Editors

MariQvarnström

Speech and Language Development

Essentials

Children deviating from the age-related development path should be referred to a speech therapist for assessment Speech and Language Therapy Interventions for Children with Primary Speech and Language Delay or Disorder.
Observation of early interaction is important: how does the adult make contact with the child; what is the developmental stage of the child's emotional life; what is the psychosocial situation?
Delayed speech and language may be the first signs of a particular verbal problem, dyslexia Learning Disorders, impaired hearing, mental retardation, autism or other conditions associated with contact problems Autism Spectrum Disorders, motor disorder (dyspraxia) Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), deprivation, interaction problems within the family Monitoring a Child's Psychological Development at Child Health Clinics or complicated psychosocial problems encountered in children from a multicultural background.
Adequate hearing ability in essential for normal speech and language development. Therefore, the hearing ability of the child has to be tested.
Family history of language or attention difficulties warrant a closer than normal monitoring of the development of the child's language skills and communication.

Referral to a speech therapist at different ages

First year of life
- Little vocalizing and babbling
- Poor contact with adults
- Suspicion of impaired hearing
- Orientation, sucking, and swallowing reflexes are poorly developed; difficulties in eating
- Short frenulum of the tongue Structural Anomalies in Children
Children aged 1-2 years
- No words or attempted words or other attempts at expressing oneself (gestures)
- Suspicion of poor speech comprehension or does not obey commands (remember recurrent otitis media as a cause of impaired hearing)
- Poor alertness
- Difficult to make contact with the child
- Speech is scant or not clear after the second birthday.
- If a child who has grown in a bilingual family has a sparse vocabulary but otherwise develops normally and understands speech and requests normally, follow-up of speech development is still a sufficient measure.
Children aged 3-4 years
- Speech is defective or not clear (phonemes or syllables change place, long words are shortened)
- Major grammatical errors
- Poor vocabulary, difficulty in finding words
- Little speech, no or only a few sentences
- Inadequate answers, "own language"
- Stammering continues or starts after the physiological stammering age (at about 3 years)
- Poor contact, the child does not stop to listen
- Difficulties in following short instructions.
Children aged 5-6 years
- Pronunciation errors (r, s, l, k etc.) should be corrected before school age
- Non-fluent speech (stammering, slurred speech)
- Language or speech is scant or poorly developed in relation to age
- The overall speech is not clear, which may be due to problems with motor and/or phonological fluency or difficulties in the ability to comprehend spoken language.
Children aged 7-15 years
- All the abovementioned problems if they have not been investigated before
- Particularly problems that significantly affect speech

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Information

Editors

Speech and Language Development

Essentials

Referral to a speech therapist at different ages