If your child is suffering from speech delay, then know that you’re not alone. Speech delay is a problem that 6 to 19% of children experience. It’s more common among boys than little girls. This means that nearly 1 in 5 children may suffer speech delay or problems in their speech development. Serious statistics, but luckily, although speech delay is common, it’s usually temporary and completely manageable.
How do little ones learn to speak?
First of all, they hear other people speak.
Next, certain areas in their brain develop; which is when they start to understand what different sounds mean.
Then they develop the ability to string their own baby noises, before gradually evolving to saying words and finally constructing whole sentences. Around this stage, you really can’t get your kid to stop talking even if you wanted to.
TO SUM UP, AVERAGE SPEECH DEVELOPMENT NEEDS GOOD HEARING, PROPER BRAIN DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTION, IN ADDITION TO INTACT GROWTH OF MOUTH, PALATE, TONGUE AND TEETH.
Your main role as a parent comes in monitoring and encouraging the flow of this process while watching for any worrying signs that your child might need professional help.
So, what’s the ‘normal process’ of speech development?
According to speech therapist Dr. Sara Kamel, full development of language is completed at the age of 7.
At 12 months, your child should produce sounds like ‘ma ma’ ’da da’ ‘ba ba’ and starts to imitate sounds. By 2 years, your child has a vocabulary from 50 to 200 singular words, especially nouns like ‘car’ and ‘shoes’ By age 3, your child can form simple sentences like, ‘I want ice-cream’ and be able to answer questions like, ‘Where’s the puppy?’ Or ‘What’s this?’ By age 4, a child should be understood even by strangers.
THE MAJORITY OF A CHILD’S VOCABULARY DEVELOPS BETWEEN 2 AND 3 YEARS. AND WHILE DIFFERENT CHILDREN LEARN TO SPEAK AT A DIFFERENT PACE, ALL CHILDREN SHOULD MEET THE STANDARDS MENTIONED ABOVE.
When do you need to consult a specialist?
1. At his or her first birthday your child is not using their arms to point or say goodbye or they aren’t making blabbering baby noises.
2. By 2 years, they can only imitate other people’s words, have trouble following simple verbal instructions or avoid talking altogether.
3. By age 3 they still haven’t said a word.
4. Your child has a nasal or strange voice tone.
5. Your child won’t ever meet your eyes and refuses to play with other children.
6. Your child can get absorbed rocking back and forth and humming for hours without getting
bored.
7. Your child has a general delay in growth and development in addition to speech delay.
8. Your toddler drools persistently, develops a stutter or can’t form a simple 3-word sentence by age 2 and a half.
What are some medical problems that can cause speech delay?
IF YOU SUSPECT YOUR CHILD TO HAVE A MEDICAL DISORDER OR SIMPLY WANT TO CHECK THEIR DEVELOPMENT IS OPTIMUM, FOLLOW UP WITH YOUR PAEDIATRICIAN OR RESORT TO A SPEECH THERAPIST FOR HELP.
What can you do at home to help your child’s speech development?
Dr. Sara gives the following advice on the topic:
1. Limit the time your child spends in front of screens (like the TV, tablet or mobile phone) to ONE HOUR per DAY.
2. Talk to your child constantly, even when still a baby.
3. As your kid starts to grow, point to stuff around the house, in the kitchen or at the supermarket and name them constantly.
4. When your child is speaking, make sure to look at them and smile. Show them that they have your attention, show them they’re doing a good job. To your baby, your approval is the greatest reward they can hope for.
5. Read to your child even when they’re too young to understand you. Start with nursery rhymes and picture books then work yourself up to more advanced stuff like simple poetry and fairytales as they grow.
6. Take your child to the nursery and watch their progress over three months. Are they developing social skills? Are they learning words and songs?
7. Always, always, always start with ONE LANGUAGE. Yes, children can absorb many languages, but not all at the same time. Ask yourself what is your priority? Do you want your child’s first language to be Arabic, English, French, etc? Start talking to them in this one nerouh ‘bye’ X language only, then when they’ve developed a good baseline —usually at age 2 or 3— start to introduce the vocabulary of a new language.
8. If you talk best in Arabic, then talk to your child only in Arabic. Avoid combining different
languages into the same sentence.
9. Avoid ‘baby talk’ at all costs! 10. Don’t point the child’s attention to a problem or yell or punish them. If they stutter, be patient until they find the word then act as if nothing’s wrong at all. If they say a word incorrectly or refuse to speak, encourage them and praise them instead of getting angry.
Has your child experienced speech delay? What’s your experience? Let us know and we’ll post more on speech delay on Champs Nursery Facebook page.