“The Why, the What Now, and the Future”: Lived Experiences From Parents of Former Late-Talking Toddlers

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to better understand the functional implications of late talking by documenting the lived experiences of parenting a late-talking toddler. METHOD: All parents had previously enrolled their children in a vocabulary intervention study with the authors when their children were toddlers. We created interview questions collaboratively with a focus group of these parents. We then individually interviewed 10 parents of late talkers. Two coders engaged in consensus coding, using an inductive, qualitative content analysis process to develop categories. During the coding process, codes were organized under three major topic areas: (a) support for the child and family, (b) parents' perceptions of their child's communication, and (c) how having a late talker influenced relationship dynamics within the family. RESULTS: We developed six primary categories to summarize the parents' responses: (a) barriers to support, (b) facilitators to support, (c) parents' suggestions for support systems, (d) child-specific characteristics, (e) child-parent experiences, and (f) within-family roles and relationships. CONCLUSION: Findings are contextualized in terms of action items to better support families of children with late talkers, including improving support for families, attending to family relationship dynamics, academic applications and considerations, and encouragement for families. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.34556325.