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Late speech is the most common reason parents contact EICADD. It is also the symptom that gets the most contradictory advice: one relative says boys talk late, another says the child is bilingual, a third says wait until three. This guide gives you the numbers professionals use, explains what distinguishes a child who will catch up on their own from one who will not, and sets out what you can do this month — at home and with a specialist — instead of waiting.
How many words a child should have, by age
Language develops in a predictable order, and the milestones below are the ones speech and language specialists use as thresholds. A child who is slightly behind on one of them is not a concern; a child who is behind on several, or who is not moving forward at all, is.
- 12 months: babbles with consonants, responds to their name, uses gestures such as waving and pointing, and understands simple words like "no" and "bye".
- 18 months: says 10 to 20 words, points to things they want, understands simple instructions ("give me the ball") and imitates sounds and words.
- 24 months: uses 50 or more words and starts to combine two words ("more juice", "daddy go"). Strangers understand about half of what the child says.
- 30 months: vocabulary grows quickly, often several new words a day; short sentences of three words appear.
- 36 months: sentences of three to four words, asks questions, tells simple stories, and is understood by strangers most of the time.
The two figures that matter most are 50 words and two-word combinations by 24 months. A child who has neither at two years is, by definition, a late talker and should be assessed rather than watched.
Late talker or language delay? The difference that matters
About one child in six is late to talk. Roughly half of those catch up by school age without any help. The other half go on to have persistent language difficulties, and some of them turn out to have autism, a hearing difference or a broader developmental delay. The problem is that at two years the two groups look the same if you only count words.
What separates them is everything that surrounds speech. Children who catch up on their own usually understand far more than they say, use gestures richly, imitate readily, play pretend games, and want to communicate — they are frustrated by not having the words. Children who need support tend to have gaps in comprehension, gesture and play as well.
- Understanding: does the child follow simple instructions without you pointing? Comprehension that lags behind age is the strongest predictor that a child will not catch up alone.
- Gestures: pointing, showing, waving, nodding and shaking the head should all be present by 18 months. Few gestures at two is a warning sign.
- Imitation: does the child copy your sounds, words and actions? Imitation is the engine of language learning.
- Pretend play: feeding a doll, driving a toy car, talking on a toy phone. Symbolic play and language grow from the same root.
- Social interest: does the child bring you things, look at you when something happens, and try to get your attention? Children who communicate without words usually just need words; children who do not try to communicate need more.
- Progress: a child who gains new words every month is on a different path from a child whose vocabulary has been flat since 18 months.
Common explanations, and how much they hold up
Boys do, on average, talk slightly later than girls — by a few weeks, not by a year. Being a boy does not explain a two-year-old with fewer than 50 words.
Bilingual children are not delayed by bilingualism. They may split their vocabulary between two languages, so you should count words in both languages together. A bilingual two-year-old with 50 words across both languages is on track; one with 15 across both is not.
Having an older sibling who "talks for them" can reduce the pressure to speak, but it does not stop a child who is ready from speaking. It is an explanation parents are often given; it is rarely the whole story.
Screen time, on the other hand, is a real factor. Several large studies link more than an hour of daily screen use in toddlers with smaller vocabularies and later speech, because screens replace the back-and-forth exchanges that build language. Reducing screens is one of the few things that helps every late talker regardless of the cause.
Hearing is the first thing to rule out. Fluctuating hearing loss from repeated ear infections is common in toddlers and easy to miss, because the child hears sometimes and not others. Any child with late speech should have their hearing checked.
When late speech points to something more
Late speech on its own is rarely autism. What raises the question is late speech combined with differences in social communication: not responding to their name, not pointing to share interest, limited eye contact, little pretend play, unusual repetitive behaviours, or losing words the child once had.
Losing words is particularly important. Regression — a child who had 10 or 20 words and then stopped using them, usually between 15 and 24 months — is not part of typical development and always justifies an immediate assessment.
Because the same surface behaviour can come from very different causes, a good assessment does not only count words. At EICADD the starting point is the AiDi session: 6.5 minutes, no speech required from the child, and a result that tells the team whether the picture is a simple language delay, autism, ADHD, intellectual disability or a broader developmental delay. That distinction decides what kind of support will actually work.
What helps at home, starting today
- Get face to face and at the child's level, so they can see your mouth and your expressions.
- Follow the child's lead: talk about what they are looking at, not what you want them to look at. Interest drives attention, and attention drives learning.
- Narrate ordinary life in short phrases: "Cup. Big cup. Water in the cup." Simple language slightly above the child's level, repeated often, is exactly what they need.
- Expand what the child says: if they say "car", you say "red car" or "car goes". Add one word, not five.
- Pause and wait. Count to five in your head before you fill the silence. Children need time to find words, and adults nearly always jump in too early.
- Offer choices instead of yes/no questions: "apple or banana?" gives the child a word to use and a reason to use it.
- Read the same short books repeatedly, and let the child finish familiar lines.
- Cut screens to a minimum, and never use them as background noise. Replace the time with play on the floor.
- Do not demand words ("say ball!"). Pressure makes children less likely to talk, not more.
These strategies are what a speech and language specialist will teach you in the first sessions. They work best when applied for a few minutes many times a day, rather than in one long daily session.
What good speech and language support looks like
For a toddler, the most effective sessions are play-based, involve the parent in the room, and send you home with specific techniques to use until the next session. A specialist who works with your child while you wait outside is teaching your child for one hour a week; a specialist who coaches you is teaching your child for every waking hour.
At EICADD, speech and language sessions for young children are one-to-one, delivered by licensed specialists accredited by the Ministry of Health, and combined with neurofeedback and photobiomodulation sessions when the assessment shows that attention or brain-network maturation is holding language back. Progress is measured against the child's own baseline every few weeks, so you can see whether the plan is working rather than hoping it is.
The child who starts at two and the child who starts at four can both make progress. But the first one spends the years between two and four building language on top of every other skill, and the second one spends them falling further behind. If your child is not combining words at 24 months, book an assessment now.
Frequently asked questions
My 2-year-old understands everything but says only a few words. Should I worry?
Good comprehension is a positive sign, and many of these children catch up. But fewer than 50 words or no two-word phrases at 24 months still meets the definition of a late talker, and an assessment carries no risk. Meanwhile, cut screen time and use the home strategies in this article every day.
Does speaking two languages at home cause speech delay?
No. Bilingual children may have fewer words in each language, but the total across both languages should match the milestones. Count words in both languages together. If the combined total is well below 50 at two years, the delay is not explained by bilingualism.
At what age should I stop waiting and book an assessment?
If there are no words at 16 months, no two-word combinations at 24 months, any loss of words at any age, or late speech together with weak response to name and little pointing, book an assessment now rather than waiting for the next check-up.
Can EICADD assess a child who does not talk at all?
Yes. The AiDi session needs no speech from the child, which is exactly why it suits non-speaking children. It tells the team whether the picture is a language delay, autism, ADHD or a broader developmental delay, and the intervention plan is built from that result.
Worried about your child's development?
A single AiDi session takes 6.5 minutes, needs no speech from your child and can be done from four months of age. Book an assessment in Ajman or Amman, or an online consultation.
