CHILDREN
What A Speech & Language Problem Might Look Like In Your Home
LATE TALKER
"I went for my son's 18 month check up. The Doctor asked me how many words he is using. He says about 10 words. The Doctor seemed to think we should see a Speech Language Pathologist. I'm not worried, he'll catch up."
If this sounds familiar, your child may be a late talker. By 18 months, your child should have 50+ words and be starting to use two words together (i.e. Daddy go). A late talker may present like:
an independent child (gets whatever they need/want themselves)
a shy child
a younger sibling who's older siblings speak for them
a child who uses few words
a child who uses few gestures (pointing, waving, etc)
not combining words
using words for few purposes (i.e. labeling, requesting, directing)
Sometimes with children this young, people may have a "wait and see" attitude. Early intervention is key for these children. Children who are late talkers, may catch up with intervention. In other cases, late talkers may go on to have speech difficulties, ongoing language difficulties, and difficulties in school.
SPEECH
"I take my child to playgroup. The other Moms and educators have a difficult time understanding my child. My husband and I understand him. My child is three years old."
If this sounds familiar, your child may have a speech difficulty. This refers to how we make our sounds. By 2 years old a child should be 50% intelligible to other people. By 3, this increases to 75%. By the time your child is 4, they should be 100% intelligible. Other ways you might recognize a speech difficulty include:
missing sounds in combinations i.e. "poon" for "spoon"
missing sounds at the beginning or end of words i.e. "ha" for "hat"
using the wrong sound in the wrong place i.e. "tat" for "cat"
sounds that are slushy or not clear
LANGUAGE DELAY/DISORDER
"My daughter never seems to do what I ask her. If I ask her to go get her coat and boots, she only comes back with one!"
If you can relate to this, your child might have difficulty understanding language (receptive language). You might also notice the following difficulties:
spatial concepts (on, in, under)
following complex directions
understanding describing words (i.e. big/little, hot/cold, old/new)
understanding questions
"My son is always calling his brother a her! "Her running" "Her crying" At first I thought it was cute, but it isn't going away."
If this sounds like your little one, they may have trouble using language (expressive language). This can also look like:
missing small grammatical words i.e. he running versus he IS running
missing endings on words i.e. "yesterday he walk"
using the wrong word order i.e. "what that is?"
using nonspecific words - everything is a thing
frustration when they can't explain their ideas
SOCIAL PRAGMATIC DIFFICULTIES
"My son's daycare teacher mentioned that he is having some trouble with his friends. He plays alone and when he does talk to other children, he doesn't look at them."
Problems interacting with other people are called social pragmatic difficulties. These can include:
difficulties taking turns (playing or talking)
trouble solving problems
responding to others appropriately
using gestures (like waving or pointing)
talking about emotions and feelings
staying on topic
using words for a variety of purposes such as greeting people, making comments, asking questions, making promises, etc.
making and keeping friends
DYSFLUENCY
"My daughter is 8 and she is having trouble speaking. She repeats words, stops in the middle of a word, and she taps her foot when she is talking. It seems to get worse when she is stressed or tired."
No one talks smoothly all the time. But if your child is having repeated interruptions in their speech, they may have a stutter (dysfluency). Dysfluencies include:
making sounds longer "ssssssssssssssssssssssnow"
getting stuck before a sound "...more"
repeating words "my my my cat"
repeating parts of words "bababa-nana"
LANGUAGE BASED LEARNING DIFFICULTIES
"My son's teacher says he is struggling at school. He is having trouble reading and writing. The teacher says when the class is having discussions he looks lost."
Our education system heavily relies on language. Children can have average abilites in other areas with specific difficulties related to language and learning. Language difficulties in the classroom can look like:
not paying attention
behaviour
not answering questions
difficulty participating in class discussion - i.e. off topic
not being able to put ideas on paper
trouble organizing ideas
trouble following directions
difficulty sounding out words
difficulty with rhyming
trouble understanding what they have read
