http://www.ldonline.org/article/6366/
This article hypothesizes that there is a direct relationship between the learning of languages and learning disabilities. It explains that children who are considered "late talkers" may have other learning disabilities that contribute to the inability to communicate effectively at a young age.
Previous studies conducted on this theory, have only followed children to a certain age, in which the children have outgrown their communication delay. The study discussed in this article followed children starting at the age of 2, when they were labeled as "late talkers" all the way through the second grade. At first appearance, it followed the same lines as the previous study; the children were able to communicate effectively to their parents and teachers. However, the older the children became, the researchers began to notice a variety of things among the children from a lack of academic readiness to social skill deficits. And although, by the age of 5, the language disorder decreased, by 6-7, they began to notice reading disabilities.
It is not surprising that if we were to have a hard time learning to communicate in a language that we would naturally, also have a hard time reading and understanding that same language at some point in the future. But just because a child may have a learning delay early in life, does not guarantee they will have future problems. It simply provides the first clue that we may need to help our child more with difficulties they could face later in life.
Thank you for posting this! My nephew is one of the "late talkers", so this actually relates to me in my real life. He's almost five now, and he's always been super shy and a bit slower when it comes to picking up on reading than his sister. I don't think that he has a learning disability (at least I really hope he doesn't!) but it makes me feel better about my sister's decision to enroll him in speech therapy to help him out before he goes to kindergarten. If this hypothesis is correct, I think it'll really help him out in the long run! Great article by the way!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great topic, not many people understand that it's not the fault of the child if they don't talk at the "appropriate age". I'm glad it got your attention you described it so well.
ReplyDeleteI have a niece who was a late talker and is now 6 years old. Like the children in your article, she was able to mostly over come her speech difficulties around 4 or 5, but there are certain areas in school that she is now struggling with. Thanks for sharing.
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