As parents, watching your kids grow and develop in the early years is a great pleasure.  This is the time when they develop different skills and learn different activities. They also develop the skill of speech or the ability to communicate during this stage.

While some children start speaking much earlier, some take a bit longer to start the same. Speech delay in children can be a cause of worry among many parents. Identifying and treating such delays at the right time is very important.

In this blog, we are trying to identify some facts which hinder speech capabilities among children as well as the ways to overcome it with the right approach to encourage your child to speak.

Some of the common queries about speech delay that most parents are concerned about are:

• Is there a right age for children to start speaking?
• Is it different for boys and girls?
• Should I be worried about a speech delay in my kid?
• When is the right time to approach for help?

Right age for children to start speaking

Talking about the right age to start speaking, yes it is there. A child normally starts cooing and babbling by the time he/she is three to six months and starts responding to sounds and names by six to nine months of age.  They also start following simple commands and gestures by this time. So, it is expected of a child to involve in these normal things before he/she turns one. 

The first communication of a newborn is of course the baby’s first cry. However, most babies start communicating meaningful words between 12 to 18 months of age. If your kid is not communicating expressive words by 18 months of age, it might be a concern.

Here is a brief note of milestones related to speech of a child during the early years:

• 12-15 months – start communicating with single words like mamma, papa, etc.
• 15-18 months – start gesturing to familiar things, people, body parts etc. Vocabulary reaches up to 5-20 words by now
• 18 months to 2 years – speak 50+ words, start putting two words together like give me, let’s go, my toy etc.
• 2 years and above – start following commands like bring your toys and play here, take off your shoes and put them in the rack etc.

Different for boys or girls

This is true that normally boys utter their first word later than girls. However, this difference is just a matter of a few months.  Girls are more likely to start talking and complete certain speech milestones earlier as compared to boys. However, both girls and boys acquire the language skills and reach different milestones within the time range that children normally are expected to acquire.   

 Is it something to worry about?

Normally children start uttering word or words by the time they are about 12-15 months old. Some kids may start even before that. However, by the time your kid is about 18 months of age the child should be able to utter words or point to body parts, recognize things etc.  By 18 months, most kids’ vocabulary increases to 5-20 words. So, if your kid is not uttering a single word, or if he/she prefers to communicate through pointing fingers or mumbling, then you should take it seriously. 

Right time to approach for help

Normally, it is considered that a child is having speech delay if he/she speaks less than 10 words by the age of 18 months or if the child utters fewer than 80 words by the age of two. However, there is no such rule about it. Some children despite delayed speech can easily come out of the situation with time, while some need assistance from a speech therapist to get out of the same.

By staying aware, parents can observe speech delay and their signs among kids as young as two to two and half years old. Proper child counselling can help to improve speech and language issues among children as early as 3-year old.

Causes of speech delay

Many reasons can contribute for a child to have speech delay:

• Genetics is one such factor that plays a vital role in speech delay among children
• Children with immediate relatives or parents with the same problem in the past are also likely to have speech delay
• The social surrounding of the child also can be a factor to a certain extent
• Other issues like hearing disorder, intellectual disability, autism etc. can also be the reason for speech delay in children
• In some cases, child abuse or neglect may also be a cause of speech delay in some children

Moreover, the influence of society/family structure also influences speech delays in children. Since family is the primary social group for a child to learn from, it does contribute in honing the child’s speaking skills. A family that stays together, shares thoughts and communicates together could help kids to learn and refine language and speech skills.  

Way to improve speech

In order to motivate the child to speak, parents can encourage him/her through different ways:

• Communicating frequently with the child is very effective. Just keep talking and encourage the child to imitate you and your gestures.
• Reading to the child is another effective way. You must make it a point to read to your child daily. Choose the age appropriate books, picture books and encourage the kid to communicate through means of story-telling.
• Push your child to do things that he/she is interested in. Try to understand his/her interests so that you can talk to the kid about the same and do things that he/she is interested in. This way, try to make him/her communicate to you.  
• Try to make the child explain things through a play-way method. This will enhance the verbal skills of the child. If the child tries to explain something with incomplete words or sentences, try to understand the same and complete it for the child. Also, encourage the child to repeat it with you.
• While communicating with the child, give him/her the opportunity to contribute as many words as possible.
• Use gestures to convey words and communicate.

It is very important to ensure that your child starts speaking proper words and motivating and assisting the child to do so is what you must do.

Some interesting Statistics and Scenarios of Speech delay:

• Study says that 3 to 10 percent of children in the age group of three to 16 years suffer from speech delay.
• Boys are more affected by speech delay as compared to girls.   
• Approximately 50% to 70% of children with speech delay catch up with peers by school age with the support of therapy and parental guidance.

Can speech therapy help a child in dealing with speech delay?

Yes, Speech therapy does help a child in overcoming the barrier of delay in speech. However, if the child has any other medical condition which might be aggravating the delay, it needs to be resolved first before starting speech therapy.

www.zoylu.com with its Counselling feature is one of the best tools to guide parents on kids’ behavioral issues. Together with our assistance and your guidance and support, we can work towards improving your child’s speech and language abilities.