What to Know About Speech Delay in Kids

Did you know the world renowned theoretical physicist Albert Einstein had a speech delay as a child? The brilliant first women president of the American Mathematical Society, Julia Robinson, started to speak late as well. One out of every four children will have a speech delay, but the good news is that even late bloomers eventually catch up. Children acquire language skills and speech at their own pace.

Knowing that some children are late in the speech department doesn’t stop most parents from feeling worried and disappointed when it happens to their child. Hearing your child utter his or her first word is a big deal for parents. If you are becoming concerned about your child’s speech development, visit your pediatrician for help. We’ve outlined a few things to know about delayed speech in children in the meantime.

What’s the norm?

The speech development process is pretty standard across the board for most children. In general children begin to say at least one word at the age of 1 and two-word combinations around 18 months. By the time they reach 3-years-old they usually can formulate three-word sentences. Even though a 2-year-old speaks up to 100 words, they may be able to comprehend a lot more. The pace at which this process occurs is what tends to vary in speech delayed children.

Why speech delays occur

It is more typical of boys to have a speech delay than it is girls by up to two months or so. Also, premature babies take long to reach developmental milestones in general. About 50% of twins and other multiples experience speech delays.

A child’s temperament and heredity background can be causes for a linguistic delay. Sometimes we as parents can play a small role in our children’s delayed speech. By naturally anticipating what are child is trying to say and fulfilling their needs without allowing them to communicate them to you, they don’t feel as inclined to speak. These are the most typical reasons for delayed speech.  Some accredit ear infections or focusing on other developments as a cause as well.

How to handle your child’s speech delay?

Before your child reaches 2 ½ years-old, get your child accustom to hearing your voice. This is the best way for them to learn how to talk and communicate. Often times we assume our infant can’t understand us and we say less in front of them. Make it a habit of reading and carrying out conversations in front of your child.

When your child reaches 2 ½ years-old, this may be the best time to seek professional intervention. This is usually the time when late bloomers catch up so if the problem persists, it’s time to address it. There are speech therapy sessions offered to children and speech-language pathologist your child can met with at an early age.

The biggest tip of all: don’t worry!

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Written by Stephanie Parker from Sleepingbaby.com, inventors of the Zipadee-Zip

The motto for Sleeping Baby, makers of the Zipadee-Zip, is: "Inspiring Dreams One Night at A time," and that, in a nutshell, is how it all started…with one little dream that has since become the Parker family's reality. When Brett and Stephanie Parker's daughter, Charlotte, was born, the feeling that welled up inside of them was indescribable; they never realized until first looking into those baby blues of hers that they were even capable of that kind of love.

When it was time to transition baby from swaddling, the Parkers tried every sleep sack on the market and everyswaddle weaning trick they could find for nearly two weeks and nothing worked to get baby Charlotte to fall and stay asleep.

Stephanie became determined to restore sleep and sanity to their household and set out to find a solution that would soothe Charlotte's startle reflex and provide her the cozy womb-like environment she loved so much but still give her the freedom to roll over and wiggle around in her crib safely. Out of sheer desperation and exhaustion, the Zipadee-Zip was born. The first Zipadee-Zip(R) Stephanie put together on her little sewing machine worked like magic!

To date tens of thousands of Zipadee-Zips have been sold and all from word-of-mouth marketing. It is so rewarding for the Parkers to see other parents and babies getting the sleep they both need and deserve!

Interested in writing a guest blog for Sleeping Baby? Send your topic idea to pr@sleepingbaby.com.

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