What is Language Delay?
From extensive studies of child development we have a good idea of what skills and abilities to expect of the average child at any particular age. For example, between 2;00-3;00 years of age a child will typically be able to identify body parts on themselves and on dolls, understand the difference between big and little, match about four colors, combine some nouns and verbs into short two-word phrases, understand about 300 words, and use 50-100 words expressively. Milestones such as these, therefore, can serve as progress markers. Language delay, then, is the failure to develop language capabilities at the expected time. What this means is that the child is, in fact, progressing through the expected developmental milestones but he or she is acquiring the relevant capabilities several months after their typically-developing peers.
