Recognizing and Addressing Speech-Language Developmental Delay: A Guide for Parents

Are you noticing early signs of speech delay in your child? Do they prefer to use non-verbal communication over verbal communication? Does the child mispronounce words or have difficulty in expressing their thoughts and feelings? Is the child not reaching speech related milestones that are expected of their age?

Then these are signs of speech-language developmental delay. Several children go through this problem at an early age. Yes, as a parent you need to be concerned about your child, but if you intervene early, that makes all the difference in the child's life.  

What action should you take?

You need to identify what type of speech related problem your child is having. Plus book an appointment with a speech-language pathologist (SLP) or speech therapist. They are the right professionals who have years of experience, knowledge and tools to provide you an accurate diagnosis. 

If they insist on enrolling your child in speech therapy and the diagnosis backs it up as well, then please do so as soon as possible.

Benefits of Speech Therapy

1. Improvement in child's communication skills: Speech therapy improves the child's communication skills by developing clearer speech and improves their ability of expressing themselves through language.

2. It builds the child's confidence: As the child keeps communicating more; they gain more confidence in dealing with social situations and feel good about their ability to interact with other people. 

3. It plays a huge role in their academics: In the later stages of childhood, communication plays an important role in academic success. Speech therapy improves the child's reading, writing, and language comprehension skills.

4. Development of social skills: One area where speech therapy plays an important role is in the development of social skills. The child will be able to make friends, take turns, listen, follow instructions, and understand other social cues.

5. Reduces frustration: Children who have speech delay get frustrated and engage in challenging behaviors because they have the skills to communicate their unmet needs. Speech therapy reduces frustration and teaches them alternate behaviors.

6. It improves the child's quality of life: By improving the child's communication skills, speech therapy can improve the child's overall quality of life and it helps them to build connections with people around them.

Progress begins from home

There is a common misconception parents have. They assume if they have enrolled their child for speech therapy sessions for 1 to 2 hours, the child will start speaking soon.

Speech therapy always requires a two-way effort. The therapist can only teach the child skills and engage them in activities in order to increase their vocalizations, speech, and language. The child will be only able to learn these skills properly if it is regularly practiced at home.

Otherwise, parents face a problem where the child does well in the session and doesn't say a word at home.

After the sessions, note down the activities or practices which the therapist gives you as homework. 

How to make my non-verbal child communicate? 

A few great strategies for ensuring that your child's speech is strengthened would be to repeat their babbling, to reinforce any sounds they currently have. As you work on clarity, ensure to reinforce the current efforts of speaking even if they are unclear. Then, gradually work on the clarity.

Although the main concern for parents is how to teach a child to speak, and if the progress seems very slow, or what if the child doesn't speak despite all the efforts?

Ensure to provide some other ways to communicate. For example, your child may be able to say "pa" for "papa" and "mama" for mom, however he can't still say other sounds, there needs to be another method through which he can indicate his basic needs and wishes such as pointing to the ball, or using signs to ask for water or to show french fries by pointing to the picture.

Now, the question is, how can you teach communication through signs or pictures?

By simply following these guidelines:

1) Sign language

You can teach your child gestures such as pointing thumb towards mouth which means 'I want water', moving hand around his stomach means 'I want to eat', tilting head on the palm indicates. 'I want to sleep', etc.

Another method is teaching him/her to communicate yes & no through nodding & shaking head or using hand gestures like thumbs-up conveys yes and waving hand does the opposite. For example, when you ask 'Hey champ, you want to drink water?' If the child is not thirsty, she will refuse by shaking her head or waving hand.

These can be taught by either demonstrating the skill, helping by guiding the child's hands to form the signs.

2) Take visual support

Use the pictures of his favorite activities or toys for teaching requests. You can put it up on the wall or in a book. In the beginning, try to find where the child's motivation lies. For example, if you see that he has seen a car, and keeps looking in the direction, you could get a car's picture, and teach the child to point to the picture. Gradually, add in the comparison pictures to choose from and immediately give him access to the things he is choosing.

For example, if the child wants a doll, ask her "what do you want?" while near the pictures and give guidance to pick the right picture. Once she picks the correct picture, reinforce by giving access to the chosen picture. When the child learns these pictures have an effect, she will learn to request by showing the pictures. Same can be done with other activities or objects.

3) Take digital assistance

Due to the emergence of new media technology, there are solutions available to problems which are difficult to solve. There are many AAC devices available. One such app specifically made for non-verbal children is called Avaz. It is available at the Play Store. Give it a try. (This is not for promotion)*. The app lets the child create sentences in fill in the blanks format or even to make full sentences or just words. After tapping it will say out the sentence which then can be reinforced.

At the end, you will have to practice on a regular basis and reinforce the requests every now and then. This motivates the child and assures her that efforts are not going in vain.

Remember, as much as we prefer speech, it is a MUST that your child has some channel to communicate.

Online speech therapy in India

Butterfly Learnings is a leading provider of online speech therapy in India, offering a range of specialized services to help children with speech delay and challenging behaviors. Our team consists of experienced speech therapists, registered behavior technicians, and behavior therapists. 

We provide customized therapy that is tailored to meet the specific needs of every child. Also, implementing evidence-based practices that are proven to work. 

Team Butterfly is committed to develop the child's communication skills, build their confidence, and help them connect with the people and world. 

If you're looking for high-quality online speech therapy services, Butterfly Learnings is the first and best choice for your child.