When Is the Latest Age for Kids to Start Talking?

i am a speech pathology student and here are what the norms are, remember it can go one way or another by a couple months, especilly bi-lingual children

Stage I 9-18 Mos. MLU 1.0 – 1.5

One word utterances. Labeling, then action words emerge. There is a communicative intent in which Holophrases are used – one word which represents a complete sentence or thought. The child labels or comments about objects, uses requests, greetings, protests, and repeats words uttered by caregiver.

The child can point to objects named, comprehends about 50 words, can respond to simple yes/no queries with head nods or gestures. Verbal turn taking is established at this stage.

Stage II 18-24 Mos. MLU 1.5 - 2.0

Two word phrases: Agent-action: Ted read
Action-object: Push truck
Attention: See ball
Possessive: Ted truck
Denial: No eat
Question formation using intonation. No morphemes used at this stage.
The child has a 50-word vocabulary and refers to himself by name. He uses my and mine. The child comprehends prepositions: in, on, under, and can follow simple phrases: get the keys, open the door, as well as respond to simple Where queries when gestures are used.

Stage III 24-36 Mos. MLU 3.0 – 4.0

3 to 4 word utterances.
Morphological endings: ing, s, “s appear
Past tense irregular used with overgeneralization of grammatical rules, e.g., 2 feets. Present progressive without use of “is-verbing”, e.g., mommy pushing truck. The child is making his wants known with words, rather than with actions (crying, whining, etc.).
There is a large increase in vocabulary at approx. 30 months. The child uses polite words, please and thanks. There is an increase in the use of questions, (e.g., what’s that? Where mommy go? Where my shoe? Why?)

The child responds to one and two-stage commands as well as queries using what and where without gestures. The child can point to pictures of common objects named. He can understand negation: No, don’t, can’t, not.

Stage IV 3+ years MLU 3.0 +

3 to 6 word sentences.
The child uses embedding of one sentence into the semantic role of another sentence at this stage which dramatically increases his MLU. He can sustain a topic of interest and can maintain a conversation by asking queries, especially Why? He uses word pairs like: more and less, and dimensions of time like: before and after. He can repeat at least one nursery rhyme and can sing a short song. Speech is understandable to strangers, but there are some articulation errors.

The child is understanding cause and effect like: if/then, why/because. He can pretend and roll play and understands when told: let’s pretend. He develops the metalinguistic ability to think about language and comment on it.

Stage V Communicative Competence

By age 7 knowledge of the rules of grammar are mastered. (Some of the irregular forms linger, however). The child knows who can say what to whom and when one can say it. (It is even thought that children may have all the rules by age 5.)

I remember when my son was 18 months, he was not talking at all. Like you, I became very concerned. We talked with his doctor and other friends and family and they all said to wait a little longer and see what happens. By 20 months he was saying a few words. Now at 4.5 years old he can out talk anyone and you can't get him to stop most of the time. We only speak one language in our house but I have heard that bilingual kids can take longer. The one thing the doctor wanted to know was if they seem to understand what you are saying and if they can express what they are feeling in others ways than language, such as pointing at an object they want. I recommend talking to the doctor and seeing what he has to say, but don't worry to much before. More than likely they will be talking your ear off before you know it.

E.,
My son was only uttering sounds at this age, and I finally called the warmline to see if they could help out. They sent him to speech therapy. He did begin to talk later on once we got started. But it was a slow process. He also learns visually only....I think that is sometimes why he talked so late.
W. M

The reason people are saying that the child should be able to point at objects, is that failure to talk at that age, or low word count, could be a sign of autism. Another sign of Autism is that they won't point at objects. These are also signs of Autism:
no eye contact.
No babbling occuring at 6-12 months, no waving,no pointing.
You point at something and they look at your hand instead of what you are trying to show them.
no 2 word phrases by age 2.
no words by 16 months.
lack of social interaction with adults. tends to be self absorbed. Very hard to interact with.
doesnt like to be held.... won't sit still on your lap to be read to, etc.
repetitive actions or sayings.
doesnt respond to requests.

Some children have come out of speech delays by removing certain foods. Celiac children have a gluten allergy. The cilia in the gut gets destroyed and they get severe vitamin deficiencies due to malabsorption.
Removing dairy might also help. Also supplements with peptidase enzymes.

Also, fulvic acid should help because it will give them all 60 trace minerals. Look up the miracle of fulvic acid online.

Easter Seals gives free screening for Autism: 1-800- ###-###-####.

Blessings,
Gail

Well, my first question would be if the boys were full term? If so, then for a bilingual home, the latest would be about 2 yrs. 6 mo. You add 6 months for the bilingual component. There is also the twin factor, one may be more of a talker than the other.

They should be able to follow 2+ step commands, such as: go in the bedroom and bring me your shoes. If they are doing that - great. That tells you that their comprehension is on target, and their ability to understand language in on track. I would also see if they respond more in one language versus the other - that sometimes happens.

You can also have formal hearing tests done to rule out any hearing issues.
Lastly, examine how much you require them to talk...do you anticipate their wants and needs so much that they do not have to talk? Sometimes, we as concerned parents don't give them the opportunity.

Hey E.,

All kids are different, and I know that bilingual kids talk later on average. On the other hand, it's a little surprising that they aren't saying mama and dada at this point, but again all kids are different. I've also heard that multiples (twins, triplets etc) frequently talk later because they communicate so well with eachother they don't have the need to learn to talk in order to connect with other people.

The best advice I can give is to talk to your pediatrician. The doctor will be able to give you much better advice and tell you when/ if you need to worry.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your little ones.

T.