As a parent, watching your child grow and develop is one of life’s greatest joys! As exciting as your child’s development can be, it can also be concerning if you notice that your child is not developing as you expected. Sometimes, parents may notice that their child appears to be having difficulty with their communication skills, including their speech and their language development. You may wonder whether you should consider finding a speech-language pathologist to work with your child in order to address those concerns. In order to truly determine whether your child needs speech therapy, a qualified speech-language pathologist would need to complete an evaluation. However, there are some signs you can look for that indicate you should consider pursuing speech therapy.
You may notice your child exhibits one or more of the following challenges:
Difficulty understanding others
If your child has difficulty comprehending what others are saying, it could be a sign that they may require speech therapy. For example, they may not be able to point to certain items or people (e.g. “where’s the dog?”, “where’s mommy?”) or have difficulty following directions (e.g. “go get your shoes”). When you read them a story, they may not be able to answer questions about what happened in the story. These difficulties indicate your child may have challenges with their receptive language development.
Difficulty expressing themselves
If your child has difficulty using their language for a variety of purposes (e.g. telling you what they want, greeting people, making comments, asking/ answering questions, etc.) naming vocabulary, and combining words into sentences, it could be a sign that they need additional support with their expressive language development.
Unclear speech
If your child’s speech is difficult to understand, it could be a sign that they are having articulation challenges. As you are a familiar listener to your child, you likely understand them better than other people in their lives or strangers do. Think about whether you notice that others, such as your child’s teacher or friends, have difficulty understanding what they say. They may need to repeat themselves frequently and may get frustrated that they are misunderstood. You may notice that your child may have errors with certain speech sounds, such as saying “wabbit” instead of “rabbit” or “tat” instead of “cat” and that they may omit sounds in words.
Stuttering/ Disfluent speech
Stuttering is a speech disorder that affects the flow of speech. Stuttering may look like repeating sounds in words, prolonging sounds in words, or getting “stuck” when saying parts of words. Sometimes, people who stutter have physical changes that accompany the stutter, such as tension in their face and/or body. If your child experiences any of these difficulties, a speech therapist may be able to help promote fluent speech.
Social difficulties
If your child has difficulty with social interactions, such as taking turns in conversations or understanding nonverbal cues (e.g. understanding the meaning behind body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice) a speech therapist could assist them in their development of these social skills.
Takeaways
If you notice any of these signs, it’s important to speak with your child’s pediatrician or get in touch with a speech-language pathologist. A speech-language pathologist would be able to chat with you about your concerns. Most speech therapists will complete an evaluation and look at your child’s development across the various areas of speech and language in order to gather more information about where your child is at. If they determine your child would benefit from speech therapy, they would work with you to create a plan for intervention. This plan may include therapy targets (what they would be working on during speech sessions), the amount of therapy your child needs, and include goals they will be working towards with your child. If your child is behind with their speech and/or language development, early intervention is crucial! As a parent, it’s important to pay attention to your child’s speech and language skills, trust your intuition, and seek help from a professional if you have concerns.
