Do you get the impression that your child has a bit of a septic tongue and may have a speech impediment? Maybe it is time to go with your child to a speech therapist.
Is there a right time to go with your child to a speech therapist? There is no clear answer to this question, because it is very individual. Not every child needs speech therapy. What does it depend on and when is the best age for the first visit, so that the potential therapy will bring the desired results?
My child doesn’t say certain sounds, doesn’t pronounce words correctly, cuts words off, has a seplode, stutters – and so on – there are several cases in which parents wonder whether these symptoms indicate that their child may have a speech defect or whether the child is still at an age when he or she has the right to speak that way
First, let’s determine what age we are talking about. After all, when a toddler is just beginning to speak, it is known that not finishing words is a natural state, some children also begin to assemble the first words a little later than others, it is their nature. You can think about a visit to a speech therapist when a toddler does not cope well with speaking. When you as a parent notice, that peers from your child’s kindergarten group speak more fluently, do not cut words off, do not lose sounds, and your child does it, it should be a signal that it is worth going with him to a speech therapist.
There are a few other cases that should suggest us to make a follow-up visit to a doctor, who will evaluate and possibly start working with your child on their speech impediment. What are they? Go with your child for a speech therapy consultation if
– is one year old and has not started to say any, even the simplest syllables;
– is already 2 years old and says only single words, doesn’t even try to combine two words
– you have an impression that your child is talking through the nose, he/she is septic (even though he/she is already several years old);
– it seems to you that your child has problems with hearing, reacts with delay to what you say to him/her, doesn’t understand quite simple messages;
– Your child does not react to his/her name;
– your child cannot follow simple gestures such as “do bye-bye”;
– your child can’t communicate with peers, but also with older members of the society; he/she doesn’t even show any willingness to start any communication;
– the child keeps repeating the same syllables, words, you have the impression that he/she “stutters”;
– you notice that he snores, has trouble sleeping, wakes up during the night or sleeps with his mouth open;
– you notice that he/she cannot cope with preschool or school tasks, for example when reading he/she confuses letters or omits important syllables, sounds or even whole words.
Of course, you can notice worrying symptoms at different stages of a child’s development. It’s not to say that at first he won’t start speaking as fast as other children, and then he will do it over time quite fluently, until after another period you will notice, that in his speech defect something is beginning to happen, to change for better or for worse.
A speech therapist is a specialist who will assess exactly what your child has a problem with, whether it is a minor inflexion that is appropriate for his or her age or the opposite, and will decide whether or not you should start therapy to work on the speech defect. The way the therapy is carried out depends on the diagnosis. The child may have problems such as stuttering, speech retardation, hearing impairment, autism or intellectual disability, for example.
Main picture: Volodymyr Hryshchenko/unsplash.com
