Children develop different skills much faster during their first couple of years. Just in a matter of months, they learn to crawl, walk, talk, and even to socialize with others. Every passing month your child reaches a specific milestone, For example, a majority of babies begin to crawl between 6 to 10 months of age and by 16 months they can walk on their own.

The same is true when it comes to speech. By the age of 1, your child should say their first word and about 5 or more words by 18 months. If you find your child is unable to reach these targets, don’t panic. The pace of learning of each child is different. Some are quicker and some are comparatively slow. Your child may be slower than his or her peers in developing language skills. Be patient and try to communicate with the child as much as possible to develop the skill. If nothing works, then you can largely benefit from working with a speech therapist.

If your child is having difficulties with speech, language, swallowing, or cognition, come see us at Total Speech Therapy. We offer a welcoming and friendly environment for children that can help them develop the essential skills they need to lead a fulfilling life. Our expertise & unique approach to addressing a variety of issues related to speech will immensely help your child to learn quickly.

Support for speech and language: 

Speech therapy from an expert can help your child develop their speech and language skills. In some places though speech and language overlap, the two are slightly different when looked at at an acute level. Children may have difficulty either with speaking or language, or both that a speech therapist can ascertain and take the best approach to improve the child’s communication skills.

Working With Speech: 

Speech involves 3 things and they are articulation, voice, and fluency. A child needs all three aspects of speech to work together for effective verbal skills. Articulation skills help our lips, tongue, and mouth to move in a way to produce certain speech sounds. A child with a problem in this area may find it difficult to produce certain letters such as “r” or “th”. Voice is a function that uses breath and vocal folds to make sounds. It is not always necessary for your child to be loud, but they should be able to speak at an understandable volume. Fluency is also an important aspect of speech. Children struggling with fluency may stutter or stammer.

Working With Language:

Language is a skill that refers to the use of words and how they are being used to share your ideas. Language includes 4 aspects and that is speaking, understanding, reading, and writing. A child with a language disorder may have difficulties with one or more of these skills.

Let’s Understand Language:

Understanding the meaning of a word is important. Some words have more than one meaning and the same word can give different meanings depending on its use. A child lacking this ability will have trouble understanding what others say. It is called receptive language disorder while having problems sharing our thoughts, ideas, and feelings is called expressive language disorder.

When is it time to see a speech therapist?

As mentioned before, every child develops speech and language skills at their own pace. However, if you notice your child is not at all or grasping things very very slowly, it may be time to consult a speech therapist and plan speech therapy as soon as possible. Following are some of the aspects to evaluate your child:

1. A child uses less than 20 words at 18 months and less than 50 words by age 2
2. A child uses only a few sounds to pronounce all words
3. A child is having trouble understanding simple sentences by age 2 
4. A child speaks infrequently and doesn’t use appropriate social language
5. A child speaks an unclear or immature speech

When a child shows one or more such behaviors mentioned above then it might be time to book an appointment with a speech therapist. If you’re concerned about any of these issues in your child then go for a quick assessment.

At Total Speech Therapy, our speech specialists provide one-on-one therapy that can help your child improve and master their speech and language skills. We are one of the leading speech and language therapy centers in Baltimore and Houston helping children alleviate any the conditions such as Autism, Developmental delays, Cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, Dysphagia, etc. Visit Totalspeechtherapy.com for more information and call 410-696-3301 to book an appointment over the phone today.