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Simple Ways to Help Your Child Develop Speech First words are one of the most anticipated milestones and mark the early stages of child development. After uttering their first few words, children typically develop speech at a rapid rate over the next five years of their life. Except, sometimes they don’t. Some children develop speaking skills much slower than others. Some will need a little bit of help and others will need more formal intervention. One quick way to determine if further action is needed is to check the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) website’s comprehensive developmental charts for tracking speech and language development in children from birth to age five.
Whether a child is developing speech as expected or not, there are many simple things parents and caregivers can do at home to encourage their child’s speech development.
If parents are concerned about their child’s speech and/or language development, they should seek the advice of an ASHA-Certified Speech-Language Pathologist. It is also important to know that some speech delays are due to hearing loss. It is possible for a child to pass a newborn hearing screening at the hospital and develop hearing loss later in life. Any child who is demonstrating speech and/or language delays should have his or her hearing evaluated by an ASHA-Certified Audiologist.
Michelle Parfitt is a Speech Language Pathologist at DePaul School for Hearing and Speech. To learn more, visit www.speakmiracles.org. ![]() |
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