Frequently Asked Questions

Is my child’s speech or language developing normally?

“Speech” and “language” are often used interchangeably by parents to describe their children’s communication skills. However, “speech” is used by speech pathologists and other experts working within the field of pediatrics to describe the acts of communicative intent that includes pre-speech sounds such as, cooing and babbling, variegated babbling, and sounds in words and sentences. “Language” describes not only speech, but listening comprehension, and expressive communication acts; it includes visual communication such as signs,sign language and gestures.

My child was talking normally and suddenly he stopped talking. Is that normal?

No! It is not normal for a child to suddenly stop talking. Common causes for sudden change in communication: anxiety, speech or language delays, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and selective mutism and hearing loss.

Why is my child not talking clearly?

It is important to get your child screened or evaluated if your are concerned or your child is six months or more behind their peers in communication skills.www.asha.org/public/speechdevelopment/chart.htm.

What can I do to help my child learn to talk?

You can help your child by slowing down your speech rate when talking to your child. Read stories that repeat words, for example, “Brown bear…,” “Goodnight moon" etc. Play listening games, by pausing a familiar song and having your child finish part of the song. Play nursery rhymes and practice saying the words with your child.
 

Will my child out grow his delays?

It is very difficult to tell whether child will out grow delays. The most important thing is getting the child the right help and making sure your child is healthy physically and emotionally. 

My child does not do most of the things on the developmental chart that I got from my pediatrician. What can I do to help my child?

I would contact a professional. If your child is not crawling contact a physical or occupational therapist. If your child is having difficulty with speech or feeding  contact us and we can answer your questions. 

What is Articulation Disorder?

Articulation disorder means "a child is having difficulty saying or pronouncing age appropriate speech sounds."  . 

What causes articulation disorder?

• Chronic Ear Infections: Children that have chronic ear infections are more likely to mispronounce words.
• Hearing Loss: Depending on the type of hearing loss, the child will not hear how certain sounds are said and may not learn how to say the sound correctly.
• Neuromuscular disorders: If a child has some neuromuscular disorder (depending on the severity) the child may speech problems.
• Syndromes: (Cranio-facial anomalies, Downs syndrome, Cleft lip/palate) Children with certain types of syndromes are have a higher chance of speech delays
• Unknown: Sometimes the causes are unknown.

Are all articulation disorders the same?

There are different types of articulation disorders. The term "articulation disorder" is generally used to describe that the child is not pronouncing the sound (s) correctly (as typically heard in that child's community).

Types of Articulation Disorders

• Phonological Processing Disorders: This term is used when a child has a severe articulation disorder with a pattern to their errors (omissions, addition of extra vowels, simplification of sounds etc.). Phonological processing disorder is used to describe the patterns the child is using when talking.

• Childhood Apraxia of Speech CAS: (also known as developmental apraxia of speech). A child with apraxia has difficulty purposefully (despite having normal muscle tone) moving the muscles that assist with speech productions. Children that have CAS struggle with correctly saying the sounds or words even though they have can sometime say the word. 

What does language disorder mean?

Typically we look at the child’s receptive (understanding of the spoken language) or expressive (being able to use words to express self) skills to determine language delays or disorders.  A language disorder means that the child is not able to perform the language skills that children his age can perform. This means the child needs professional support to start learning the language skills.
 Below are the types of language disorders that speech pathologists are trained to support.

• Expressive Language delays
• Receptive Language delays
• Auditory Processing Disorders
•  Pragmatic Language Disorders
• Problems with Language Structures
• Vocabulary
• Memory and Word Finding
  
  
  For more information please visit
  www.asha.org/speech/deve/opment/language_speech.htm
  www.borninglearning.org
  www.asha.org/public/speechdevelopment/chart.htm