It isn’t always easy to know when to seek support for your child’s communication.
Perhaps your toddler isn’t using as many words as you expected. Maybe other people are finding your child’s speech difficult to understand or your child is talking plenty, but they’re finding it difficult to put sentences together, follow instructions or tell you what they need.
Parents often wonder whether they should give their child more time or speak with someone now.
There isn’t one age when speech therapy should start. Children develop at different rates, and the right time to seek advice depends on your child’s communication skills, the difficulties they’re experiencing and how these are affecting everyday life.
You also don’t need to wait until you’re certain there’s a problem before asking for advice.
How early can speech therapy start?
Speech pathology support can begin in the early years when concerns about a child’s communication are identified, and pediatric support for a very young child doesn’t necessarily mean sitting at a table practising words or speech sounds.
For babies and toddlers, a speech pathologist may work closely with parents and caregivers to understand how the child currently communicates and find ways to support communication during everyday routines and play.
Depending on the child, this might include supporting:
- gestures and early communication
- understanding words and instructions
- learning and using new words
- combining words into sentences
- speech sounds and speech clarity
- social communication
- interactions with parents, siblings and other children.
This guide to speech therapy for kids explains these different areas of communication and what children’s speech therapy can look like.
What signs might mean it’s worth seeking advice?
Developmental milestones can be useful guides, but they aren’t a checklist that every child needs to complete at the same time.
Rather than focusing on one number of words or one speech sound, it can be helpful to look at your child’s communication more broadly.
You might consider speaking with a speech pathologist if you notice your child:
- isn’t yet using gestures, sounds or words to communicate as expected for their age
- has difficulty understanding everyday language or following age-appropriate instructions
- is using fewer words or shorter sentences than you would expect for their age
- finds it difficult to tell you what they want or need
- is regularly difficult for familiar or unfamiliar people to understand
- becomes frustrated when they aren’t understood
- has difficulty participating in conversations or interactions with others
- has communication skills that appear to have stopped progressing or gone backwards.
Sometimes it’s a parent who first notices something. Other times, an educator, teacher or another health professional may suggest checking in.
If you’re specifically wondering about how clearly your child should be speaking at different ages, our Speech Development Milestones How Clear Should My Child’s Speech Be? guide looks more closely at speech clarity and speech sound development.
Should I wait, and see?
This is one of the most common decisions families faces.
Children don’t all develop communication skills at the same pace, and some children do make significant progress with time.
But you don’t have to choose between immediately starting therapy and doing nothing.
Speaking with a speech pathologist can help you understand where your child’s communication skills are currently sitting and what might be helpful next.
Depending on your child, the recommendation might be:
- monitoring development for a period of time
- trying some strategies at home
- completing an assessment
- starting therapy
- working alongside your child’s educators or other professionals.
Seeking advice is about gathering information. It doesn’t automatically commit your child to ongoing therapy.
What happens when you first see a pediatric speech pathologist?
The first step is understanding your child.
A speech pathologist will want to know what you’re noticing at home, how your child communicates with different people and whether communication is affecting everyday activities such as play, childcare, kindergarten or school.
Depending on your child’s age and concerns, they may also look at areas such as:
- understanding language
- using words and sentences
- speech sounds and clarity
- play and interaction
- social communication.
For younger children, much of this may happen through play and interaction rather than formal table-top tasks.
At Happy Chatter, our pediatric speech therapy team is also interested in what your child can already do, what they enjoy and what’s important to your family. This helps us understand the whole child rather than focusing only on the areas they find difficult.
What does speech therapy look like for young children?
Speech therapy for kids often looks quite different from what parents expect.
Your child might be playing with toys, sharing a book, completing an activity or having a conversation with their speech pathologist.
It may look like play, but the activities and interactions are chosen with your child’s communication goals in mind.
A speech pathologist may also show you strategies that can be used during everyday routines at home.
That could mean finding opportunities for language while getting dressed, playing with favourite toys, having dinner or reading together—not creating another set of “homework” for your family.
What can I do while I’m monitoring my child’s development?
Everyday interactions provide lots of opportunities to support communication.
You can:
- follow what your child is interested in and talk about it
- give them time to communicate without rushing to fill the silence
- model words and sentences without requiring them to repeat you
- talk together during everyday routines
- sing songs and nursery rhymes
- share books and talk about what catches their attention
- respond to gestures, sounds and other ways your child communicates.
The aim isn’t to turn everyday life into therapy.
It’s about creating relaxed opportunities for communication throughout the day.
Our How to Read With Your Child to Support Language Development guide has practical examples of how you can do this during shared reading.
So, when should speech therapy start?
There isn’t one answer that applies to every child.
For some families, it may be appropriate to monitor development and use strategies at home. For others, an assessment or therapy may be recommended.
What you don’t need to do is wait until your child reaches a particular age or until communication becomes significantly difficult before asking the question.
We often meet families who have been wondering about their child’s communication for some time before they contact us. Often, they’re not looking for a diagnosis or assuming their child needs therapy—they simply want to understand what they’re seeing and whether there’s anything they can do to help.
A conversation with a speech pathologist can help you work out the next step.
Getting started with Happy Chatter
At Happy Chatter, our first step is getting to know your child and understanding what’s concerning you.
Our Meet and Greet gives families an opportunity to talk through their concerns and learn more about what support might look like.
From there, we can help you decide whether an assessment, therapy, monitoring or another next step may be appropriate for your child.
If you’ve been wondering about your child’s communication, you’re welcome to get in touch with our team and start with a conversation.
Book a Meet and Greet with our team and feel confident about your child’s communication journey.