Posted on Monday, March 7, 2016 by Jia Yue 2 minutes
Two parents were chatting in an elevator one day. One parent was expressing concern that her daughter was not speaking much for her age. The other parent replied that a friend’s son did not speak much until five years old and now, “It is hard to get him to stop talking”.
If you are a parent who is worried about your child’s speech or language development, it seems likely that you may be advised “Don’t worry, he will grow out of it” or “Don’t worry, my son was slow too”. As a concerned parent, should you just wait? What else can you do?
Speech-Language delay – What can you do?
As a speech-language therapist, “Will he grow out of it?” continues to be one of the most common questions posed by parents and school teachers. And hence, the choice for the first topic of our Myths vs Facts series was clear.
Myth #1: “Don’t worry, he will grow out of it”
It is hard to tell with certainty if a child will ever outgrow his speech or language delay. Children do develop at slightly different rates and the exact age at which they achieve various milestones will vary. For example, we generally expect a child to say his first words by 12 months. However, one child may start saying his first words at 10 months while another may only start at 15 months. The rate of development depends on several factors, including, the amount and type of language input received (i.e. what the child hears from parents, siblings, caregivers, and other people around them).
Some children do catch up with their peers after a slow start in speech or language development. These will be the anecdotal examples that parents mention when advising a concerned parent to simply wait. For these children, they did grow out of their delay.
On the flip side, there are children who continue to develop at slower rates compared to others of the same age. Several research papers had shown that within a group of children who were not saying many words at approximately 2 years old, a portion of the group continue to have language difficulties after a few years. For example, Rice et al. (2008) found that approximately 20% of the children in their group continue to have language impairments at 7 years old. For these children, they did not grow out of their delay.
So, will your child grow out of it? The answer is “maybe”.
Fact #1: “He might / might not grow out of it”
“What can I do?”
You could continue to wait but why not pro-actively take action and some control of the situation by contacting a speech-language therapist who can assess your child and provide recommendations on how to support your child’s development.
“Why not wait?”
Through the infant and toddler years, the brains of young children undergo critical stages of development, particularly before 4 years old. Hence, the earlier and sooner any intervention starts, the more a child is likely to benefit and gain from the intervention. Starting intervention sooner rather than later will also help bridge the gap between the child’s current abilities and what is expected for his age before it potentially gets wider. Seeking help from trained professionals can also help to identify any underlying causes that may be affecting the child’s learning and development, so they can be targeted at the same time.
Another aspect to consider is the potential impact of language difficulties on a child’s social and emotional development. Imagine a boy whose friends cannot understand what he is trying to say, they may start to tease him or simply stop playing with him. At home, he may be frustrated and start throwing tantrums when his parents cannot understand what he tries to communicate.
Difficulties with communicating can also result in behavioural issues
Back to the elevator…
At the start of the article, I mentioned the lady in the elevator who told her friend, “Don’t worry, my friend’s son did not say much until 5 years old and now it is hard to get him to stop talking”.
We can also add “But there are also some children who don’t outgrow it. Just to be sure, you can look for a speech-language therapist who can advise you properly”.
A little bit of extra advice from one friend to another. One short elevator ride. And it could mean a world of difference for the little girl.
References:
O’Muircheartaigh, J., Dean, D. C., Dirks, H., Waskiewicz, N., Lehman, K., Jerskey, B. A., & Deoni, S. C. (2013). Interactions between white matter asymmetry and language during neurodevelopment. The Journal of Neuroscience, 33(41), 16170-16177.
Rice, M. L., Taylor, C. L., & Zubrick, S. R. (2008). Language outcomes of 7-year-old children with or without a history of late language emergence at 24 months. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51(2), 394-407.
Jia Yue has a keen interest in working with children with special needs, particularly autism spectrum disorders, whose difficulties may include the areas of speech, language, and social skills. She has been working with children with special needs for the past few years and loves to browse through toy stores for new therapy ideas in her free time.
