Gur Shalom
Language & Brain Lab, School of Education, Tel Aviv University

Syntactic development of late talkers

Project description

This project examines the syntactic development trajectories of late talkers (LATs) - toddlers who at age two produce fewer than 50 words or no word combinations - and identifies early syntactic markers that predict later Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). While kindergarten teachers easily spot if a child’s vocabulary is reduced, subtle sentence - level deficits often go unnoticed, delaying intervention during critical language-learning years.

We will use cutting edge linguistic theories and neuro- and psycholinguistic approaches to language development to examine the different possible developmental trajectories of LATs, via various linguistic markers - word order in a sentence, use of function words, order of acquisition of sentence types and more.

The primary goal is to determine which syntactic measures predict whether a LAT will be diagnosed with DLD or not. This research offers critical contributions to the theory of language acquisition and aims to facilitate early identification and treatment for children at risk of DLD in kindergartens.

About me

Gur Shalom has a background in neurological conditions underlying developmental language disorders. In his MA thesis he studied the language and learning abilities of children and adolescents with Rolandic epilepsy. As a Special Education teacher, he possesses first hand experience with the long-term educational impact of DLD. This dual perspective ensures that the research remains grounded in theoretical rigor while being strictly oriented toward practical educational solutions.