It takes a child a year to reach a lot of developmental milestones. Babble usually happens within six months, and they will say their first word by their first birthday.
As a parent, it is only natural to worry if your child isn’t saying as many as 20 words by the time they are 18-months old.
You must not forget that every child develops at their own pace, but it is crucial to consider their developmental milestones. You can refer to a standard speech development checklist to see how many of them your child is ticking off.
Based on that, you can get an idea of whether you should see a doctor for speech therapy for kids or not.
1: Not Babbling:
A baby who is strangely quiet and isn’t experimenting with sounds through babbling could be showing signs of a language disorder.
2: Lack Of Gesturing:
Another indicator of a possible language disorder is when your child does not make gestures, such as pointing and waving, between the ages of seven and twelve months.
3: Issues With Verbal Requests:
Between the ages of 12 and 24 months, children should be able to comprehend simple spoken requests. A language development issue could be affecting your child if he or she doesn’t seem to understand your instructions.
4: Not Speaking In Sentences:
Kids should start assembling words into sentences between 1.5 and 2 years old. It might be a good idea to have your toddler checked for a language disorder if she has trouble making sentences.
5: Having A Cleft Palate:
Approximately 1 in 1600 children are born with a cleft palate and for this reason, children also tend to face difficulty feeding, drinking and speaking. Children with cleft lip and cleft palate should be brought to the pediatrician as soon as possible. In many cases, surgery can be the only option to correct a cleft palate and restore normal articulatory functions in a child.
Is your child showing any of these signs? Or does your child seem to have other speech and or other language issues? You should see a pediatrician at the earliest so that the issue doesn’t linger and become severe. Doctors can decide whether intensive speech therapy will be needed to cure the problem in your child.
At Hope AMC in Dubai, you will find pediatric therapy specialists for multiple therapy requirements under one roof and get personalized intensive speech therapy in Dubai. Contact us for therapy solutions for kids Today.