Overview

Target Word® - The Hanen Program for Parents of Children who are Late Talkers is designed for parents of children formally identified as late talkers. Target Word teaches parents how to facilitate their child’s expressive development specifically their vocabulary, during everyday routines and activities.

Research has identified a specific group of children called "late talkers." These children present with obvious but isolated delays in their expressive language development. Parents and professionals do not have significant concerns about any other area of these children's development. Speech-language pathologists who see these children at initial assessment are often left wondering why these children are not talking.

A child is considered a late talker if he or she:

• has fewer than 10 words and is between 18 and 20 months of age; or
• has fewer than 25 words and is between 21and 24 months of age; or
• has fewer than 50 words or no two-word phrases and is between 24 and 30 months of age; and
• has relatively good comprehension, play, social, motor and cognitive skills

Some children who are using more than 50 words may be recommended by their speech language pathologist to be appropriate candidates to attend a Target Word® program.

Late talkers should not be confused with late bloomers. Late bloomers are late talkers who, with no intervention, develop speech and language skills within the normal expectations for their age. Research tells us that 50 per cent of late talkers will be late bloomers. This can be confusing for parents and referring professionals, since we do not know which late-talking children will continue to have ongoing speech and language delays, and which will grow into late bloomers.