Learning to speak is inarguably one of our most valuable communication tools and kids will differ quite a bit in their progress with learning speech. While it is altogether normal for preschool age children to have problems with pronunciation and putting sentences together, by the age of three, most of what your child says should be pretty understandable. If your child's speech is not improving over time, or if he is talking very little or not at all, rule out a hearing problem first. If lack of hearing is not an issue, it is advised to take your child to a speech-language pathologist/therapist if he is doing any of the following:
- - Omitting whole consonants and talking using mostly vowels (saying "a" for "cat")
- - Not using phrases or sentences, saying single words only
- - Using a limited vocabulary, or saying a word once and never using it again
- - Mispronouncing vowels and words (saying "coo" instead of "cow")
- - Struggles with the use of pronouns (saying "him not here")
- - Confusing gender (saying "he hit me" when talking about a girl)
- Not developing or changing his language very much over time
- - Not following simple directions or understanding prepositions such as on, under and over (when you say, "Your ball is right behind you", he doesn't turn around)
- - Not pointing to objects in books (when you say, "Show me the cat", he turns the page, or repeats the phrase, but doesn't actually point to the animal)
- - Answers a question by repeating part of your question (when you say, "Do you want milk?", he responds with "...you want milk?", instead of nodding or saying yes or no in reply. This is called echolalia and may be an early sign of autism)
- - Stutters with pronouncing words, occasionally or quite often
If you think your child may need the help of a speech therapist, talk to his pediatrician about a referral to a private speech-language pathologist for an evaluation, or, if he is in preschool or school, talk to his teachers. Schools can often refer you to an early intervention program, usually coordinated through the county or public school system, that will provide a free screening. State associations for speech-language pathology and audiology also provide listings for licensed and certified therapists. If your child is determined to need assistance, therapy should begin as soon as possible as children who start speech and/or language therapy before they're five years old tend to have a quicker learning curve. Children who start therapy later can still make progress, it just may be slower because they have already learned patterns that need to be changed.
Often informally referred to as speech therapists, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are professionals educated in the study of human communication and its development and disorders. They should have a master's degree and state certification/license in the field, along with a certificate of clinical competency from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). In speech-language therapy, an SLP may work with your child in a classroom to overcome difficulties involved with a specific disorder, or may work one-on-one or in small groups, individualizing the care your child requires.
Therapists employ a wide variety of strategies including language intervention activities that get your child talking and playing, using books, pictures, music, objects, toys or games to stimulate language development. Your child will learn and retain better language skills, all while having fun and playing. Another strategy used by therapists is articulation therapy in which the therapist models correct sounds and syllables for your child, often during play activities. Specific mirrors, such as the
Two-Panel Folding Mirror or the
Speech Therapy Dual Mirror can be extremely helpful in articulation therapy, as the SLP physically demonstrates to your child on how to make certain sounds, and how to move the tongue to produce these specific sounds, your child can use these special mirrors to practice with or without the therapist.
Another strategy approach used by SLPs is oral-motor/feeding and swallowing therapy, especially for those children suffering with dysphagia and other oral-motor difficulties. The therapist will use a variety of oral exercises, such as those presented on the
Oral Images and Swallowing Images. These special jaw, lip and tongue exercises help to strengthen the muscles of the mouth and aid in increasing lingual sweep, tongue strength, lip closure and intra-oral manipulation. SLPs may also work with different food textures and temperatures to increase a child's oral awareness during eating and swallowing. They might use products like the
Thick and Easy Food Thickener Honey Flavored, or the Simply Thick Food Thickener that help thicken foods without them becoming grainy, cloudy or tasting weird, so that they can be more easily swallowed by kids with dysphagia and other swallowing disorders.
Parental involvement is crucial to the success of a child's progress in speech-language therapies. Children who complete their therapy programs the quickest with the longest lasting results tend to be those whose parents have been involved every step of the way. Practice is the best way for your child to learn, so ask your therapist how you can help your child with at-home stimulation activities to ensure continued progress and retention of newly learned skills. Overcoming speech or language disorders can take some time and effort, so it is important that all family members be patient, compassionate and understanding with the child who is learning.
Carol Koenigsknecht,
and
Hulet Smith, OT
