Speech delay – a guideline for early intervention

A speech delay can be defined as a delay in its development at the expected time and expected rate. If your child has a language delay, they won’t reach language milestones at the typical age. Global Prevalence ranges from 3-10 per cent, In India, its prevalence is about 17%. Male children are dominant about 3-4 times female children.

Etiology

• Mental retardation
• Autism
• Expressive language disorder
• Psychosocial deprivation
• Receptive aphasia
• Hearing loss
• Cerebral palsy

Classification – speech and language disorders

Primary

• Developmental Speech and Language Delay
• Receptive language disorder
• Expressive language disorder

Secondary

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Cerebral palsy
• Childhood Apraxia
• Dysarthria
• Hearing loss
• Intellectual Disability
• Selective Mutism

Age	Achievement
1 to 6 months	Cooing
6 to 9 months	Babbling sounds
10 to 11 months	Imitation of sounds
12 months	imitates two- and three-syllable words
13 to 15 months	A vocabulary of four to seven words
16 to 18 months	A vocabulary of 10 words,20% to 25% of speech understood by strangers
19 to 21 months	A vocabulary of 20 words; 50% of speech understood by others
22 to 24 months	Vocabulary > 50 words; two-word phrases, 60% to 70% of speech understood by others

How can  I know if my child has a speech delay?

Early Communication Problems – Markers

Under 18 months old

• Does not coo and babble by one year of age.
• Does not understand  even familiar single words
• Does not engage in turn taking
• Does not imitate vocalizations.

At 18 months old

• Do not use at least eight-10 words
• Does not wave “bye-bye.”
• Does not use words to communicate
• Does not respond to very simple requests,  such as “No,” “Don’t,”
• poor eye contact while  talking

At 2 years old

• Difficult to put words together to form simple phrases (“more food”) .
• Does not follow simple directions with  familiar objects,
• Cannot look at books for some times

At 3 years old

• Cannot use three- and four-word sentences.
• Difficulty in  answering simple questions such as “Who is that?” “What do you want?”
• Difficult to answer “yes/no”  to questions
• Words endings are missing.
• Does not play

The Sanjeevanam Way

Sanjeevanam Ayurvedic pediatrics has a developmental team consisting of a Senior Speciality Medical Officer, speech-language pathologist, nutritionist, and yoga specialist. Multi-Modal therapy enhances brain functions as well as brain areas. An Ayurvedic herbal formulation as well as bio-purificatory measures of Ayurveda enhances circulation and nourishes the speech areas of the brain. multidimensional model therapy helps the child to increase their cognitive functions. These therapies stand for better speech, better understanding, better communication skills, and active participation of the child.