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Health Information For Parents
As with other skills and milestones, the age at which kids learn language and start talking can vary. Knowing a bit about speech and language development can help parents figure out if there’s cause for concern.
Speech and language problems differ, but often overlap. For example:
A baby who doesn’t respond to sound or vocalize should be checked by a doctor right away. But often, it’s hard for parents to know if their child is taking a bit longer to reach a speech or language milestone, or if there’s a problem.
Here are some things to watch for. Call your doctor if your child:
Also call the doctor if your child’s speech is harder to understand than expected for their age:
A speech delay might be due to:
Many kids with speech delays have oral–motor problems. These happen when there’s a problem in the areas of the brain responsible for speech. This makes it hard to coordinate the lips, tongue, and jaw to make speech sounds. These kids also might have other oral-motor problems, such as feeding problems.
Hearing problems also can affect speech. So an audiologist should test a child’s hearing whenever there’s a speech concern. Kids who have trouble hearing may have trouble saying, understanding, imitating, and using language.
Ear infections, especially chronic infections, can affect hearing. But as long as there is normal hearing in one ear, speech and language will develop normally.
If your child might have a problem, it’s important to see a speech-language pathologist (SLP) right away. You can find a speech-language pathologist on your own, or ask your health care provider to refer you to one.
The SLP (or speech therapist) will check your child’s speech and language skills. The pathologist will do standardized tests and look for milestones in speech and language development.
The SLP also will check:
Based on the test results, the speech-language pathologist might recommend speech therapy for your child.
The speech therapist will work with your child to improve speech and language skills, and show you what to do at home to help your child.
Parents are an important part of helping kids who have a speech or language problem.
Here are a few ways to encourage speech development at home:
Recognizing and treating speech and language delays early on is the best approach. Call your doctor if you have any concerns about your child’s speech or language development.
Working with a certified speech-language pathologist can help a child with speech or language difficulties.
Hearing problems can be overcome if they’re caught early, so it’s important to get your child’s hearing screened early and checked regularly.
Find out what the experts have to say.
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