Delayed Speech or Language Development (for Parents) (2024)

FAQs

Delayed Speech or Language Development (for Parents)? ›

Also call the doctor if your child's speech is harder to understand than expected for their age: Parents and regular caregivers should understand about 50% of a child's speech at 2 years and 75% of it at 3 years. By 4 years old, a child should be mostly understood, even by people who don't know the child.

Sometimes, helping children at home with speech therapy can aid their speech development. Exercises for speech delay in toddlers can motivate them to learn and use more words in their daily interactions.

Some late talkers will start to catch up to their peers by the age of three, but some may continue to have difficulty with spoken language. There are many different causes of late talking, and it is often hard to pinpoint the exact cause.

For the average parent doing their best, you can rest assured that your child's speech or language delay is definitely not your fault.

Model good speech, but don't criticize your child's speech if it is not perfectly clear. Imitate the sounds and words your child makes. Speak slowly so that a child can understand each part of a word. Listen and respond to your child even if they do not speak in full words or sentences.

It is when there is consistent regression, setbacks in engagement, or disconnection in understanding verbal language that there is reason to suspect a speech delay. Around the age of 1.5 to 2 years, it is recommended that a diagnosis of delays and disorders is made and intervention is begun.

Many kids with speech delays have oral–motor problems. These happen when there's a problem in the areas of the brain responsible for speech. This makes it hard to coordinate the lips, tongue, and jaw to make speech sounds. These kids also might have other oral-motor problems, such as feeding problems.

The research showed that greater amounts of screen time were associated with a higher likelihood of developmental delays in communication. Take a look at the numbers: With up to 2 hours of daily screen time at age 1, children were 61% more likely to have communication delays at age 2.

Speech/Language Milestones

Boys tend to develop language skills a little later than girls, but in general, kids may be labeled "late-talking children" if they speak less than 10 words by the age of 18 to 20 months, or fewer than 50 words by 21 to 30 months of age.

Einstein Syndrome Defined

Einstein, a certified genius, was also a late talker (according to some biographers). He didn't speak full sentences until he was 5 years old. Einstein's speech delay clearly wasn't an impediment to his intellectual prowess and awe-inspiring accomplishments.

Can a child have speech delay and not be autistic? ›

Speech delays are very common among children with autism, but they are also common in children without autism. While significant speech delays are always a cause for concern, they are not inherently an autism trait and may be due to other issues, such as hearing loss.

Speech and language delays can have many different causes. These causes can include hearing problems, Down syndrome or other genetic conditions, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, or mental health conditions. Delays can also run in families. Sometimes the cause is not known.

There can be several reasons why your 4-year-old child is not talking. Some possible reasons can be hearing loss, neurological disorders, intellectual disability, lack of language stimulation at home, cognitive delay, and delayed motor and speech and language development.

A 3-year-old who can comprehend and nonverbally communicate but can't say many words may have a speech delay. One who can say a few words but can't put them into understandable phrases may have a language delay. Some speech and language disorders involve brain function and may indicate a learning disability.

Some children with expressive language delay "catch up" during the preschool years ("late bloomers"), whereas others have persistent delay (see 'Natural history' below). Early evaluation can help to correctly identify late-talking children who will benefit from intervention and/or additional evaluation.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association classifies late talkers as those with late language emergence, which is defined as “a delay in language onset with no other diagnosed disabilities or developmental delays in other cognitive or motor domains.” In other words, late talkers are those children who are late ...

The most common causes of speech delay include: Hearing loss. Slow development. Intellectual disability.

Speech/Language Milestones

Boys tend to develop language skills a little later than girls, but in general, kids may be labeled "late-talking children" if they speak less than 10 words by the age of 18 to 20 months, or fewer than 50 words by 21 to 30 months of age.

It is well documented that B ₁₂ deficiency can cause developmental delay, hypotonia, tremor, seizures, failure to thrive, reduced IQ, and mental retardation. Children with B ₁₂ deficiency exhibit speech, language, and social delays, behavioral issues, and problems with fine and gross motor movement.