A question I hear from lots of parents is “Does my child need Speech Therapy?” My first answer to that question is, if you are concerned, then you and your child are likely to need support. After all, you know your child best. You know if something isn’t right.

Some people seek support and get told a version of "children's development is very varied," or “wait and see.” If this happens to you, but you are still worried, then my recommendation is to push back, or seek a second opinion. This is because if you do wait, and your child does end up needing support, you have just missed a crucial window of opportunity, when you could have been working purposefully on their communication skills.

(And PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU, don't listen to your cousin's friend's aquaintance, who SWEARS their child "Didn't speak a WORD until they were 5 years old, and now you can't shut them up." Because I have seen versions of this scenario claimed countless times in many different online forums, and I am yet to meet a child like that, in my over 18 years of practicing as a qualified Speech Language Therapist.)

You can check how your child is doing with their communication expectations by downloading a free handout here. It contains common speech and language developmental milestones, with evidence-based data to back each milestone up (don't worry: it's not full of journal articles and citations: please just know that I read them all and pulled the important data out for you. I know, you can thank me later.)

Below are some signs that your child may need support from a Speech Therapist:

Birth - 1 year old: 

·      Has a condition where speech and language are known to be affected, e.g. cerebral palsy, down syndrome, genetic disorders/syndromes, hearing loss 

·      Trouble feeding

·      Lots of colds and ear infections 

·      Not responding to sounds in the environment 

·      Babbling and first words not developing

·      Not having ‘conversations’ with sounds or words

·      Not looking at faces and making eye contact with familiar people 

·      Early gestures like reaching and pointing not developing

1 - 2 years old: 

·      Having trouble with eating, drinking or managing saliva/dribbling (not just when teething)

·      First words not coming, or coming at a very reduced rate compared to children of the same age

·      Less than 10 words by 18 months 

·      Less than 50 words by 2 years old (including animal sounds and words not said ‘perfectly’)

·      Not starting to put two words together by 2 years old

·      Not understanding the names of common objects and actions

·      Unable to understand simple commands

·      Not imitating simple actions and sounds

·      Not making eye-contact, bringing things to you, sharing attention and enjoyment over things

·      Unable to attend to picture books or other activities for a short time

2 - 3 years old: 

·      Less than 250 words by 3 years old

·      Not starting to make 3-4 word sentences

·      Not asking and understanding simple questions and instructions

·      Speech sounds p, b, m, d, n, t, k, g, ng, f, w, h, y not emerging

·      Listeners able to understand their speech less than 25% of the time

·      Not starting to take turns with adult support

·      Not playing near other children, showing interest and joining in play for short times

·      Unable to focus on a preferred task for approximately 5 minutes: e.g. puzzle, story book

3 - 4 years old: 

·      Not using 3-5 word sentences 

·      Not using long and complex sentences at times 

·      Not understanding or asking “what, where, why, who, when” questions

·      Unable to retell familiar or highly stimulating events or stories 

·      Unable to follow simple three step instructions

·      Does not have p, b, m, d, n, t, k, g, ng, f, w, h, y speech sounds in words 

·      Listeners able to understand their speech less than 50% of the time

·      Not joining in play with other children

·      Not talking with familiar adults or children

·      Unable to focus on a task for 5 minutes

·      Stuttering that has been going on for more than 6 months; noticing and appearing bothered about it

4 - 5 years old: 

·      Not using and understanding more and varied words 

·      Unable to answer questions about self such as name, age, address

·      Unable to follow longer and more complex instructions

·      Unable to tell personal stories or retell familiar stories from books using the pictures

·      Does not have speech sounds listed above, plus l, s, z, v, sh, ch, j, sounds

·      Listeners able to understand their speech less than 75% of the time  

·      Not joining and co-operating in group play/games or learning activities such as group stories, discussions or learning activities 

·      Not able to focus on a task for 5-10 minutes 

·      Not playing and talking with other children 

·      Not talking with or responding to questions or comments from familiar adults

·      Stuttering and noticing and appearing bothered about it

5 - 6 years old: 

·      Not using long and complex sentences

·      Not able to follow longer and more complex instructions 

·      Does not have speech sounds listed above, or r, th or zh speech sounds in words

·      Listeners able to understand their speech less than 90% of the time

·      Not picking up reading or writing easily (if started school)

·      Not talking and playing with other children

·      Unable to focus on a task for 10 minutes

·      Not joining in with classroom activities, talking with the teacher, responding to teacher requests or instructions

·      Stuttering and is noticing and appearing bothered by it. May be doing things to try and avoid or stop the stutter

First steps: If your child shows one or more of the signs listed above, ask for a referral to a Speech Language Therapist. This might be through your Doctor, a Paediatrician, your child’s early childhood centre or school. Some services will accept referrals directly from parents. Try contacting your preferred provider and asking about their referral process. Ask friends who have accessed Speech Language Therapy support for their recommendations and experiences.

While you are waiting to be seen, you can look on my website for ideas of ways you can work on and improve your child’s speech and language skills at home. Try my handouts, articles and videos.

You can download a free speech sound assessment from my website, do this with your child and send the result for me to look at for personalised recommendations.

 I have a video course teaching parents how to support their preschool children to become successful talkers. You can sign up for it here.

 I have a range of speech sound courses that you can purchase that teach you everything you need to know to work on your child’s speech sound errors yourself. You can book a free video call with me to check if my courses are right for your child.

If you'd like regular, weekly support and bite-sized trainings on ways to work on your child's speech development, my annual membership is perfect for you. There's fortnightly bite-sized trainings, on a different topic to improve your child's speech each time, with strategies you can implement immediately, plus monthly group calls, where you can ask questions about your child, a one hour video call with me you can use at any time, access to a speech sound video course of your choice and all my handouts.

You can get in contact with me by using the contact button on this page, or you can find my contact details here.