Vocabulary growth in late talkers: lexical development from 2;0 to 3;0

Vocabulary growth from 2;0 to 3;0 was studied in 28 late talkers using expr essive vocabulary inventories reported bimonthly on the Language Developmen t Survey (LDS). Group milestones were 18 words at 2;0, 89 words at 2;6, and 195 words at 3;0. A sub-group of 11 children (Group I) showed a rapid voca bulary spurt between 2;2 and 2;8, reached the 150-180 word mark by 2;6, and attained the LDS ceiling of about 300 words by 2;10. In contrast, the 17 c hildren in Group 2 still had a mean vocabulary of fewer than 30 words at 2; 6, had less of a vocabulary spurt when they did start acquiring words, and attained the 150-180 vocabulary mark at 3;0. All 3;0 language outcome measu res were significantly predicted by LDS vocabulary size from 2;2 to 2;4.