Most of us perceive and absorb parenting by seeing happy mothers and babies through advertisement. Surely you are having hundreds of expert pieces of advice from the experts. But let's face the fact that no advice can prepare you for this wild ride. Your idea of how things are supposed to be can make you have unrealistic parenting expectations.

Parenting practices come with new challenges on a daily basis that become intense over time. While raising those undersized adults, parents can usually spot problems with their children. If you have the hunch that your child is facing language or speech difficulty, you should rely on your parental instinct. Speech and language difficulties are one of the most common problems faced in early childhood.

Spotting Speech and Language Delays in Children

As speech skills development among children usually occurs at a specific age range, parents can usually spot the problem. In a similar experience shared by a friend of mine, she was able to understand what her 3 years old was trying to explain, so she immediately took her to a renowned speech therapist in Lahore.

What are the causes behind speech and language delays?

Some of the causes behind speech and language delays are;

• Hearing problem
• Elective mutism
• Any developmental disorder i.e., autism, cerebral palsy
• Other psychosocial issues

How do I know that my child needs Speech Therapy?

Speech therapies can help children with speech and language problems that affect their ability to communicate both verbally and non-verbally. A speech therapist can help children with problems if diagnosed. A little bit of knowledge regarding speech and language development in children can help the parents to spot the problem in the early stages.

Here are a few things that can make it easy to diagnose the problem in children including;

1- No babbling sounds

Babbling is basically considered as the stepping stone in speech and language development that usually starts at the age of 4-6 months. However, if your baby isn't experimenting with the sounds and staying quiet it might be an indication for language disorder.

2- No gestures

We have probably seen children pointing their fingers, raising arms and nodding their head before they become a year old. However, if your child isn't using any of these symbolic gestures this can be an indicator of a possible language problem.

3- Having trouble making sounds

If your child is having trouble while producing certain words including b, h, m, p and w by the age of 2 years, they are having a language difficulty. Similarly, a 2-3 years old child who cannot pronounce the words d, f, g, k, n and t is facing speech troubles.

4- Unable to complete sentences

Children usually learn speaking in sentences by the age of 2 years. A child who is unable to speak complete sentences and speaking in short fragments can have a language disorder.

5- Verbal requests

Most of the children understand the verbal requests from their parents when they are 1-2 years. If a child doesn't understand your simple requests by a particular age, there might be having some language problems.

6- Unusual tone

Besides all the other indicators, an unusual voice tone is another indicator of a potential speech problem.

How a Speech Therapist diagnoses Speech or Language Delays?

If you are able to figure out the language or speech problem in your child, you should definitely see a speech therapist. If you are living in a city like Lahore, you can get hundreds of options to choose from them. There are many good healthcare facilities in Lahore including Family Hospital, Jinnah Hospital, and Fatima Memorial Hospital, etc.

A good speech therapist can perform a detailed diagnosis and can perform the diagnosis for speech and language disorders. Speech therapists usually perform the detailed assessment of reception and expression of language in your children. A speech therapist will usually check for;

• Observing the milestones in language and speech development in children
• Testing the understanding of your children
• Monitoring the expressive language of your child by testing what they are saying
• The tone of voice and the sound development
• Working and movement of mouth, tongue and palette while swallowing or speaking

Conclusion

A speech therapist can help your children to combat speech and language difficulties. However, as a parent, you can help your children by focusing on their communication, reading to them and by talking to them through the day.