Signs Your Child May Need Speech Therapy

When to Take Your Child to a Speech Therapist

We use our voices to communicate our thoughts, feelings, and needs every day. When you have a speech disorder, these tasks can feel impossible for growing toddlers and children. Fortunately, seeing a speech pathologist can help to address these issues early on.

Whether a child has trouble with volume control or pronunciation, speech therapy can help to improve their verbal communication skills.

What is Speech Therapy?

Speech therapy is the treatment of speech disorders and communication issues that is performed by a speech pathologist. Through a combination of therapy, activities, and work to do at home—speech therapy can help children to communicate more effectively.

What Can it Help to Address?

Speech therapy can help to address the following speech issues in children:

• Stuttering and stammering,
• Volume control,
• Mumbling an annunciation issue.
• Lisps and other speech impediments.
• Pronunciation.
• Patient’s ability to understand speech.

Signs & Symptoms to Look Out For

While it’s normal for children to have trouble with words at a young age, other persistent issues may mean that they have a speech disorder. As they continue to learn and grow, keep an eye out for the following speech and comprehension issues:

12 to 15 Months

• Making very few sounds.
• Not waving or pointing.
• No first words yet.

18-24 Months

• Making sounds and gestures rather than using words.
• Trouble annunciating the tail ends of words.

Toddlers

• Using fewer than 50 words.
• Using unintelligible speech.
• Stuttering.
• Repeating sounds and words when talking.
• Trouble following directions.

Speech Therapy at Kirby Medical Center

The experienced speech pathologist at the Speech Therapy department at Kirby Medical Center offers personalized services to patients of all ages. If you would like to learn more about the speech therapy services available at Kirby Medical Center., contact Kirby Medical Center at 217-762-1830.