Late talkers are most often described as children who have 50 words and/or produce limited word combinations by 24 months of age (Petinou et al., 2011). This term does not apply to children with early language delay secondary to neurological disorders, intellectual disability, hearing loss, or socio-emotional problems (Buschmann et al., 2008). Furthermore, there is not enough research about their oral-motor abilities. Considering potentially different outcomes/diagnosis and choosing the best possible treatment, it would be useful to learn about their oral-motor abilities. The main goal of this research was to explore whether there is a difference in oral-motor abilities of children (ages 3;07-8;11) with late speech and language emergence at the age of 2 and typically developing children and to see if there is a correlation between oral-motor measures, receptive and expressive language measures. Results show that children with late speech and language emergence at the age of 2 have lower scores on oral-motor measures than typically developing children and that oral-motor measures correlate with expressive language measures. This research shows that it is important to include oral-motor measures when diagnosing late talkers to get a bigger picture and to choose the best treatment plan accordingly.

late talkers, late speech and language emergence, oral-motor abilities, language impairment, childhood apraxia of speech