Parents recieve different advice from different people about when children should be talking. Mothers and fathers often become concerned when they see that their children are not talking as well as children at playgroup or daycare.
Everyone knows that children develop skills at different rates, and this includes talking. However, as a general rule of thumb, Speech Pathologists suggest that children should be using at least 50 words and starting to join them together by the time they are two years old.
Parents can be told to “wait and see” if their child is not talking at this rate, even sometimes by family doctors. If, though, you are at all concerned about speech development it is ALWAYS worth investigating.
A Speech Pathologist can look at how a child is trying to communicate, for example. We use communication for a wide range of reasons (communicative intentions) and it is most important that children learn early to do this. We use speech and other communication skills to do things such as ask and answer questions and use polite language.
We need to also see how hard a child is trying to talk and how successful these attempts are.
There can be all sorts of reasons why a child is not talking as well as their peers. Issues such as hearing loss or autism spectrum disorders can be a cause, or dyspraxia. Most of the time the explanation will be a fairly simple one. It is always better to know.
All the research shows the value of early intervention. There are potential impacts on learning, thinking skills, social skills and later literacy development.
Do seek a Speech Pathology assessment if you are at all concerned. In my experience, mothers are usually right when they are uneasy about a child’s development. You may be given reassurance, or else easy strategies that you can add to what you are already doing to enhance your child’s development.
If you have had either early intervention or have been told to wait, leave a comment to let us know about your experience…