild receptive language delay. We also ruled out any hearing difficulties from having a hearing evaluation done as well. From reading several of the comments made by other parents regarding this post, I too worry about my son's ability to be able to function in the classroom without the proper breakdown of information. We are so blessed that my son's preschool is very open to keeping on top of him. I just worry that when he goes to kindergarten and to a different school he will be lost in a classroom full of 20something children and he won't understand much. At a young age (before 2) he seemed "slower" but when I had him evaluated twice, his expressive language was always on target and his previous evaluators didn't feel his receptive language was too much of a concern. But now, seeing him around his other classmates, I see the difference. I am hopeful that within the next year of speech therapy, and home and school intervention, he will improve. But of course, like every mom, I still worry. Thank you for this blog! All that was mentioned about a child with receptive language delays sounds just like my little guy. Mahalo!
Good afternoon,
My now 3 3/4 year old was diagnosed in April of this year with Speech delay and possible autism spectrum. He was not talking at all, and has since then come a long way. We have been taking him to a speech teraphist for 30 minutes once a week. But now we have the chance to put him in a class room setting for 2 hours every day with other children that also have mild speech disabilities. The last evaluation showed no autism, but a definite moderate language delay/disorder. I am concerned that by placing him with other children(from what I understand there will be 12 to 15 in the class), with other speech disabilities he might regress. If someone has some experience or thoughts about this, please help. I do not want anythong more than to help him be the best that he can but i am also concerned that this might hurt him.
Thank you
Hi Elizabeth,
Putting him in a preschool classroom is absolutely a good idea. Are all the kids in the class speech delayed or is there a mix of typical developing children and kids with speech delay? Whichever the case, the social aspect of preschool is very important and his speech/language skills may improve just by being around other children his own age. And it also sounds like he will get speech/language services through the preschool. An additional 30 minutes a week of outside speech therapy might be a good idea to keep up as well.
Hope this helps,
Tami
Hi Tami,
This is a Great Site!
I have a recently blended family and 2 wonderful 3.5 year old boys. 1 of the boys has a language processing delay.
We have recently started speech therapy.
My questions are:
1. What learning programs that you would recommend that we can use at home?
2. Our other 3.5yr old son is a very verbal communicator. How can we incorporate him in the teaching process?
3. What other kinds of learning and processing delays should we keep an eye out for that may be systemic of the language delay.
4. Knowing that every child is different, what some general expectation guidelines we should establish; is this something that he may overcome entirely or can we expect it to be a challenge for him through out his life?
Thank you so much!
Hi again,
I had one more question.
He will sometimes "fill in the blank" when he wants to engage in a conversation but can't find the words with screeches and Ahhhhs.
When this happens, we currently ask him to use "real words" and provide a few examples responses.
Our concern is, we want to encourage him to engage, but we don't want him to get comfortable supplementing sounds for words.
Do you have suggestions on how to best handle this?
Again Thank you,
Hi,
My son who is very active and great at gross motor skills is not really talking much at all. He is 14 months old. He says mama, dada, and I have heard him say baby and duck. He likes to make the motor sound with his tongue out of his mouth ( he loves to do that and thinks it is so funny!!) When he talks his tongue is sticking out of his mouth. So he is talking but I don't know what he is saying.
Should see a speech path.? Should I be worried that he is not talking?
Hi Leslie,
Keep in mind that he is only 14 months. This is not outside the range of typical. Often it happens that children are focusing so much on one area of development (in this case motor) that other areas of development take a back seat for a while. That's great that he is experimenting with making motor sounds with his mouth.
At the age of 14 months, we often don't understand what they are trying to communicate. I would suggest that you relax about it for a while. Look at some of the suggestions for stimulating language on some of my other articles. Here are 3 good articles with lots of suggestions:
http://speechtherapyweb.com/using-everyday-activities-to-enhance-language-development
http://speechtherapyweb.com/learning-language-through-play
http://speechtherapyweb.com/tips-to-help-your-child-learn-new-words
I hope some of these suggestions/tips help and that your concerns lessen. Have fun with stimulating your son's language!
Tami
These questions an ealier poster asked:
1-At what age normally this problem is overcome by a child?
2-In adult life do these children lag behind others in any aspect of life?
3-Is this a congenital, acquired or some metabolic imbalance?
4-Do these children need any medical treatment beside speech therapy?
5-How does speech therapy help in overcoming this problem?
6-Do these symptoms appear in any other form in future on they completely subside by the time?
Im eager to know what the answers are.
Your early reply will be highly appreciated.
Hi Tami,
Good to see such a good information, my kid is two and she says only few words,she does not follow direction and have less eye contact, sometime she does not respond when we call her, she likes playing with the toys and herself.We have done a assessment and doc says she has a speech delay and receptive language disorder, doc also said that she has mild autism, would you pls suggest me some of the good article I can go through to help my child.
Hi Tami!
I am a single Air Force mom and I deployed right before my son turned 1 and returned shortly after he turned 18 months. He turned 2 in May so we've been back together for about 8 months now. While I was gone he didn't progress at all in speech. He now receives therapy 5 times a week. Twice for speech, twice for occupational and once for developmental. We are stationed in Arkansas and there is a great center here called Dennis Developmental where they diagnosis children, but we've been on the waiting list for over 8 months. While I do see improvements, he still is VERY lacking in speech all around. He is very hyperactive and it is difficult to get him to sit still a listen to me. He still does not understand "no" or "cup" or any simple commands. It's even hit or miss to get him to respond to his name he just seems to be in his own world. I'm trying to find some techniques or tools I can use to help get passed this. He has a vocabulary of maybe 15 words with only about 5 he can use in context. Any information you may have would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Tami,
Thanks for all of the informative information given so far. My son is 2 months shy of 3 years old and had a 2n;d set of tubes put in about 3 months ago. He has finally starting saying a few words but displays significant signs of receptive language disorder. He has been taking speech class for the last 6 months and now the therapist has thinking about referring him to a neurologist. What are your recommendations?
i would also really like o see a response to these:
Lorraine @ 1:39 pm
These questions an ealier poster asked:
1-At what age normally this problem is overcome by a child?
2-In adult life do these children lag behind others in any aspect of life?
3-Is this a congenital, acquired or some metabolic imbalance?
4-Do these children need any medical treatment beside speech therapy?
5-How does speech therapy help in overcoming this problem?
6-Do these symptoms appear in any other form in future on they completely subside by the time?
Im eager to know what the answers are.
Your early reply will be highly appreciated.
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