Parents watch their children for each milestone to be hit to help guide them to whether or not their child is within “average” range in regards to height, weight, and developmental skills. However, when it comes to speech or communication milestones, the lines can get a little blurry. How can someone tell if their child needs to see a speech-language pathologist (SLP)?
The Speech-Language Institute (SLI) of Salus University believes in a parents’ ability to observe their child-if they think their child is not meeting milestones or progressing like other children in speech, SLI suggests an evaluation and the earlier, the better.
“It doesn’t happen as often these days, but sometimes I do hear that doctors tell parents to wait – don’t,” said Robert Serianni, MS, CCC-SLP, SLI clinical director .
If there is an inkling something isn’t quite right in a child’s communication skills, Serianni suggests seeking an assessment with an SLP to fully understand the child’s strengths and challenges.
SLPs can help develop an individualized plan of care and will spend the time teaching parents tips to improve their children’s ability to access the world around them. They can help teach children new vocabulary and how to use that knowledge to follow directions, answer questions, and participate. SLPs also work with children to teach them social language skills so that they can more appropriately participate in conversations with others.
Besides seeking professional evaluation and treatment for possible communication disorders, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) suggests the following tips to help to continue to develop pediatric communication skills:
How a SLP can help: They work with children to help them annunciate and articulate (the ability to move the tongue, jaw, lips, and palate).
How a SLP can help: Speech intelligence is how well other people can understand another person’s words. SLP’s help to teach children how to produce the specific speech sounds or sound patterns he or she is having difficulty with, thus increasing overall speech intelligibility.
SLI offers a wide range of pediatric assessment and therapy in the following ways:
If you feel your child may need a speech assessment, contact SLI to schedule an appointment.