Some children develop the gift of speech naturally without any roadblocks. However, some children may not. This is a natural phase that can easily be overcome by proper training and therapy. Speech therapy for kids is an essential step, especially when they may have difficulties talking.
If your child cannot develop the gift of clear speech naturally, it is highly recommended to consult a speech therapist. Here are five warning signs that tell you it might be time to get speech therapy for kids.
Signs Your Child Needs Speech Therapy
1. Lack of Gesturing
If your child cannot express himself through proper gestures and signs, then there is a strong chance that your child may need speech therapy. Gesturing and signing with your hands and face is often considered an important way of conveying information and is usually a precursor to language in humans.
If the child cannot gesture properly, it could indicate that the child is finding it difficult to assert its requirements through language, which might carry on to its inability to talk clearly. While this is not always directly related to speech, this is one of the prime indications for speech therapy.
2. Not Babbling at the Age 4-7 Months
Not being able to babble or even make noises could be closely associated with the need for speech therapy. If your child is finding it difficult or is not making an attempt to babble or make any such noise altogether, there is a strong chance that she is suffering from some form of speech growth inconsistencies.
Even if the child is strangely quiet and unresponsive through her sounds, this could be a sign of requiring speech therapy for better expression. Giving her early training for better speech acquisition through speech training might be ideal if she doesn’t make any characteristic sound similar to a babble which is very common in kids of ages 4-7 months old.
3. Inability to Comprehend Verbal Cues Clearly
Another significant sign indicating the need for speech therapy for kids is when the kid cannot comprehend verbal cues. Almost every child that does not have underlying speech defects can easily make sense of at least a few verbal cues by the age of 24 months.
If a child faces trouble in understanding simple sentences or even basic terms, there is a chance that the child may need speech therapy.
4. Not Using Sentences to Speak
The inability to frame sentences while speaking may also be another sign of an underlying speech defect. It is crucial to monitor this ability in children between 18-24 months. If a child finds it challenging to frame sentences and linguistic structures while speaking in a language, there is a chance that the child may need special care and an accurate speech therapy specialist to cater to their needs.
Furthermore, being able to frame sentences is a decent way to tell if a child has a speech defect because sentences are not very easy to create early in a child’s development. If a child speaks very clearly, articulately, and can frame sentences easily, the child is very less likely to have a speech defect.
5. Trouble Making Certain Sounds
Some sounds are considered very difficult for children to make compared to other sounds that come easy. If a child finds it challenging to make consonant sounds like p, b, w, m, and h, the child may require special therapy.
Furthermore, some other consonant sounds like f, t, d, and k are slightly harder and need a longer time to master. However, if a child is unable to say these sounds clearly by the age of 3, then the child may require special speech therapy, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. It is necessary to provide the required care on diagnosing these signs than to await a further time hoping for the child to speak correctly. To learn more and discover how we can help, contact us today.
