Identifying Potential Speech and Language Delays

Disclaimer: all children develop at their own pace; milestones are a gauge by which 75% of children meet at any given age. Milestones are not a hard and fast rule, rather it’s a tool to gauge for the potential delays in development.

 

There is a difference between speech and language skills. 

 

Speech is the spoken word; the sounds we make to communicate with one another

Language is being able to understand others when they speak and to be understood when you speak. Non-verbal communication and the written word also fall into this category

 

 

What are some signs of a potential delay?

 

With a speech delay a child may use words/phrases to communicate their needs, but are often difficult to understand. While with a language delay a child a child may be able to clearly communicate, but only able to use one or two words to do so.

 

Typical Speech and Language Milestones

 

12 Months: A child is not using gestures to communicate: blows kisses, waves hello/good-bye, pointing, etc.

18 Months: A child may be using gestures, but this is their main mode of communicating their wants/needs rather than using vocalizations

A child may have trouble or is unable to imitate sounds

A child may struggle to understand simple requests: “Come here”, Sit down”, “Give me”, etc.

2 Years old: A child may only be able to imitate sounds instead of making sounds or vocalizations spontaneously

A child may not use verbal language to communicate any more than their basic needs.

A child may have an unusual tone of voice; sounding raspy or nasally.

Parents/Caregivers should be able to understand about 50% of what their two year old is trying to say. At 3 Years old parents and caregivers should be able to understand roughly 75% of what their child says and by 4 Years old a child should be mostly understood by all around them; even by those who don’t know the child.

 

 

Potential causes of delays in speech and language 

 

Speech and language delays may be due to a physical issue with the mouth, tongue.

-A tongue tie, lip tie, cleft palate/cleft lip, or even low muscle tone in the oral muscles .

-Issues with hearing or a history of ear infections can also be a factor in speech and language development. If you can’t hear you can’t learn how to communicate verbally

 

Getting a diagnosis

Typically a pediatrician will be screening a child three times between the ages of Zero and Five (9 months, 18 months and 36 months), using a developmental screener like the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and may be able to identify any potential delays and make appropriate referrals for early intervention and/or speech therapy services. From there further evaluations by a Speech and Language Pathologist are completed to determine if a child has a delay in speech and/or language development.

If a pediatrician determines that no further action is required (or that they would rather wait to determine if a child will grow into it after a screening showed some potential concerns) a parent has the right to request a referral for further evaluation if they believe that there is a reason for concern. Or parents can seek treatment on their own without a referral.

 

 

How to foster children’s speech and language development

 

-Talk, talk, talk, and talk some more to children. Children learn  by watching interactions from those around them and how others interact with them. Parents can sing, rhyme, make silly sounds and just plain talk to their children.

-Reading to children is a great option; parents can take this opportunity to take it a step further; rather than just reading a book they can make it an experience. Using different voices, inflections and emotions when reading can help children understand emotion and connect facial expressions to words.

-As silly as it sounds, narrating everyday actions and tasks help too. “I’m taking out the garbage because it’s stinky! Ewww!”, “Momma needs to get five apples; 1,2,3,4,5. Yay! five apples”, “Dadda is washing the baby’s belly and toes and nose”.

 

If you have a concern about your child’s development contact your pediatrician to discuss your options. You can also screen your child at home with the Sparkler app. Sparkler is free and uses the same developmental screener that pediatricians use. Parents can access all 30 developmental screens right in the app; screening their children for any signs of potential delays or concerns. Learn more about Sparkler HERE!