When to seek the help of a speech therapist

How do you know if your young child needs speech therapy? Having a good understanding of speech and language developmental milestones can help you determine whether or not to seek out a screening or evaluation from a speech therapist. Here are some of the English speech and language milestones that are typically seen in children 0-5 years of age. Please keep in mind that these milestones are for analytical language processors. Some children are gestalt language processors, and they develop language in a very different way. If your child is struggling with communication, consult with a speech-language pathologist.

12 months:

• Babbles or coos during play

• Consistently responds to name

• Points or uses gestures (wave bye, nod/shake head)

• Imitates gestures, actions and speech sounds

• Understands words for common items and people

• Says at least one or two words

18 months:

• Imitates words consistently

• Says new words consistently

• Responds to simple directions (ex. give, come)

• Understands names of common body parts

2 years:

• Uses at lot of new words

• Puts two words together (More milk, No juice)

• Responds to simple questions (Where's the bear?)

• Points to objects on command consistently

• Points to at least 3 body parts

3 years:

• Combines three to four words to make sentences

• People who know your child can understand them

• Answers simple who, what, where questions

• Follows 2-step directions consistently

• Says the following sounds consistently: b, n, m, p, h, w, d

4 years:

• Produces about 4 sentences at a time

• Asks when and how questions

• Talks about what happened during the day

• Follows three step directions consistently

• Both familiar and unfamiliar people to your child understand what your child says

• Says the following sounds consistently: g, k, f, t, ng, y

5 years:

• Keeps a conversation going

• Understands concepts such as first, next, last and yesterday, today, tomorrow

• Uses sentences with more than one action word

• Says the following sounds: v, j, s, ch, l, sh, z

• Some sounds may still be hard to say, such as “r” or “th”

Language development information was taken from the American Speech and Hearing Association. Speech sound development information was taken from a systematic review by McLeod and Crowe (2020). Another great resource for typical developmental milestones is the CDC.

If you would like to talk to an experienced speech-language pathologist about your child’s speech and language development to see if they would benefit from an evaluation or speech therapy, contact me for a free consultation.