Toddlers That Don't Have Much to Say

A Look at Speech Delays Among Siblings

By Renee Roberson

Melanie Smith's two oldest daughters both began talking at a young age, and did so fluently. So Smith became a little concerned when her third child, a boy, suddenly stopped talking around age 2 and refused to say any words. However, Smith, a resident of Ft. Smith, Ark., has a background in early childhood education, so she knew that this behavior was somewhat normal among younger children, especially boys.

Younger children who begin speaking later than their older siblings are a common occurrence in families with two or more children, says Megan Rozantes, a speech-language pathologist and director and therapy leader at Chatterboxes, a private practice based in Boston, Mass., that specializes in pediatric speech language pathology.

"Siblings are more likely to interrupt and answer questions for the younger child," Rozantes says. "They will attempt to speak for their younger brother or sister. Older siblings also seem to anticipate the younger child's needs more."

For parents who had their first child speak early and clearly, a non-speaking younger sibling can be a source of worry or concern. After all, many parents devote a lot of time to reading and teaching their first child new words. Once other siblings are born, a parent has less time for teaching. Smith knew that any type of speech delay could quickly snowball into more serious problems so she wanted to investigate it more thoroughly in her son's case.

"At 2 years of age, he was talking at a 17-month level," Smith says. "Even though it doesn't sound like much, it was a significant delay of about 25 percent and our insurance picked up the tab for speech therapy twice a week."

Want to see more?

• Late Talkers: Correctly Diagnosing Speech Disorders
• Toddler Talking: Common Speech Problems in Young Children
• From Syllables to Sentences: How Toddlers Learn Language
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