- [Narrator] Speech, it's a vital part of human development,
learning and communication.
From the moment they are born,
infants listen to and watch others in order
to develop their own speech and language skills.
But sometimes children need assistance
building their communication skills.
Delays in the development of speech and language are common
and early treatment is vital.
Kathleen Considine, clinical coordinator
for speech pathology at Akron Children's Hospital
talks about how to identify speech and language delays.
- A language delay occurs when the child
is not reaching normal developmental milestones,
and this is usually something that is identified
by a pediatrician or a family practice doctor
during well visits.
The doctors tend to ask very pointed questions
about language development,
in addition to gross motor and fine motor development.
- [Narrator] Like many other skills,
all children develop speech and language at their own pace.
So it may be normal for one child to acquire certain skills
weeks or even months before another child.
Even so, there are guidelines that can help you determine
whether your child is developing important speech
and language skills on time.
- There are general developmental milestones
for speech and language development,
and there is some variability in them,
and that's really based on the individual child.
But if we would take a two-year-old child, for example,
a two-year-old child ought to be able
to do some simple things like follow a two-step direction,
put together a two, three, four word phrase
on a pretty consistent basis,
is able to communicate and make their needs known
without very much difficulty.
A normal three-year-old child ought to be able
to follow two-step unrelated directions pretty consistently,
ought to be able to recite a nursery rhyme
or a simple prayer without any difficulty,
answer questions about that.
A three-year-old child can answer simple questions
like what's your name and how old are you
and what are you wearing
and what did you have for breakfast this morning?
Would be able to sequence a series
of information that's not related,
usually about three things that are not related,
and repeat that back without any difficulty.
And a three year old is communicating
in five and six word phrases,
is usually pretty grammatically correct, with some errors.
- [Narrator] Parents should be aware of signs
that might suggest a speech or language delay.
These can include a child who doesn't respond
to sound or vocalizing,
an infant who has difficulty sucking
or who needs prolonged feeding times,
a child who isn't using gestures by the first birthday,
a child who still prefers gestures to vocalizations
after 12 months,
or a child who has trouble imitating sounds after 18 months.
A variety of factors could impact speech
and language development.
- Some of the factors that can lead to a speech
and language delay would be, for example,
a child with a hearing loss.
The child's not gonna reproduce speech any better
than they're able to hear it,
and it doesn't mean the child has a permanent
or sensorineural type hearing loss,
the child who has a history of otitis media,
which is ear infections with associated hearing loss,
can lead to speech and language delays.
If the child has developmental delays in other areas
of his development, for example,
with his gross motor and fine motor development,
that can be a cause for speech
and language development as well.
There can be emotional factors that can contribute to that,
lack of appropriate stimulation, and so forth.
In many cases, we don't really know the reason why,
but we do know what we can do to help the child
to enable him to function the way he should for his age.
- [Narrator] If a parent suspects a speech
and language delay, time is of the essence.
Talk to your pediatrician or family doctor
about your concerns.
Your physician can help you decide
whether your child's development is in the normal range,
or if an evaluation by a speech and language
pathologist is needed.
- Early intervention is so important
because we know that the earlier children are identified
with developmental problems,
particularly speech and language,
the earlier therapy can ensue,
and the earlier we can get those problems turned around.
- [Narrator] As soon as a child is born
parents have opportunities to impact speech
and language development.
Parents can help children build these important skills
by spending time communicating with their child
through activities such as talking and signing.
They can also read to their child every day,
starting as early as six months.
And throughout their child's development,
parents can use everyday situations
to reinforce language skills,
by naming foods in the grocery store
or identifying objects when driving in a car.
Parents know their children best and are often the first
to recognize speech and language delays.
If you suspect your child is delayed
in his or her development, trust your instincts.
Discuss your concerns with your pediatrician
or family practice doctor.