Seven percent of children are “late talkers.” They have what is called specific language impairment (SLI). Children with SLI are typical in just about every way. For example, they share typical understanding, hearing, motor skills and social-emotional development with their peers.

But by age two, children with SLI have fewer than 50 words and just a few two-word sentences. The expressive language of some of these late talkers will eventually resemble their same-age peers. However, many of these children will continue to have trouble with acquiring expressive vocabulary. Early intervention therapy has been shown to be effective in helping these children in acquiring speech and language.


Related Articles
Developmental Milestones: Communication
(http://www.abilitypath.org/milestone-concerns/developmental-milestones-language-speech.html)

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References
Rescorla, L. & Ratner, N.B. (1996) “Phonetic profiles of toddlers with specific expressive language impairment (SLI-E)”. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 39, 153-165.

Lof, G.L. (2004) “Confusion about speech norms and their use.” Thinking Publications Online Conference.
www.thinkingpublications.com/LangConf04/OLCIntro.html