It is no surprise that you as a parent get worried if one of your kids is having trouble with their speech. By spending time with other parents and their young children, the differences between can be evident. Although it is not the best way to judge the speech development of your child as all has its own pace, there are some specific milestones that they probably should be meeting. Today, this article will guide when the right time for your child to see an expert speech therapist Adelaide.
You could still observe some red flags even if your child may be a long way from talking since speech and language are intrinsically linked to other forms of communication. A child who has a little to no interaction with other people in their first three months is one of the earliest indicators of communication issues. Absence of social cues like smiling and making eye contact at this stage only means that your baby needs some following up.
Babbling, making gestures as well as playing with other people are some of the ways for a child aged between 3 and 12 months to communicate. If your child fails to exhibit these cues, it is highly advisable that you take them to a speech therapist immediately. The success of treating the issue will also depend on how early you identify any potential problem.
You should expect that your child already starts learning first words at this stage. Although their vocabulary is minimal, at this stage, they should be saying at least a few words. Also, you must expect that your child now uses gestures like pointing or shaking their head to communicate or they should be now engaged to others actively.
The vocabulary of your child can be expected to start expanding as they go to the age of two. They should not only learn new words regularly but also putting up multiple words together. It is not necessary that they can form a long sentence; only a grasp of the fact that words can be combined to convey a message is already enough.
Also, it is imperative that if your child already reaches six years of age, you can now understand what they are trying to say without any difficulty even though they tend to mispronounce words sometimes which are only normal. Thus, if ever you are having trouble understanding what your child is trying to say, don’t hesitate on bringing them to a speech specialist.
Keep in mind to face the issue instead of living in denial. Identifying and accepting the problem sooner significantly helps in treating the problem successfully and quickly. Various reasons are behind the lag in speech development of your child, and some of it may bring a significant impact on the overall quality of their life. So, if you suspect your child to have a speech difficulty, seek professional advice from expert speech therapist Adelaide to address any potential problems immediately.