Your Child’s Speech Delay is a Sign That Something is Wrong

Toddlers and two-year-olds typically exhibit a wide range of language development. Children reach milestones at different times, and numerous factors determine how much or how a child speaks. But what if your child’s voice seems to be delayed? Your child’s speech delay may be a sign that something is wrong. 

Children who grow up in a family where both languages are spoken may take longer to become fluent in either language (but, in the long run, may have significantly better verbal skills than their peers). When there are older siblings in a home, toddlers may not be able to express themselves until they are older. Girls also begin speaking earlier than boys, according to studies.

However, if a child’s speech is slurred or incoherent, it may indicate a developmental or medical issue. Speech therapy may be an option for your child in these situations. You must first assess whether your child’s speech is indeed out of whack with his chronological age. Ask your child’s pediatrician if you have any questions or concerns about their well-being.

Achieving Major Achievements in Communication

The baby’s babbling begins to change around the first birthday. As children get better at mimicking the sounds they hear, their noises begin to take on the form of words. In the following months, toddlers begin to form toddler sentences by stringing words together.

Vocabulary and sentence complexity typically increase after the second birthday. Consider whether or not your child’s speech development is on track by consulting this chart of typical milestones and warning flags.

1 year to 1 year and a half

Toddlers are able to produce a wide variety of speaking sounds at this age. Baba (bottle) and Mama (mother) are two of the most commonly used words in the language. The first words a youngster learns are those they consider essential to everyday life.

At this age, your child’s speech will consist largely of babbling noises aside from the basic words mentioned above. Starting in the next six months, you’ll be able to see your child develop more advanced communication abilities, such as:

• Attempting to mimic what you said.
• emulating the flow of a real-life discussion
• Making a request or posing a query (shouting “Ju!” while demanding juice) by inflecting one’s speech
• Rather than simply responding to the noises you produce, use words spontaneously.
• Using gestures and vocalized noises to convey one’s thoughts.

If your child can follow one-step commands, it’s vital to pay attention to the words or noises they make (for example, “pick up the block”).

18 to 24 months

During this stage of development, a wide range of verbal abilities is considered normal. Depending on your child’s personality and circumstances, you may not hear as many words as you would like. A two-year-old child is expected to have reached the following milestones: 4

• They are steadily increasing the number of words they know.
• Two-word phrases—even if they’re not grammatically correct (“no go,” “book read”)—can be useful in conveying information.

• Using words to describe images in a book or the immediate environment.
• Animal and body component names, as well as animal sounds (such as “moo” for a cow)

Regardless of how well your youngster understands what you say, it’s crucial to keep an eye out. Do they respond to your inquiries? By the age of two, are kids able to follow simple two-step instructions?

2 to 3 years

Between the ages of two and three, parents typically see a dramatic increase in their children’s ability to speak and express themselves verbally. According to popular belief, a child’s vocabulary can expand to 200 words or more during this period. There are several notable anniversaries to keep an eye on this year:

• Increasing your vocabulary and learning new terms regularly
• forming sentences out of three or more words (which may still be grammatically awkward)
• Beginner’s color, form, and concept identification; examples include more or less and huge or small.

• Regularly retelling stories from books you’ve read together or singing nursery rhymes and other tunes.
• In the beginning stages of expressing one’s thoughts and feelings through language (“I hungry,” “Sam sad”)

It’s more crucial to see steady growth in the number of words your child begins to use week by week than the total number of words they’ve learned during this period. Remember, your child’s speech delay is a sign that something is wrong. So closely monitoring them is essential.

People who aren’t close to you or your child’s primary caregiver may still have difficulty comprehending what they are saying at this age. Your child’s speech should improve steadily over the next year. If you’re concerned about your child’s speech development, talk to your pediatrician.

Meaningful articles you might like: The Causes of Speech Delay in Children, Indicators That Your Toddler’s Language Development is Being Delayed, Why Hasn’t My 20-Month-old Child Been Able To Speak