10 Tips to Promote Speech and Language Skills in Your Child

Hi, i enjoy your site and I this article is great. I wanted to ask you about my 3 year old. We speak both English and Spanish at home, and she is not at the level of other 3 year old.she talks a lot and is very smart. she knows her ABC,numbers up to 50 with help, colors only green, yellow and blue. She understands well and can follow commands as well. My only concern is that her speech is not as clear as others, she has problem with the G,C,K,Q letter. I am sure others letters as well. She is at home with me, and she is not in daycare yet. I know that if she was it will be different. I had her evaluated at 18 months, and 2 years old and she did not qualify for early intervention. They told me she was not delayed enough to get therapy to just giver more time. she did gained more words, since then but I don't know if is normal for her to be this way? some strangers do understand her, so I might be just overeating. Is is normal for her speech not to be so clear?

Hi Jenny,

Research indicates that a familiar listener should be able to understand 70%-80% of what a 3 year old says in conversation. The sounds that you mention above that your daughter is having difficulty with (g,k,c,q) are usually mastered around 3, but often take until closer to 4 years of age to stop producing those sounds in the front of the mouth ("tar" for "car"). If that is what she is doing than she will probably outgrow it, but if she is still doing this by 4 then I would take her for another evaluation.

Because she is understanding everything and on target with her pre-academic skills, I think you're fine to be introducing her to two languages so early. Unless a child is showing signs of a language delay (not talking or only a couple of words by 3) then introduction to a second language is great and they do learn it better the earlier they are exposed.

So it sounds like she is doing just fine. And again, it is normal to not understand 100% of a 3 year old's speech.

I hope this is helpful.
Tami

This guideline is very useful. We are in touch with a Occupational Therapy for our son. Your advice and guideline are very useful.

God bless you,

Jena

this post is very good and usefully..
thanks..

these comments have been very helpful at one and a half years old my son was only saying dada after that he was just babbling since then he was seeing a speech pathologist he had to stop recently because of his behaviour so he is currently seeing a psychologist for behaviour modification he has been diagnosed as having social communication disorder which is an autistic spectrum disorder my question is how to i help him with his expressive speech so that he can get along with others socially

hello my son is 33 months old ,he has prolem with his receptive language,i know this problem when i saw that he does not follow my most of the commonds ,he only wants that i fullfill his demands but when i try to give an idea or any type of instruction he is reluctant to follow me ,thats why i am worried about him

My grandson will be 4 years old tomorrow. He has a hard time pronouncing his C,G,and K's. He is able to say Christopher but does not seem to want or be able to say many other words that start with that sound. He gets frustrated when we correct him and he tries but I am not sure if I am helping him or making it worse. Any suggestions on how to make a game out of pronouncing these letters or other recomendations to help. When should be be concerned.

Thanks

sir,
i have 19months old boy,he understand what ever we talk,regulary words he like atta,thatha,vadhu like words he a,i,u,o,f,and 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. i have problem with he touge,he touge shape is "w", in fuchar any problem with touge,
if any surgary what after surgaary he talk command language,plz guide me.

found this informative and interesting blog so i think so its very useful and knowledge able.I love your blog! Nice and informative post on this topic thanks for sharing with us.

Thanks Author for the great information. This is a big help for my daughter.

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Articulate your words clearly when you communicate withh your child. Speak slowly and remember to look directly at your child's face….this really works….i use it.

Jude Steven, Editor of Koi Guide

Dear Mam

My son turned 3 on 28th Nov .this year. He is not at the same level as his fellow classmates interms of speech. he Makes sentences of 2 to 3 words, he is good at reading pictures recognizes colours & shapes. but when it comes to saying rhymes or conversing like a normal toddler he cannot be understood … his speech is still not clear .
he tells his name , his school name .
he can repeat any hard word also . after…
Is is normal for 3year old for unclear speech.
Pls help I am very worriesd

Hi,
It is within the normal range that your son's speech is not 100% clear at 3 years of age. It is good that he is willing to repeat words that you say and that he is putting words together to make sentences. Many 3 year olds have speech that is still not clear. Depending on which sounds he is having trouble with, there is a good chance that he will outgrow this and sounds that are unclear now will start becoming more clear in the next year. You may want to consider getting a speech/language evaluation for him in the next few months if his speech doesn't get any clearer.

Tami

my son is 3+ years old he was saying words when he was 1 1/2 years old but after my husband departed overseas suddenly he shut himself and didn't speak for todays date. even we tried many doctors they say he will out grow the situation. even the primary schools refuse to keep him cuz due to the speech delay he is throwing out anger. once in while if he something that interest him like a animal he would say the name (eg cat / cow) but that would be once that is all

Please enlighten me with your experience.

god bless you

my 3 1/2 year old grandchild had hearing problems since birth. He has tubes in his ears to correct the problem for the second time.He can talk, but when he wants to tell a story or engage in a conversation, he will talk alot, but very few words are understood, and he is just so excited to be able to engage in a conversation. He will say things like for instant; kk had a good day at school! We always ask him open ended questions and he will reply. Articulation seems to be a big problem for him. How can we help him with his speech problem? We have been beggging for help since he was very young, and we have a speech therapist that will be seeing him, but it will not be often. We would really like some tool's on how we can help him at home so he can catch up to the rest of the children prior to entering school. Please send me a website I can go to or help us to understand what we can possibly do for him.He is not challenged in any other area except for his speech. Thank-you

thank you for the useful information.my child is 5 yrs old.he reaches the last step in number 10.he has some letters not of,but i think by practicing,he will be fine.his problem is the drooling,he has no enlarged adenoids,but he has some weakness in his all muscles,and some lack of coordination between them,PLEASE tell me how to fix this,because he is about to join a school.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME

Thanks for the information Linda. I can't wait to check it out!

Tami

This is a great list. My son has a 50% delay in expressive but a small receptive delay. All these tips help!

My 31 month old son has a vocab of about 700 words, He still only uses 1 word sentences, will not combine words at all. Plus, when he gets upset, he loses his abilitily to form the words he needs to express himself. Our Dr doesnt seem to be concerned yet i am

Hi Heather,

If he has that many words, he should definitely be combining at least 2-3 word utterances. Have you done a lot of modeling for him of 2-3 word utterances? Take a look at these 2 articles. Especially pay attention to the indirect language stimulation techniques that I talk about in the first article. If you are doing all this and still he is not combining words, you may want to have his language formally assessed by a speech therapist. You can locate Child Find in your area for an evaluation.

http://speechtherapyweb.com/learning-language-through-play

http://speechtherapyweb.com/using-everyday-activities-to-enhance-language-development

Hope this helps,
Tami

hi…..
My sister's daughter is going to be 2 in another 14 days. She was speaking well in the initial stages till 1 1/2 yrs. suddenly she stopped speaking.she was taken for a check up was found that she has a poor eye contact and they said she has attention deficit problem (audiology tests and other tests show that she is perfect). Nowadays we are trying to talk to her by making her look at our face. she looks at us but only for few seconds. she is not trying to pronounce any new word. wat shall we do?? Tak her for a speech therapy or train at home itself. kindly giv a solution as soon as possible.

Dear Sir/Mam

Our 3 1/2 year daughter getting problem in expressing her words. She still cant speak as easily as other children of her age can. Her mother tongue is different than the local language we are living. Also she is learning English. As we are not fluent with local language, we use to speak in National Language (In India it is Hindi), in this way my daughter is facing four languages, mother tongue, local language, Hindi & English.

She is very intelligent in other fields, like in grasping any thing, dancing, sharp mind, she can learn things in single attempt.

Please tell me if she is normal and she is getting problem is speak due to many languages? or she has some problems? Please elaborate.

Thanks & regards

my son will be 3yrs by september 12th 2011 he is very active friendly sharp. he is in playschool now. he can count and point out numbers from 1 to 10. he sing a b c till z but not clearly. he try to repeat words but not clearly. he can communicate with one or two letter words. in our home we speak english and tamil. he almost understands both the languages. he like to listen to story but not often. he refuse to repeat certain words.he is not interested in learning or writing or coloring. he tries and escape i never force anything to him. whenyou talk to him he first say a word then start with non language words or he just show actions. he is totally different from his age group children. in school they complaint his language only. i am trying my best we even consulted child phychologist she told us to continue speaking to him for a month if he does not develope then go to speech therapist.

i am very much broken but i am trying my best to him. one day for sure he will talk to me.

Hi Karen,

Our little one is 17 months and car no problem with the C, car comes out load and clear. What we are concerned about is the lack of other words. Bababa (banana) he knows very well but that sums it up. We do speak 3 languages at home and are wondering how much impact this has on our little one.

Nik

Hello
THanks for this article. I am also worried about my 2 and half year old son. His main problem is, he is not interested in talking or listening. during his speech therapy, he dont want to be introduced to each of the toys, but he wants it all to play, and throw it. He is not interested about the information we want to convey with each toy we show there.. He just want to play his own way.. does not like to be guided or controlled..
BUt he does look into the eyes wen we talk and enjoys company of others.. please advice..

Hi Nik,

Well, a child who is developing language at a typical rate usually does well when exposed to more than one language at an early age. However, if a child is not developing language at a normal rate, then trying to learn more than one language can interfere and make it more difficult.

At 17 months, it is typical for a child to understand a lot of language and have approximately 50 words that you can understand. You can refer to this article
http://speechtherapyweb.com/language-development-typical-guidelines/ for more information on guidelines of language development. I would recommend that you try your best to expose him to one language (doesn't matter which). Once he becomes strong in his primary language, it will be easier for him to learn other languages.

Also, you can refer to other articles on my site that may help you with ideas on how to help stimulate more language with just everyday play and activities.

Hope this helps.
Tami

Hi Seema,

I think the best person to advise you right now would be his speech therapist. That's a bonus that he is already receiving speech therapy. She already knows your son and for that reason can provide better advise that I can.

Tami

Hi Tami,

Do you know of any formal research that indicates that you should make sure they master one language before you introduce the second language? The advice around this is really confusing.

Thanks for the other article, we are almost close to the required number although a bunch of words are only understandable by us.

Nik

Nik,

I was only suggesting that if your son is showing a delay with his language development, it might be easier for him to learn one language first. If your son were developing language at an average rate while being exposed to three languages, I'd say fantastic - keep it up.

I cannot put my finger on the exact research at the moment, but I know this to be true. You can probably do a Google search and find this out.

You say that he has many words (close to the guidelines for his age). That's great! At this age it is okay for many of his words to be understandable only to his parents. The important thing is that his words have meaning and you understand what that meaning is.

Hi,

I want your expert comments/suggestions for my 4 year old son.

He was in my home country till he was 2 years old. He did not had any speech related problems when we were there. He used to talk nicely and play nicely.

We moved to US when he was 2 years 1 month old. During that time also he used to say rhymes, in english, without any problem. He used to communicate without any issues in my mother tongue.

When he was 3 years old, we sent him to PreK school. At home also we started talking in English hoping that it will make him understand and communicate well in the class. After couple of months, we started noticing that my son was saying some words twice. The words that he repeated were mostly the first words of the sentence. He used to repeat the words entirely (like word you, you, you) and sometimes the repeated words were half. Initially we thought because of his limited english vocabulary he was repeating the word and trying to think of next word.

After few months, we discussed this issue with pediatrician and she said that it was normal for kids of that age and she advised us not to concentrate much on that and talk normally with my son.

Now he is 4 years old and he is still facing this problem. Sometimes he talks nicely without any repetition. Sometimes he repeats the same word. He also has problem with the 'r' sound.

When we ask him to say any of the rhymes, he says them flawlessly. He plays nicely along with his peers at school.

He speaks fast and this makes it difficult for others to understand his words or statements.

Please advise if we should have him consulted with a speech therapist.

Thanks,
Chan

It is within the normal range that your son's speech is not 100% clear at 3 years of age. It is good that he is willing to repeat words that you say and that he is putting words together to make sentences. Many 3 year olds have speech that is still not clear. Depending on which sounds he is having trouble with, there is a good chance that he will outgrow this and sounds that are unclear now will start becoming more clear in the next year. You may want to consider getting a speech/language evaluation for him in the next few months if his speech doesn't get any clearer.

Hi tami,
I found your article very helpful but was wondering if you have any advice for a one year old who is developing normally except for being on the low end of the normal range for expressive vocabulary. He says mama, dada, "row,row,row", some animal noises for the appropriate animal and that's about it. I only have a two and a half year old to compare him to and he was very advanced verbally, so perhaps I am not cutting him enough slack. However, I don't feel that he makes enough of an effort to mimic sounds we make and him. He is happy to just point and grunt for things (we have started to force him to at least try to say the word before we get him what he wants now). Any advice? My fear is that I wait too long if he really should have speech therapy, I know early intervention is best. Do you think we need it? Thanks so much!
Christine

Hi Christine,
You're right that early intervention is best. However, if your son has no birth or medical history that would be contributing to a possible speech delay, then I would say that given his age of only a year, you are doing the right thing. Encouraging him to at least try to imitate your model when he want something is very good because you are letting him know that words have meaning and that we need to use words to get things that we want. If you give him everything he wants when he points and grunts or whines, it will be more difficult for him to attach meaning to those words and to have a reason to communicate.

I would say keep up what you're doing, and wait until he is closer to 2 before you get too worried.

Hope this help.
Tami

Hi Tami,
I am from India and I have twin baby boys who are now 3 yr old.
I am facing some speech problems with one of my son.
Other is doing well in speech.Atharv speaks very well in both languages which we speak at home as Marathi and English.
While Amogh is facing some speech problems with Marathi as well English.
People can understand his language but they have to listen him very carefully even as parents we do.he speaks with very low level and can not speak some words like k,l,m,n.
Both of them goes to preschool and day care,there they don't face more problems. Amogh speak all phonic sound of alphabets but not so clear.
I don't know whether i should go for his treatment as my friends used to say that he can improve with age.
What things to take care while speaking with him?do i need to treat him differently than Atharv ? Please help.

Swapna
India

Hi! i have a 1 and a half years old son. I worry about her speech. He says mama and dada, baa for sheep and all the animals he sees, he says "tat". I have not heard any more words from him.. However, he tries to communicate with us by pointing what he wants.. He likes to see different pictures and says "tat". should i seek speech therapist help? i need your advice. thanks!

I have a 12 month old,He knows his name when its called, but doesnt say any words. He only squeals, shreeks, and babbles. He doesnt call anything by name, for examle, mama, dada, baba….Nothing yet. Should I be worried, should I have him evaluated? Thanks in advance.

The age range for babies to say their first words is just that - an age range. Some babies say their first words at 12 months and others not until 14 or 15 months. That's wonderful that e is babbling and squealing. I'd be worried if he wasn't doing any of that.

So no, I don't think you need to go for an evaluation quite yet. Give it six more months and I'm sure he'll have many words.

Thanks for visiting my site.
Tami