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ASSESSING YOUR CHILD'S LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT MAY REQUIRE A PROFESSIONAL
EVANSTON, Ill. --- Does your toddler show little interest in communicating with others? Does your 2-year-old not yet communicate with words? Is your 3-year-old's speech difficult to understand? If so, your child may need the services of a speech-language pathologist.
Parents and scientists alike are amazed by what the typical 3-year-old has accomplished in terms of language. For whether the child speaks English, Arabic or Urdu, most children by the tender age of 3 already have laid down the basic foundation of a complex language system and are speaking intelligibly in simple, grammatically correct sentences.
But parents often are uncertain as to what they should do if they think their toddler is lagging behind other children of the same age. "Given what we've learned recently about the rapid development of children's brains in their first few years of life, an early assessment -- even if the upshot is that there's no cause for worry -- makes good sense," says Karla McGregor, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders at Northwestern University.
Parents invariably compare their child's language to those of other like-aged children, says McGregor, who studies language development. "And that's exactly what a certified speech pathologist does when concerned parents bring in a child for suspected language production or understanding problems," says McGregor.
The speech-language pathologist, however, makes an unbiased, scientific assessment by comparing the child to a group of children representing the very broad range of normalcy in language development. Parents, on the other hand, are likely to draw comparisons of their children to neighbors down the street, the child's cousins or to hazy recollections of what a sibling was doing two or more years ago. "While it's important to remember that there is no single model of normal development and some children develop speech and language later than the norm, certain behaviors exist that parents can look for when trying to assess a child's progress with language," says McGregor.
What to expect in the first year:
Children begin cooing and babbling and startle to loud noises.
Children begin to communicate with gestures, pointing, and vocalizations at around 9 to 12 months of age.
Around the end of the first year, children typically respond to their own names, demonstrate understanding of certain familiar words (dog, ball, cup, yes, no) and respond to simple sentences. Asked "where's mom," for example, the child generally looks in the mother's direction.
What to expect at 2 and 3 years:
By 2 years, children generally have experienced the "naming explosion" and have a vocabulary of 50 words or more. By 24 months, they generally also begin combining words to make simple sentences, such as "mommy go," "daddy home," "doggie go bye-bye."
By or before 3 years, children typically demonstrate an understanding of two- and three-part commands. An order to "get your shoes, coat and lunch box" is easily followed.
Grammar typically starts coming in after the second birthday. By age 3, most children speak in simple but grammatically correct sentences. Some grammatical errors, however, will continue, such as "throwed" for "threw."
If you are not seeing these milestones, or if your child appears frustrated by an inability to communicate, or if he or she withdraws from or shows little interest in communication with others, McGregor advises an evaluation of the child by a speech-language pathologist certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
Public school districts by law are required to provide free services to children with speech and language disabilities whether or not they have reached school age. Because early treatment is more successful than treatment at later ages, McGregor encourages parents to seek out the school district's services for their preschool child rather than waiting until the child enters kindergarten and is identified by the district.
McGregor also advises parents to contact their State Board of Education and request a parent's guide to the educational rights of students with disabilities. This pamphlet outlines the kinds of speech-language services that are available cost-free from the local school district.
Further information on delayed language can be obtained from ASHA's Information Resources Center for Consumers at 1-800-638-8255.
The services of certified speech-language pathologists are available in clinics, private practices and hospitals as well as in public schools. Wherever a parent chooses to evaluate and, if warranted, treat a child, the earlier treatment occurs, the more successful the treatment will be.
"Although language learning takes place across the life span, it is most automatic and easy in early childhood," McGregor says. "To lose time in enriching the language environment of a young child is to miss a valuable window of opportunity," McGregor says.
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