Speech delay

The warning signs of early speech delay are categorized into age-related milestones, beginning at the age of 12 months and continuing through early adolescence. • Lacks consonant sounds at the beginning or end of words • Is difficult to understand by close family members • Is not able to display the tasks of common household objects • Is unable to form simple 2 to 3 word sentences == Effects ==

Studies show that children diagnosed with speech delay are more likely to present with behavioral and social emotional problems both in childhood and as adults. Decreased receptive language, reading, and learning skills are common side effects for children that have a speech delay and do not receive adequate intervention. Similar studies suggest that children with speech delays are more likely to have a difficult time communicating and bonding with peers, which could have negative effects on their psychosocial health later in life. == Causes ==

At times, speech delay and impairment is caused by a physical disruption in the mouth such as a deformed frenulum, lips, or palate. If the motion or ability to form words and appropriate sounds is disrupted, the child may be slow to pick up words and lack the ability to shape their mouth and tongue in the formation of words. Other more serious concerns are those that can be caused by oral-motor issues. Children that are having speech delay disorders could have the following characteristics (Shriberg 1982): • Speech mechanism in which speech is associated with hearing, motor speech and craniofacial malfunction • Cognitive-linguistic aspects in which the impairment is associated with the child's intellectual, receptive, expressive and linguistic ability. • Psychosocial issues in which the impairment is associated with caregiver, school environment, and the child's self behaviors such as aggression and maturity autism spectrum conditions, childhood apraxia, auditory processing disorder, prematurity, cognitive impairment and hearing loss. Broomfield and Dodd's (2004a) found out after survey that 6.4% of children who are perfectly normal showed speech difficulty while they lacked these disorders will often show early signs and are at times identified as "at risk" when the speech delay is diagnosed. However, a study done in Saudi Arabia showed no relationship between smart device use and speech delay, although 64.8% of the parents believed that the smart devices are a "problem". A review study from Indonesia points out the existence of contradicting results on that issue. In the case of speech delay in a child with autism, there may not be a physiological cause such as an oral-motor issue or hearing loss. The child may prefer to communicate using non-spoken language or use a nonverbal communication method. Studies show that early interventions may help a child with cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder or Down syndrome acquire language skills necessary for social communication to a certain degree. == Therapies and treatments ==

After the initial diagnosis of speech delay, a hearing test will be administered to ensure that hearing loss or deafness is not an underlying cause of the delay. If a child has successfully completed the hearing test, the therapy or therapies used will be determined. There are many therapies available for children that have been diagnosed with a speech delay, and for every child, the treatment and therapies needed vary with the degree, severity, and cause of the delay. While speech therapy is the most common form of intervention, many children may benefit from additional help from occupational and physical therapies as well. Physical and occupational therapies can be used for a child that has a speech delay due to physical malformations and children that have also been diagnosed with a developmental delay such as autism or a language processing delay. Music therapy has effective results in the fundamentals of speech development, including phonological memory, sentence understanding, sentence memory, and morphological rule generation. Children that have been identified with hearing loss can be taught simple sign language to build and improve their vocabulary in addition to attending speech therapy. The parents of a delayed child are the first and most important tool in helping overcome the speech delay. == See also ==