Often parents are confused about whether on not their child has Speech Delay. This article helps you to know whether your child has Speech Delay. Here are the five factors that you have to note when you want to make a decision regarding whether you should consult a Speech Therapist.
1) Eye-Contact
Is your child looking at your face when you talk or play any game
2) Namecall Response:
Does your child look at you when you call their name? Namecall response begins at around 6 months and from 10 month on ward, this response should be consistent. If the child does not look at you when you call them, even after 1 years, then you have to get the child assessed by a Speech Therapist or a paediatrician.
3) Joint Attention and Pointing
When you point at something, does your child look towards the object? Does the child point to when they want? Usually a child of 9 months, would be able to do this. Pointing is usually done by children by the time they are 1.5 years old.
4) Identification
Identifying words involves the ability to understand and follow instructions. A child of 9 months begins to understand objects and instructions from their surroundings like ‘where are the shoes?’, ‘where is the milk’ ‘where is your eye (and other body parts)’ and by the time they are one year old, they will be able to understand around 10 words. At one year, they should be able to understand and follow simple instructions like ‘give tata’’say bye’ etc. At 15 months, they may be able to understand around 20 words. At 1.5 years, this grows to around 50 words. At 2 years, they can understand around 200 words.
5) Expression
Children begin to speak individual words by around one year, but they begin imitating simple sounds even before one year. By 15 months, they will be able to speak around 5-10 words. By 1.5 years this vocab reaches 20 words, along with doing simple actions. By the time they are two years old, they will be able to speak around 50 words and they start speaking small phrases like ‘father go’, ‘see crow’ . By this time, they will be able to answer questions like ‘Do you want his’. They will also be able to complete words of actions songs. They can also imitate actions that you do.
If you find that your child lacks in any of these five factors, then it is better to get evaluated for Speech Delay
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