Identifying speech and language disorders in young children

Published: 21 Nov 2018 Tagged: childrenearly interventionevaluationexpressive languagelanguageparentsreceptive languagesignsSLPSpeakablespeech language pathologistSpeech Pathologyspeech therapy

One of the most amazing things about being a parent is the opportunity to see your child develop from a tiny little baby to a full-grown adult, able to create his or her own future/family.

Each parent has different experiences as we are from different social and cultural backgrounds. It’s also true that every child is completely unique and special in her or his own way. This uniqueness sometimes generates concerns, anxiety and insecurities to a parent who just wants the best for their child.

The learning curve of speech and language of a child is also unique and needs much attention, because the sooner an issue is identified, the sooner it can be solved.

If you feel that your child might be presenting signs of speech and language disorders, the first crucial thing is to not compare your child to others. As mentioned, each child is unique and might simply have a different learning curve - not better or worse than other children. The second thing is to go through the following checklist and see if your child is presenting one or more of these characteristics:

• Your child does not socially interact (anytime in infancy)
  
• Your child does not follow or understand what a parent is saying (starting at 1 year)
  
• Your child speaks b, h, m, p and w incorrectly in words (1-2 years)
  
• Your child speaks only a few sounds or words (18 months to 2 years)
  
• Your child’s words are not understood with easiness (18 months to 2 years)
  
• Your child seems incapable to combine words (starting at 2 years)
  
• Your child seems to have a limited vocabulary (age 2-3 years)
  
• Your child speaks d, f, g, k, n and t incorrectly in words (2-3 years)
  
• Your child’s speech is unclear even to close people such as family (2-3 years)
  
• Your child is not using 2-3-word sentences to ask for anything (by 3 years)
  

If you notice one or more of these characteristics, the next step is to book an appointment with a Speech and Language Pathologist who will be able to conduct a proper evaluation to confirm your suspicions. Maybe your child just has some other factors which make him or her temporarily speak with difficulty. Maybe the child really has the need of working towards his or her speech and language skills as soon as possible and with less stress than if looking for extra support in the future.

Our highly qualified team at Speakable will be able to conduct an evaluation to identify various communication issues and help create a plan on how to tackle them. If you feel your child is in need of an evaluation or therapy, please feel free to contact us!