Early Speech & Language Development and When to Seek Help

Research shows that the emergence of communication begins in infancy, before your baby speaks her first words. However, its important to know that at 16 weeks of pregnancy, tiny bones are already in place in the fetus's ears, making it likely that your baby can hear your voice when you are speaking; arguably, this is when early speech and language first begin to be impacted!  

While pregnant, speak and sing to your baby.  Studies have shown that newborn babies respond to the voices and sound patterns they were exposed to while in the womb.  

After your baby arrives into the world, there are many things that you as parents can do to stimulate speech and language development; here are some things you can do at home:

• during infancy, talk, sing and encourage imitation of sounds and gestures
• as early as 6 months of age, begin reading to your baby
• be the "sports announcer" during daily tasks so that your toddler can be exposed to a variety words and expressions
• explain what you are doing while you cook a meal, clean a room, point out objects (and their use) around the house, as you drive point out the sounds you hear 
• engage in simple dialog with your 2 and 3 year old by asking questions and acknowledging her responses 

Seek the advice of your pediatrician and/or speech therapist if:

• By the age of 1 your child is not tuning into and understanding a variety of environmental noises, not making a variety of sounds through babbling or vocal play, not beginning to anticipate and imitate your simple actions.

• By the age of 3 your child is not producing words and phrases spontaneously, does not use oral language beyond the communication of her immediate needs, cannot follow simple directions, does not have ineligible speech a majority of the time (caregiver should be able to understand more than half of the child's speech by 3 years of age).  
• Your instinct tells you that that something is not right.  Parental instinct can kick in early on and should not be dismissed as an overreaction.  

Until next time,

Salima Dhamani M.S., CCC-SLP