Late talkers: what the milestones actually are, and when to get help
Written for the parent who has just typed "my two-year-old isn't talking yet" into a search box at eleven at night.
The short version, so you don't have to read to the end. If you are worried about your child's speech, ask for a speech and language assessment now rather than waiting to see if it resolves. Waiting is the only choice that cannot be undone, and you do not need anyone's permission to ask. Nothing on this page is medical advice, and no app — including ours — treats a speech delay.
What "late talker" actually means
The phrase usually describes a toddler roughly between 18 and 30 months whose spoken vocabulary is much smaller than expected, while everything else — understanding, play, gestures, interest in people — is developing typically.
The common rule of thumb is fewer than about 50 words, or no two-word combinations such as "more milk", by 24 months.
The important distinction is between expressive language (what a child says) and receptive language (what they understand). A child with a small vocabulary who clearly follows instructions, points at things, brings you objects and takes turns in a back-and-forth game is in a different situation from a child who does not appear to understand or connect. The second pattern warrants attention sooner.
Rough milestones
Every child varies, and these are guides rather than tests. Ranges differ slightly between health services.
| Age | Commonly seen by now |
|---|---|
| 12 months | Babbling with varied sounds, responds to their name, uses gestures like pointing or waving |
| 18 months | Some single words, follows a simple instruction, points to show you something |
| 24 months | Around 50 words, starting to put two together, understands far more than they say |
| 3 years | Short sentences, familiar adults understand most of what is said |
Signs that mean ask sooner rather than later
- No babbling by around 12 months
- No gestures — no pointing, waving or showing — by around 12 months
- No single words by around 16 to 18 months
- No two-word phrases by around 24 months
- Not responding to their name, or seeming not to hear you
- Losing words or skills they previously had, at any age. This one always warrants prompt attention.
- Little interest in interacting with people, or difficulty with back-and-forth play
- Your own persistent instinct that something is different — this is a legitimate reason on its own
Ask for a hearing check as part of this. Intermittent hearing loss from repeated ear infections is common, easy to miss, treatable, and a frequent contributor to delayed speech. It is one of the first things worth ruling out.
"Won't they just catch up?"
Often, yes. Many late talkers are late bloomers who reach their peers without any intervention. But a meaningful minority do not, and — this is the part that matters — there is no reliable way to tell the two groups apart in advance.
So "wait and see" is not a neutral, cost-free option. It is a bet. An assessment costs you an appointment; a missed delay costs a child time during the period when intervention works best. In many countries early-years speech services are free or subsidised, and you can often self-refer.
What genuinely helps at home
None of this replaces professional input, and all of it is worth doing regardless.
Narrate, and then leave a gap
Describe what you are both doing in short phrases — "big splash", "shoes on" — then pause. The silence is the active ingredient. Children need an opening in which their turn is expected.
Say it slightly bigger, don't correct
If they say "ju", reply "juice! You want juice." You have confirmed them and modelled the fuller form without making it a correction. Being corrected makes many children speak less.
Make them need words
Put a favourite thing in view but out of reach. Offer a choice of two — "apple or banana?" A child who never has any reason to ask has less reason to try.
Follow their interest
Language grows fastest around whatever the child is already staring at. Talk about the thing they chose, not the thing you planned.
Reduce background noise
A television on in the background measurably reduces the back-and-forth talk in a room. Quiet helps more than any activity you could add.
Where SaySprout fits — honestly
SaySprout is our game, so treat this as interested rather than neutral.
It is not therapy, it does not diagnose anything, and it will not treat a speech delay. What builds language is back-and-forth interaction with a person, and no app substitutes for that or for a speech-language pathologist.
What it does is narrower: it gives a child a low-pressure reason to say a word out loud. The game genuinely waits — there is no timer, no fail state and no wrong answer, so a child who is reluctant to speak is never rushed or marked wrong. If they go quiet, it asks, then models the word slowly, then accepts rougher attempts. Speech recognition runs entirely on the device and nothing is recorded or uploaded.
Some children who resist practising with an adult will happily talk to a cartoon dinosaur. If that is your child, this may help. If it isn't, skip it — and please still book the assessment.
Free to play · iPhone & iPad · No ads, no accounts, nothing recorded. Currently English only.
Questions parents ask
Does being bilingual cause late talking?
No. This is a persistent myth. Bilingual children reach milestones on a comparable timeline; their words are simply distributed across two languages, so counting only one undercounts them. Do not drop a home language on speech grounds — you would be removing language exposure, not adding it.
Does screen time cause speech delay?
The clearer finding is about displacement: time in front of a screen is time not spent in back-and-forth conversation, and conversation is what builds language. Passive watching contributes little either way. What matters is how much interaction it replaces.
My family says I'm overreacting. Should I wait?
Getting an assessment when nothing is wrong costs an appointment and some reassurance. Not getting one when something is costs time you cannot get back. Those outcomes are not symmetrical.