One of the reasons why parents of a toddler will contact a speech therapy centre for advice is when they fear their child has language issues as they are not speaking. For parents of toddlers who show no inclination to speak it can be worrisome, especially when other toddlers the child mixes with, seem quite happy to chat away, even if not everything they say makes perfect sense.
The first advice we would give is that if your toddler has reached 18 months and is not saying any words, then have them assessed by a speech pathologist. What a speech and language assessment will do is indicate if a toddler requires speech therapy.
If your toddler’s assessment indicates speech therapy for them, please do not panic. Children all develop at different rates and each element of their development will differ from other children of a similar age. Simply needing speech therapy does not mean your child is in any way “backward” or has learning deficiencies that will hinder their long term education.
Speech And Language Development Of Toddlers
Here is some guidance as to how a toddler’s speech and language develop.
Speech and words are not the only way young children communicate. Also, language is learnt by imitation so the more a child sees and hears others communicating, such as their parents, the more they learn.
Language milestones:
- 9 months: Children can be seen focusing on the same items and objects their parents and others are.
- 12 months: Children will start imitating gestures. They may also say their first word.
- 18 months: Children will usually have a vocabulary of around 50 words and are learning up to 30 new words per month.
- 24 months: Children can now combine words to form meaningful phrases.
There are three main indicators that toddlers with delayed speech will display which are:
- No visible interest in imitating gestures
- By 12 months they are not “babbling”
- By 18 months their vocabulary is no more than 10 or so words
As we said previously, not all children will follow these exact milestones and if parents are concerned about their toddler’s progress then they should speak to a speech therapy expert. Note, it is better to seek advice early than to hope for the best and thus delay intervention.
Speech Therapy Options For Toddlers Who Do Not Speak
There are two main speech therapy treatment options that speech pathologists may recommend for toddlers whose speech is delayed. These are 1) Imitation Therapy and 2) The Hanen “It Takes Two To Talk” Program.
Imitation Therapy
This therapy seeks to stimulate a toddler’s language skills by
- Highlighting to the child how their actions affect others
- Enabling the child to direct the actions and attention of others
- Creating opportunities for the child’s actions to gain reinforcement from others
The above is achieved in four stages:
1] The child’s actions and speech sounds are imitated by adults
2] Both the child and the adult imitate each other
3] The adult imitates the child’s speech and physical vocal movements only
4] Both the child and the adult imitate speech and physical vocal movements
Hanen “It Takes Two To Talk” Program
This will require a speech pathologist to train parents over six to eight sessions on how to use this therapy. This can be done either in a group setting or for just one family. Parents will be taught the following:
- Recognition of what stage the child’s language development has reached
- Identifying what the child is motivated by
- Altering daily routines to facilitate opportunities for the child to practice their communication
- Building the child’s confidence by encouraging them to communicate
- Including language in all interactions with the child
- Adjusting reading and play activities to facilitate language learning
- Altering how parents speak to their children to enhance vocabulary learning
As well as the above, there will at least three consultations with the speech pathologist where they will record a video of your session and provide feedback.