Speech Delay in Children

There’s nothing more precious for a parent to hear their children say their first words. Having said that, it’s common to unintentionally put pressure on the child to develop speech sooner. Understanding what is normal and what the signs are for speech delay can help you worry less and be more supportive.

At the age of 2, most children can say up to 50 words stringed together in two-to-three-word sentences.

By the age of 3, their abilities develop significantly.

• They can form sentences with more than three words.
• They can call themselves and others by their names.
• They can form plurals.
• They can ask questions.
• They can tell a story or repeat a nursery rhyme.

There are some signs you can look out for to determine whether or not your kids are late talkers.

• Your child isn’t using gestures like pointing or waving by the age of 12 months.
• Your child chooses to use gestures instead of words at the age of 18 months.
• Your child has trouble imitating sounds at the age of 18 months.
• Your child can only imitate sounds and can’t spontaneously form words or sentences at the age of 2 years.
• Your child’s vocabulary is limited to only a few words or sounds at the age of 2 years.
• Your child is unable to recall previously learned words spontaneously at the age of 3 years.

These can all be signs of your little one might be a late bloomer child.

There are speech delay causes ranging from learning difficulties to medical impairments.

• Problems with the mouth making it difficult to pronounce sounds made by letters like D, L, R, S or Z.
• Learning disabilities that make it difficult for the child to comprehend sentence formation. This symptom is a sign of development delay caused due to premature birth.
• Hearing problems can also affect speech. Not being able to listen to sounds or words clearly can impact what they learn to say.
• Lack of stimulation. Caused by the child’s environment not being supportive enough.

If your child is showing any of these symptoms, get in touch with a speech-language pathologist to gain a better understanding of what is causing your child to not reach his development milestone.

With some guidance, change in regular routines or in some cases, speech therapy, your child will be able to engage in dialogue without any trouble.

References:
https://www.healthline.com/health/speech-delay-3-year-old-2#:~:text=If%20your%20child%20has%20a,delay%20can%20be%20effectively%20treated.
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/not-talk.html
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/Pages/language-delay.aspx