When to find a speech therapist. At three months of age, babies with developmental delays begin to show signs. While it may seem too early to see a speech therapist, it's never too early to monitor the signs. Your child should say his first word at age 1 and should know about 20 words by 18 months.
If your child is behind these goals, don't press the panic button. Your child may only slowly develop language skills and could benefit from working with a speech therapist. Babies as young as 6 months old can benefit from speech therapy, although most start around 1 to 3 years old when they start. Keep in mind that there, it often takes time to go through the process of getting a referral, performing an evaluation, and then setting up a therapy schedule.
Starting the process when you first suspect a problem (rather than when you're absolutely sure of it) will get you off to a good start. Most speech problems arise when a child is 18 to 24 months old, but it's not a bad idea to seek information sooner if you see some warning signs. Many children with speech delays have buomotor problems. This occurs when there is a problem in the areas of the brain responsible for speech.
This makes it difficult for the lips, tongue, and jaw to coordinate to make the sounds of speech. These children may also have other oral motor problems, such as feeding problems. In this post, I'll explain why it's best to start speech therapy early, and it can actually save you time in the long run. Knowing a little bit about speech and language development can help parents determine if there are reasons for concern.
While early intervention offers the best outcome when it comes to helping a person with a speech or language disorder, speech therapy can also be very effective and beneficial for adults. You may be considering speech therapy for your toddler, or even wondering when to start speech therapy. So what are some of the developmental norms for speech and language development in young children? During the first year, children should be observed to see how and if they use their voice to interact and relate to their environment. None of the content on this site, regardless of the date, should be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor, speech therapist, or other health professional.
These are weekly or biweekly appointments where you can learn new strategies to boost your child's development and learn feasible ideas for incorporating the practice of speaking at home. If your child reaches age 3 without achieving some of the right milestones or significant development in speech and language skills, he or she will likely benefit from speech therapy. A pediatric speech therapist is an expert at playing with a young child, observing communication milestones, and talking to you about your communication at home at all times. Speech therapy will be recommended or, after closely watching your child's communication development, the pediatric speech therapist will tell you that you are on the right track.
However, parents often find it difficult to tell if their child is taking a little longer to reach a speech or language milestone, or if there are any problems. FOCUS Therapy offers screenings, comprehensive evaluations and therapy for children who need speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and ABA therapy in Fort Myers. If they're on the right track, you've spent an hour with the pediatric speech therapist in exchange for peace of mind. The speech therapist will ask you questions and play with your child to investigate their expression (conversation), comprehension, play and social skills.
