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Strollerderby
They Say: One in Six Babies Has Trouble Talking
According to a new study from the United Kingdom, one quarter of boys have trouble learning to talk, and one in six babies of both sexes do.
A YouGov online survey of 1,015 parents found that 34 percent of girls versus only 27 percent of boys had said their first word before the age of nine months, and most children said their first word between the ages of 10 and 11 months. Only 4 percent of children had not said their first word by the age of three.
Of those children who lagged behind, only half got expert help, according to the study.
That’s a serious problem, says Jean Gross, England’s first “Communication Champion” at whose behest the survey was done. “Our ability to communicate is fundamental and underpins everything else. Learning to talk is one of the most important skills a child can master in the 21st Century,” she told the BBC.
A majority of parents did things to help their children learn language, including reading them picture books, singing to them and telling them stories, although children from higher-income families reported their children actually enjoying it at a younger age.
I always find things about children’s speech development interesting because we had such wildly different experiences with the kids who live here. The girl, who was conscientiously read to daily since her newborn days, sung to, and constantly chattered at was a late talker, not saying much at all until she was well over two. She’d sign like a champ and said words, just not many. We actually had her set up for a speech evaluation when she was about two and a half, until one day at bedtime she just…started talking. In sentences and paragraphs and everything. And has not ceased since.
Meanwhile, her brother, who got a lot less focused attention although probably heard a lot more speech (see incessantly chatty sister reference above) began saying words at 19 months or so and now, at just shy of two, has a ton of words and effectively communicates his needs verbally.
While this study was done in the UK, I can’t imagine US numbers are all that different. Have you noticed a difference in your children’s speech development, and do you have any insight into why?
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2 Comments
Kate commented on Jan 07 10 at 1:24 pmUm, I’m pretty sure that a quarter of all children can’t “lag behind” the average in any meaningful way. Usually the middle 50 percent of range is considered either normal or average, so it’s a truism that 25 percent are below. And if the “average” is a single point on the range, then it’s impossible for only 25 percent to lag. What you really mean is that 25% of kids are talking slower than makes us comfortable.
Jennifer commented on Jan 07 10 at 11:34 pmI read this: “All those questioned said they looked at picture books with their children, told them stories and sang nursery rhymes with them – all activities which boost language development.” and thought YEAH RIGHT. Of course parents say this. They say it because they think their kid’s language development is entirely up to them, and if their kid isn’t developing normally (bleh, I hate that word), then there’s blame to apportion and the parents get it all. What I have learned through my odyssey into the world of speech and language pathology (as a parent of a severely speech-delayed child) is that they know what in what order kids tend to develop their skills, and generally at what age, but otherwise they don’t have the first clue why an otherwise normal (again, bleh) child would develop quickly while another would develop slowly. And who can blame them? The brain is a big mystery. What I think is that most kids will develop on their own time and in their own way regardless of most influences, and unless there is a genuine capital-P problem, people should not worry too much.
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