Diagnosing Language Delays

In my previous blog, I wrote about language delays in Guatemalan born children. I did not do a scientific study and want to stress that it is just my impression that a lot of our children have language delays; not all of course.

Diagnosing language delays is not a particularly difficult process. As a parent you are bound to notice that your child is not making baby sounds as an infant, or beginning to produce words as a young toddler, or stringing together two-word sentences as they get closer to two years of age.

In the US there is a federally mandated program that exists in every state, although often under different names. It is called Early Intervention. This program is staffed by developmental and speech therapists that will come to your home to do a complete developmental evaluation of your child free of charge. If your child does require therapy, you do not have to use their services. But since they come to your home for the therapy sessions, it is very convenient. They also charge on a sliding pay scale, so it is affordable for all needing the services.

I found out about Early Intervention from my adoption agency. As soon as we brought Ella home I called and made an appointment. Ella was evaluated at around eight months and qualified for speech therapy.

If you are wondering what a speech therapist can do with an infant, you’d be surprised and impressed. The therapist gives the parents excellent suggestions for providing an environment that supports language development for a child with delays. Speaking to your child a lot and reading books is normally enough for a child to learn a language, but not in the case of a language delayed child. Special techniques are needed to help them learn to speak.

I know that some people feel that it is best to just wait and see, after all everyone knows someone who had a child that spoke late and was just fine. There are a couple problems with this approach. First, as toddlers get older and want to communicate their needs and wants, they get very frustrated when they cannot express themselves and this can lead to some unpleasant behavior problems.

Secondly, this can have a long range effect on their reading skills in the future. If their speaking skills are not at the appropriate level when they begin school, they usually have reading problems as well.

Thirdly, you may be “lucky” if you do nothing, and one day your child will start talking and catch up with his peers. However, if this doesn’t happen, your child has missed out on early intervention and now is even farther behind; valuable time has been lost.

As a supporter of the pro-active approach to developmental problems, I strongly recommend that you have your child evaluated by the Early Intervention program in your state. Our children can only benefit from positive intervention when it is needed.

More information on the subject:

Evaluation and Management of the Child with Speech Delay

Speech and Language Disorders

Speech Delay.com

Photo credit: Google Images

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.