Understanding Speech and Language Delay in Children

A Quick Guide

The age at which children pick up a language and begin speaking might vary, just like with other abilities and achievements. Parents who have some knowledge of speech and language development or delay can determine whether there is a need for concern. An average 2-year-old can speak in two- and three-word sentences and can say roughly 50 words. By the age of three, kids have a vocabulary of about 1,000 words and can speak in three- and four-word sentences. Your toddler may have a speech or language delay if they haven’t reached those developmental milestones.

What are developmental milestones?

Developmental milestones are the only suggestions that help you monitor your child’s development. Every child grows at their own pace. A speech delay in your child doesn’t always indicate a medical problem. Simply put, you might be dealing with a slow talker who will soon be chatting nonstop. A hearing impairment, underlying neurological or developmental issues, or both may contribute to speech or language delays. There are numerous successful treatments for speech or language delays.

Differences between speech and language delays

There are certain differences between a speech and language delay, despite the fact that the two are usually confused and referred to as the same thing.

Speech is the active process of uttering words and making sounds. A toddler with a speech delay might make an effort, but they might struggle to make the right sounds to form words. Understanding or non verbal communication is not involved in a speech delay. Comprehension and communicating vocally and nonverbally are both impacted by a language delay.

While a toddler with a language delay may produce the right sounds and correctly pronounce some words, they are unable to put words together into coherent phrases or sentences. They could have trouble comprehending others. Language and speech delays in children are distinct problems that can occasionally coexist.

Don’t worry if you’re unsure which one your child might have. Starting treatment and getting an evaluation doesn’t require any special consideration.

What does a toddler’s speech delay entail?

An infant’s cooing marks the beginning of speech and language development. Month by month, what at first seems to be useless rambling develops into the first word that makes sense. When a toddler hasn’t reached the usual speaking milestones, there is a speech delay. Children develop at their own pace. There may not always be a severe issue if your child is a little late while conversing.

What Indicates a Language or Speech Delay?

A doctor should be consulted as soon as possible for a child who doesn’t vocalize or respond to sounds. However, it’s frequently challenging for parents to determine whether their child is simply taking a little longer than usual to complete a speech or language milestone or whether something is wrong. The earliest indication of a speech delay could be if a child isn’t cooing or producing other sounds at two months old. Most infants can speak simple words like “mama” or “dada” by the age of 18 months.

Here are a few things to be aware of. In the event that your child:

• By one year: does not make gestures like pointing or waving good-bye.
• By 18 months: prefers to communicate through gestures rather than speech.
• By 18 months: have difficulty mimicking sounds. Has difficulty understanding straightforward verbal demands.
• By 2 years: is unable to utter words or sentences on command; can only mimic speech or motions.
• By age 2: can only repeat a few sounds or syllables and is unable to express themselves verbally beyond their immediate needs.
• By age 2: is unable to follow straightforward instructions.
• By two years: uses a strange voice tone (such as a raspy or nasal sound).

If your child’s speech is more difficult to understand than is typical for their age, you should schedule an appointment with your doctor. At age 2 and age 3, parents and other frequent carers should be able to understand roughly 50% and 75%, respectively, of a child’s speech. A child ought to be largely understandable by the time they turn 4 years old, even to those who don’t know them.

Causes of speech-language delays

A physical or developmental issue may be the underlying cause of a speech-language delay in some children. In some cases, it is not possible to pinpoint a cause. The following are four of the most frequent reasons for speech-language delays:

Autism

Children with autism commonly experience speech delays. According to one study, half of the autistic children aged 3 to 4 couldn’t speak at a level appropriate for their age. Language development is impacted by autism spectrum disorder in other ways as well. Since autistic children struggle with nonverbal communication, they might not be able to point by the age of one year. Another typical issue with a speech-language delay caused by autism is that the person may repeat the same words over and over again, generally a line from a TV show, video game, or movie that other people may find difficult to understand.

Hearing problems or auditory processing disorder

Your child’s capacity to communicate, utilize language, and comprehend others is substantially impacted by difficulty in hearing. Auditory processing disorder, a hearing issue that affects some kids, makes it difficult for them to comprehend what they hear.

Intellectual disability

Widespread developmental impairments in speech and language, academic, social, emotional, and physical development are common in children with intellectual disabilities. These children could have a hard time coming up with or speaking words that other people can understand. Additionally, they could have trouble understanding language or putting phrases together.

Oral-motor problems

Speech delays frequently result from issues with the parts of the brain that regulate the speech-related muscles. As a result of their inability to synchronize their lip, tongue, and jaw movement, children may find it difficult to make sounds. Children with Apraxia, a disorder where the brain cannot communicate with the facial muscles, are unable to move the muscles required for speaking. Dysarthria is another oral-motor condition that develops when the muscles that regulate the face, lips, and tongue are unable to function properly.

Diagnosing a speech or language delay

It might be difficult to tell the difference between a delay and a speech or language disorder in toddlers since they develop at different rates. Boys are three times more likely than girls to fall into the category of 2-year-olds who are late in developing language, which ranges from 10 to 20 percent. In reality, the majority do not suffer from a speech or language problem and catch up by age 3.

In addition to other developmental milestones and behaviors, your pediatrician will inquire about your toddler’s speech and language skills. Your child’s mouth, palate, and tongue will be examined. The doctors might also request a hearing test for your child. Your child may have hearing loss, which causes speech to seem garbled, even though they appear to be sensitive to sound. Your pediatrician could suggest that you see additional specialists for a more in-depth examination based on preliminary findings. These may consist of:

• Audiologist
• Early intervention services 
• Neurologist
• Speech-language pathologist

Management

A child with a speech delay should receive specialized care. The physician, a social worker, a psychologist, an occupational therapist, a speech-language pathologist, and an audiologist could be on the child’s medical team. The physician is responsible for any medical care available to help lessen the disability and should tell the team the reason for the speech delay.

The development of treatment programs and target goals involves the collaboration of a speech-language pathologist. Teaching the child methods for understanding spoken language and demonstrating acceptable linguistic or communicative behavior is the main objective of language therapy. Parents can learn from the speech-language therapist how to support and improve their child’s linguistic abilities.

Children with hearing loss may benefit from interventions including hearing aids, auditory training, lip-reading instruction, and myringotomy; on rare occasions, external auditory canal repair, ossicular reconstruction, and cochlear implantation may also be required. In order to detect hearing loss at an early age, a high-risk registry and universal hearing screening may be used.

The child with elective mutism should receive psychotherapy. Additionally, it is suggested that there is excessive anxiety or depression present along with the speech delay. It has been claimed that behavior therapy using operant conditioning has improved speech acquisition in autistic children. It is important to inform parents and carers of the necessity to speak at the child’s level while working with children who have speech delays. Small group instruction is an option that teachers should think about using with children who have speech delays.

What can parents do?

You can encourage your toddler’s speech in the following ways:

• Allow your young child to converse with other kids who speak clearly.
• As opposed to pointing out errors, say the words out loud the right way.
• As you say the associated words, make motions and point to the appropriate things. You can do this with objects you notice while taking a trip around the block, including body parts, people, toys, and colors.
• Ask questions, offer options, and give ample time for responses.
• Don’t respond on their behalf whenever anyone asks them a question.
• Give them the opportunity to express their needs even if you can predict them.
• Read to your young child. As you move along, discuss the pictures.
• Sing straightforward tunes that are simple to memorize.
• Talk to your child directly, even if it’s merely to describe what you’re doing.
• Talking to them deserves your undivided attention. When your child tries to communicate with you, have patience.

What to do if you think your child may have a delay?

It’s possible that there is nothing wrong with you and that your child will reach their goals on their own time. A speech delay, however, can occasionally be an indicator of further issues, such as hearing loss or other developmental delays. Early intervention is ideal in certain circumstances. Make an appointment with your pediatrician if your child isn’t achieving speech or language milestones. Continue talking, reading, and singing while your child is still a toddler to encourage speaking.

Outlook

The ideal solution is to recognize and address speech and language delays as soon as possible. If you are worried about your child’s speech or language development, call your doctor.

We hope you found this article helpful in learning more about what speech and language delays are, along with their differences, signs & symptoms, causes, treatment & management.