Audiyanti Blog

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Warning Signs of a Language/Communication Developmental Delay

Children learn language at different rates, but most follow a general timeline (though preemies may be off schedule by a few weeks or months). If your child doesn’t seem to be meeting communication milestones within several weeks of the average, though, talk to her pediatrician. It may be nothing, but if your child is delayed in some way, recognizing and treating the problem early will benefit her language and learning skills greatly in the long run. Keep in mind that the timetable for language development is broad, and your child may run into small roadblocks along the way. You may find your toddler repeating a word several times in the middle of a sentence as a way of holding your attention as he formulates the rest of his thought. (This is not the same thing as stuttering.) As long as she can speak clearly by the time she’s ready for first grade, your child’s on track. But as a general rule, trust your instincts. If something seems wrong to you, ask your pediatrician about it or call a speech therapist or pathologist or your county’s early intervention program for an evaluation. After all, you know your child best. The following are possible warning signs of a language delay. Feel free to print out this form for a handy reference. Call your child’s pediatrician or a speech pathologist if your child:

12 to 18 months

at 12 months, doesn’t use gestures such as waving or shaking her head

by 12 months, isn’t practicing using at least a couple of consonants (c, b, etc.)

by 12 months, isn’t somehow communicating to you when she needs help with something

at 15 months, doesn’t understand and respond to words such as "no" and "bye-bye" by 15 months, can’t say at least one to three words

by 15 months, doesn’t say "mama" or "dada"

at 16 months, doesn’t point to body parts when asked

at 18 months, isn’t saying at least six to 10 words

19 to 24 months

by 19 to 20 months, isn’t pointing out things of interest, such as a bird or airplane overhead

by 20 months, isn’t making at least six consonant sounds

at 21 months, doesn’t respond to simple directions

by 21 months, doesn’t pretend with her dolls or herself (brushing her hair, feeding her doll, etc.)

by 24 months, doesn’t imitate actions or words of others

by 24 months, can’t point to named pictures in a book at 24 months, can’t join two words together

at 24 months, doesn’t know the function of common household objects ? toothbrush, telephone, fork, etc.

25 to 36 months

at 26 months, uses no two-word simple sentences

at 30 months, can’t name at least three body parts

at 30 months, can’t be understood by anyone in her family

by 32 months, has difficulty singing fragments of nursery rhymes

at 36 months, doesn’t ask questions

at 36 months, can’t be understood by strangers at least half the time

by 36 months, is unable to articulate initial consonants (for example, says "all" instead of "ball"

by 36 months, is unable to name most common household objects

3 to 4 years

at 3, can’t speak in short phrases

by 3, is unable to understand short instructions

at 3, has no interest in interacting with other children

at 3, has extreme difficulty separating from a parent

by 3 1/2, consistently fails to add final consonant to words (for example, saying "ca" instead of "cat")

at 4, still stutters (has true difficulty producing a sound or word) frequently, often accompanied by facial grimacing

at 4, isn’t almost fully understandable

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006 at 12:14 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.