Developmental relationship between language and joint attention in late talkers

• We investigate the relationship between language and joint attention during language acquisition in LT children.
• The research was designed to be a longitudinal study with a first test followed by two retests for a period of 10 months.
• The results showed that LT children did not differ from TD children in frequency of JA bids at any time point.
• In contrast to TD group, LT children no correlation was found between JA and language functions.
• We argue that LT children switch between nonverbal and verbal means in concrete communicational acts.

The article examines the relationship between expressive and receptive language and joint attention (JA) bids during language acquisition in late-talking children. The research was designed to be a longitudinal study with a first test followed by two retests every five months for a period of 10 months, in which we compared late-talking (LT) children aged 26 months (N = 25) to a group of five-month-younger typically developing (TD) children (N = 25). The results showed that LT children did not differ from TD children in frequency of JA bids at any time point. However, in contrast to TD children, in which a positive relationship between JA bids of high levels and language function was found, in the LT group, JA bids were not related to language comprehension and production. These data indicate that TD children use nonverbal and verbal means jointly for communication purposes, whereas LT children switch between nonverbal and verbal means in concrete communicational acts. The results are discussed within the development of language as a semiotic functional framework.