Late language emergence (LLE) is a condition associated with a delay in language development/onset with no other disabilities in other cognitive domains. A late talker may present a delay in either expressive language delay only, mixed expressive or receptive delay. Those children presenting themselves with only expressive delays are diagnosed with vocabulary acquisition and regularly demonstrate poor creation of sentence structure. On the other hand, those with receptive language and mixed expressive delays present delays in speech production and language comprehension (Geers et al., 2016, p. 157). Risk factors for LLE include delayed motor development, lower SES status, and mother’s level of education, premature birth/low birth weight and family history. To combat these factors careful screening is crucial in the identification of young children likely to suffer from the language disorder, and to determine the necessity for a further language assessment.
Common characteristics of a child with a late language emergence include language comprehension difficulties, minimal gestures, delayed vocabulary acquisition, immature phonological development and sluggish development of sentence structure. Roughly 50% to 70% of the children with the LLE is reported to catch up with their age mates and exhibit normal language development by school age. Approximately 10-20% of 2-year olds are well-thought-out late talker. In addition, a Prevalence of LLE is proved to be higher in children aged 30-36 months with a rate incensement of 4% from an age class of 18-23 month-old toddlers estimated to be 13.5% (Geers et al., 2016, p.160).
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I chose late language emergence as my project because unlike other communication disorders, LLE is more complex and easily mistaken with its related disorders thus studying it will make it more understandable. Often, confusion is made between a late bloomer and a late talker. Typically, late bloomers make use of gestures to communicate unlike late talkers, also there are almost no delays in language comprehension for the late bloomers. Contrary to widespread belief, a late talker is not merely about saying words but rather phonological development and gesture presentation. I want to know how I can differentiate or rather help others to identify a child as either a late talker or a late bloomer with the close characteristics both disorders share. The last reason for showing interest in this topic is getting to know whether a family status implicates or contributes to the child’s communication disorder. Heredity is a factor contributing to the disease whereby a late talker is likely to have a parent who once had a history of the disorder. In addition, maternal resources provided to the child and a mother’s level of education all play a role. Early intervention can counter the influence made by the risk factors and thus the significance of pathologists recognizing these risk factors in the identification of LLE (Dohmen et al., 2016).
My demographics’ target audience is parents as they certainly determine their children’s communication status. With the information provided, parents especially those with a history of LLE will find it necessary to seek professional intervention for their children, for instance, a speech-language pathologist for screening services. If indeed the child is diagnosed with the condition then the expected results after therapy sessions are done will be promising due to the early identification and intervention (Uilenburg et al., 2018). The second reason as to why parents are my preferred audience is that by educating them on giving the right attention to children, late language emergence can be avoided. I believe that educating parents on toddler talk can greatly impact a child’s language development and providing them with maternal materials is important. In conclusion, it a responsibility of educators to providers necessary knowledge and to work in hand with carers and parents in improving the children’s speech and language growth.
References
Dohmen, A., Bishop, D. V., Chiat, S., & Roy, P. (2016). Body movement imitation and early language as predictors of later social communication and language outcomes: A longitudinal study. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments , 1 , 2396941516656636.
Geers, A. E., Nicholas, J., Tobey, E., & Davidson, L. (2016). Persistent language delay versus late language emergence in children with early cochlear implantation. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research , 59 (1), 155-170.
Uilenburg, N., Wiefferink, K., Verkerk, P., van Denderen, M., van Schie, C., & Oudesluys-Murphy, A. M. (2018). Accuracy of a screening tool for early identification of language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research , 61 (1), 104-113.
