Is my Child’s Speech is delayed?

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Hearing your child saying his first word is magical. Each child is different and develops this skill at different stages. Girls usually learn to speak earlier than boys, and first-born children often pick up speech quicker than their younger siblings.

The question is: when should you be concerned about your child’s speech?

Generally, children reach their speech and language developmental milestones at approximate ages. You can compare your child’s development to other children her age to know when your child will need help to develop speech.

See table below. (Click to enlarge on mobile/tablet)

If your child’s understanding, use of language and speech sounds have not developed as well as their peers, you may need to consult a Speech and Language Therapist.

Practical tips on how to help your child’s speech development

 

 

Correcting your child’s speech

• Is it best to correct your child when he makes a grammatical error?
• Should we be making our children say words correctly and point out their errors when they don’t use the right sounds?

We want to help our children talk correctly, but don’t want to end up putting them off talking altogether.

Here are a few points to think about before you decide to correct your child’s speech.

• The most import thing is that your child hears how to say the word correctly. You do not need to correct him as such, only model the correct word.For example, if he says “gog” while pointing at a dog, you can say, “Yes, it’s a dog.”
• It is important to use positive language, like “Yes, you’re right,” with your model of the correct word. If we nag our children about their mistakes, talking will become a nightmare. As a result, they may stop talking to us altogether. So keep them motivated and positive.
• Never correct your child when her error is appropriate for her age group. When your 2½ year old says “Go in tar”, this would be quite normal. Just make sure to say the correct version afterwards with emphasis on the correct word.
• Baby talk sounds very sweet, but don’t be tempted to use your child’s version of words, for example “dindins” for “dinner”, or “moo cow” for “cow”. Your child’s speech won’t mature if he does not hear how it should be done.What may sound sweet at 3 years of age might sound awkward at age 5.
• If your child can say a word correctly, but sometimes forgets to do so, you may be tempted to have her practice it by you showing her how to say it and her repeating the word after you. Some children may enjoy this, but others may not.Take your child’s personality into account and never let a child think she has been bold for not saying a word correctly. A child should never think she is stupid or babyish because of her speech.
• Always make sure your child enjoys talking. If you talk about what your child is interested in, they are more likely to learn that talking can be fun.

 

Activities to stimulate language development

 

Walk and Talk

Take a walk around your neighbourhood or out and about and comment on what you see. If your child has problems pronouncing certain sounds, look for things outside with these sounds.

Scrapbooks

Make a scrapbook page together about your outing. Glue objects or pictures onto the page that you collected, for example a leaf in the park. Write down what you saw on your walk, in short sentences. For example: We saw a big brown dog. His tongue was hanging out. Then I picked up a leaf. It is yellow and brown. This is a picture of our house.

Hide and Seek

Take turns hiding small objects around the house or outside. The person who does the hiding then gives directions to the others to find the object.

Cartoons

Help your child cut out your favourite cartoon characters. Glue them on a piece of paper. Write new things for your characters to say in speech bubbles. Read your new cartoons together.

Nursery rhymes

Sing or say a nursery rhyme together. Then, pause and wait for your child to fill in the next line. Wait a few seconds, then help say the rest of the line together.

Puppets

Make glove puppets by drawing faces on paper bags and get your child to act out a story with them.

Mirror games

Sit in front of the mirror and practice pulling faces, sticking out your tongues and making funny noises.

Kitchen sorting

Look in the kitchen presses for big and little plates, cups, spoons, forks, etc. and then sort them according to size.

Picture sequences

Draw pictures that tell a story of a sequence of events, for example your morning routine; waking up, getting dressed, brushing teeth and having breakfast. Your child can put these pictures in the right order and then tell you the story.

 

More useful information

This is a really informative website that you can browse to download some worksheets and other activities that may assist you:  https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-acquisition

 

References

The milestones above are reasonably well recognized, however there are a number of similar sources which cover this topic below.

http://www.communicationmatrix.org/
http://www.childwellbeing.org/publish/pf_lang2_Stages.asp
http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/language_development.shtml
http://www.child-development-guide.com/
http://www.learninginfo.org/language-development.htm

 

When to see a Speech and Language Therapist:

You can track your child’s communication development online on www.communicationmatrix.org. This website is free for parents to use.

You should contact one of our Speech and Language Therapists if you check ‘Yes’ to any of these questions.
You may benefit from Online Speech and Language Therapy.