Don’t feel bad if your baby is a late talk
You have a baby?????
Talking to your tummy won’t help your baby master speech faster. In fact all the attention in the world will not hasten the time when ga-ga gives way to da-da. Researchers in Australia, who tracked around 1,750 children from infancy to age seven, found a mother’s education, income or even her mental health had no influence on how quickly her toddler talked.
Premature birth and low birth weight were likely factors in delaying speech.
“It seems that what’s going on at home really has nothing to do with late language development,” said Kate Taylor, research tem leader at Perth’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. “That means parent can finally stop beating themselves up about their toddler’s lack of words.”
The researchers found that of 1,766 children analyzed at the age of two, 81 per cent could successfully combine two or three words to make short sentences.
Thirteen per cent were late talkers, with a vocabulary of less than 50 words.
Boys were three times more likely to have delayed speech, while children with siblings were twice as likely to be late in acquiring the gift of the gab. Children with a family history of late talking were also likely to be late talkers.
Professor Taylor said Talking to and reading to children appeared to have no connection to early or late talking.
This finding ran contrary to the popular assumption that toddlers who were late in talking had problem at home or some disadvantage over other children.
“I hope these findings will reassure many parents that delayed language is not a reflection on their parenting or the children’s intelligence,” Taylor said.
Talking to your tummy won’t help your baby master speech faster. In fact all the attention in the world will not hasten the time when ga-ga gives way to da-da. Researchers in Australia, who tracked around 1,750 children from infancy to age seven, found a mother’s education, income or even her mental health had no influence on how quickly her toddler talked.
Premature birth and low birth weight were likely factors in delaying speech.
“It seems that what’s going on at home really has nothing to do with late language development,” said Kate Taylor, research tem leader at Perth’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. “That means parent can finally stop beating themselves up about their toddler’s lack of words.”
The researchers found that of 1,766 children analyzed at the age of two, 81 per cent could successfully combine two or three words to make short sentences.
Thirteen per cent were late talkers, with a vocabulary of less than 50 words.
Boys were three times more likely to have delayed speech, while children with siblings were twice as likely to be late in acquiring the gift of the gab. Children with a family history of late talking were also likely to be late talkers.
Professor Taylor said Talking to and reading to children appeared to have no connection to early or late talking.
This finding ran contrary to the popular assumption that toddlers who were late in talking had problem at home or some disadvantage over other children.
“I hope these findings will reassure many parents that delayed language is not a reflection on their parenting or the children’s intelligence,” Taylor said.
