Are you worried that your child is not showing behaviors expected for his or her age? Is your child not speaking yet or not speaking enough? Are you wondering your child might need speech therapy? Here are 5 telltale signs your child might need speech therapy:
- Not Responding to sounds and name calling
As early as 2 months old, babies can hear and react to different sounds and voices in the environment. At 4 months old, they start to turn their head towards the sound of a person’s voice.
If at 6 months, the child is still not responding or imitating sounds, you may need to consult an audiologist to check for hearing concerns and/or consult a speech and language therapist.
- Unable to imitate sounds and gestures
At 6 months, babies are able to imitate sounds and gestures. They babble and try to repeat one syllable words. If at 1 year old, the baby is unable to babble/repeat/imitate words or make random sounds, you might need to consult a speech and language therapist.
- No First Word at 18-24 Months
At 4 months, babies can start to make sounds like “oooo”, “aaahhh” and may try to imitate the sounds they hear. At 9 months old, babies can imitate adult vocalisations. At 12 months, babies are expected to speak their first word. If the child is older than 12 months and have limited vocalizations, the child may be at risk for language delay. It is best to consult a speech and language therapist.
- Unable to speak in simple sentences at 2-3 years old
After the first word at 12-18 months, the child may begin to speak in phrases or sentences with 2 words. The 24-month-old child is expected to identify around 50 to 300 vocabulary and concepts like toys, common objects, body parts, and more. In addition, the child may begin to answer questions and follow simple instructions.
If your child has limited vocalizations or is only saying 1-word constantly and is unable to identify common objects, he or she might benefit from a speech and language assessment.
- Hard to understand speech
When you find that your child’s speech is hard to understand and you have to ask him or her to repeat multiple times, your child might suffer from a speech disorder or speech delay. Although, speech sounds have varying age of development and that speech errors may be considered normal at a certain age; other speech errors may be considered as atypical for the child.
If your child is exhibiting at least 1 or 2 signs in this list, please consult a speech and language therapist for an assessment. The key to a successful and progressive intervention is when it is early. Book your assessment now with your speech and language therapist.
BY: Pat Camacho