Updated: May 25, 2021
Many people believe that boys are more delayed than girls in terms of speech and language abilities, but is there evidence to support this? This month, we are digging deeper into the research to determine if boys are really more delayed than girls.
Our Question:
Does being a boy mean you are more likely to have speech and language delays?
The Answer:
Yes (technically)…
Studies show that for every girl with a language difficulty, there are 2-3 boys with similar problems. First words and sentences often develop a few months later for boys. The same goes for understanding and being able to produce words correctly. Previous research suggests that these gender differences were most prevalent between the ages of 3-5, and that around ages 5-6 gender differences were less likely to be the cause of speech accuracy difficulties.
Verbal skills are often presented as developing within an age range. Girls usually master skills closer to the beginning of the range, whereas boys attain them near the end of the range, which is still completely normal, but this would mean they are technically delayed compared to females.
Links have also been found between language delays and conditions affecting behaviour such as Autism, special education requirements or ADHD. These conditions are more prevalent in males than females which could account for language difficulties.
In one study by Korpilahti, Kalionen and Jansson-Verkasalo, the researchers analyzed how 19 biological and environmental factors could predict children's language development between 13 and 36 months old. In their study, the only biological factor that predicted poor language comprehension at age 36 months was male gender. Essentially, female genes require more alterations than male genes to produce disorders affecting language.
This means that males are more likely to face language-related challenges. However, it's important to note that environmental factors (e.g. parents' level of education, family income, involvement in children's language learning) predicted early language abilities much stronger than biological factors. Lastly, girls seem to develop fine motor skills earlier than boys which could help them produce speech sounds sooner.
This topic has been researched in many ways, but delayed language abilities in boys may not be as problematic as people think. Just because boys tend to develop language skills later than girls does not necessarily mean that they are outside the appropriate range for that skill. So what should you do if you know a boy who seems delayed? Speech and language delays in boys should not just be attributed to the child's sex – he should still see a Speech Therapist to monitor his difficulties and progress.
Interested in scheduling an assessment for a child's language delay? Get in touch with our team of Speech Language Pathologists here.
Sources:
Dodd, B., Holm, A., Zhu, H. & Crosbie, S. (2004). Phonological development: A normative study of British English-speaking children. Clinical linguistics & phonetics. 17. 617-43. 10.1080/0269920031000111348.
Henrichs, J., Rescorla, L., Donkersloot, C., Schenk, J. J., Raat, H., Jaddoe, V. W. V., ...Tiemeier, H. (2013). Early vocabulary delay and behavioral/emotional problems in early childhood: the generation R study. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 56(2), 553+. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.proxy1.lib.uwo.ca/apps/doc/A338892836/AONE?u=lond95336&sid=AONE&xid=88890544
Korpilahti, P., Kaljonen, A., & Jansson-Verkasalo, E. (2016). Identification of biological and environmental risk factors for language delay: The let's talk STEPS study.Infant Behavior and Development, 42(Complete), 27-35. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2015.08.008
Wellman, B., Case, I., Mengert, I. And Bradbury, D., 1931, Speech sounds of young children. University of Iowa study, Child Welfare, 5(2).
For More Information:
http://integratedtreatmentservices.co.uk/blog/boys-likely-speech-language-difficulties-compared-girls/
http://www.hanen.org/helpful-info/articles/fact-or-fiction--the-top-10-assumptions-about-earl.aspx
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16277649
_________________________________________________________________________________Andalusia Speech Therapy has two Toronto speech therapy clinics and offers speech teletherapy to anywhere in the world. Contact us more for information.