Speech Delay

Guides in Speech Delay

• Anxiety and Speech in Children

  How anxiety can stop a child talking in some places and not others. What selective mutism is, and how it differs from settling in or learning a new language.

• Causes of Speech Delay

  Two everyday habits that support a late talker’s speech. When it makes sense to have a child’s speech looked at.

• Encouraging Speech in a Shy Child

  Why a shy child needs time before talking to someone new. Low-pressure ways to invite talk, and the habits that can keep a child quiet. How shyness differs from selective mutism.

• Free Speech Therapy for Children

  What is free in every state, and where a fee can come in. How Medicaid and CHIP cover speech therapy for enrolled children. Where to turn if your child does not qualify.

• Getting a Speech Evaluation

  A speech evaluation for a child under three usually begins with one phone call to your state’s early intervention program, which a parent can make without a pediatrician’s referral.

• Helping a Toddler Talk

  Three everyday habits that support a toddler’s talking, and why each one helps. What reviews of parent-led help found, and what they cannot promise. How expanding and recasting sound in ordinary conversation.

• Language Exposure and Speech Delay

  What the research ties to children’s language, and what it can’t explain. What the evidence says about two languages, daycare and screens. Small changes that turn ordinary talk into back-and-forth.

• Late Talker vs. Speech Delay

  What each term means, and how speech differs from language. Why what your toddler understands matters more than the word count.

• Late Talking and Later Development

  What studies found when late talkers reached school age and their teens. Why understanding and gestures matter to how late talkers do. What the evidence says about therapy and help from parents.

• Late Talking in 2-Year-Olds

  How many words most children of the same age use, and what counts as one. How late talking differs from signs worth a call. What helps a late talker at home.

• Naturalistic Language Intervention

  What naturalistic intervention is, and where it sits among therapy approaches. What Enhanced Milieu Teaching and the approaches used with autistic children involve.

• Questions to Ask a Speech-Language Pathologist

  What a speech therapist’s certificate and state license each tell you. What evidence-based practice means, and where your family fits in it. Questions about goals, progress and how often sessions happen.

• Seeking Help for a Speech Delay

  Who to ask first, and the words that make the request clear. What a parent can still do when the advice is to wait.

• Speech Delay and Autism

  How autism and late talking are each defined, and where words fit in. Why the number of words a child says cannot answer the question.

• Speech Delay and Family History

  What research on families and late talking has found. Other speech, language and hearing differences that run in families. What a family history can’t tell you about one child.

• Speech Delay in Children

  Speech delay is an everyday term for talking that develops more slowly than expected, and it can mean difficulty with speech, the sounds a child makes, with language.

• Speech Delay That Continues During Therapy

  When a reevaluation, or another hearing check, makes sense. What to ask about goals and how often sessions happen. How coaching for parents fits alongside therapy.

• Speech Therapy Rights

  Which rights apply in early intervention, and which at school. What you can agree to, turn down or ask to see. How written notice and your child’s records work.

• Toddlers Who Rarely Use Their Words

  Which words go into a toddler’s word count, and why. How understanding words differs from saying them. What helps at home, without asking for the word.

• Tongue Tie and Late Talking

  What the evidence on release does and does not show. Who to see first when a child is talking late.

• Two Findings for School Eligibility

  Who makes the decision, and what it has to draw on. What to do when you are told your child may not qualify.

• Word Loss in Toddlers

  When a toddler stops saying words he once said, the change is worth raising with a professional right away.