Among different skills which children ought to learn, speech is of prime importance. However, the ability and age at which kids start to say their first meaningful words can vary widely. Problem or delay in delivering speech has led many institutions to offer online speech therapy to kids.
Before you can get a know how on speech therapy activities first learn the key differences between language and speech. Have a look in the following lines:
In the following lines we will like to highlight the different areas involving speech therapy which might help a parent figure out the actual cause behind the problem.
What is the common difference between language and speech?
Speech
It is nothing more than the verbal expression which a child uses. Speech mostly includes articulation in the form of sounds and sometimes words.
Language
Language is more about appropriately giving information. It involves understanding a particular thing and the ability to be understood by means of communication.
What is speech/language delay?
Have you wondered what people mean when they say speech and language delay? Although there are some differences between both, its hard to deny how they both can appear the same.
- Usually, a child facing language delay will say the words correctly by using only a couple of words together.
- Speech delay is something different. Although the child will use words in order to express, their expressions and wordings will hardly be understood.
The common signs which tell a child has speech or language delay
- When a child doesn’t use gestures to communicate even at the age of 12 months.
- When a child prefers using gestures rather than words to communicate at the age of 18 months.
- When a child faces trouble in imitating the sounds, they hear at the age of 18 months.
- When a child faces problems in understanding even the simplest of requests
- When a child reaches 2 years of age and yet can only imitate limited speech and actions which do not produce any kind of word or phrase
- When a child reaches 2 years of age and can only utter a few sounds and words in a repeated manner and is unable to use any oral language with an aim to communicate
- When a child reaches two years age and surprisingly reveals an unusual voice tone.
At times a child needs various activities for speech delay when their speech is very difficult to understand with respect to their age.
Under normal scenarios parents as well as care givers must be able to understand at least 50% of the speech of a child by the time they are two years old and 75% of it when they reach 3 years of age. When a child reaches 4 years of age, their speech is more or less clear. Speech delay mostly happens when a child faces an oral problem surrounding the tongue or the palate. Also, short frenulum is to be blamed for speech problems in children.
Hearing problems can also affect the speech of a child.
These are some essential aspects related to speech problems which children face.