How Is Your Child Developing in His/her Speech, Language and Communication Skills?

Every parent is excited to witness their child achieve his/her developmental milestones, whether it is the first smile, first steps or first words. Children’s language and communication development begins at birth.

In the first three months of an infant’s life, he or she will begin to make sounds and react to sounds in his/her environment.

By six months of age, an infant will begin to look at the person talking to them, smile and make noises to gain attention.

At twelve months of age, so much changes. The child will be starting to say his or her first words (e.g., mama, dada, baba), waving ‘bye-bye’, understanding some simple phrases (e.g., sit down, where’s ball) and enjoying playing games.

By eighteen months of age, children begin to understand simple questions, have a vocabulary of ten or more words and use toys for pretend play.

When a child reaches the age of two, they understand a lot more than they are saying. He or she will begin to use descriptive words, two word combinations, ask questions and enjoy listening to simple stories.

Beyond the age of two, children are beginning to incorporate linguistic concepts (e.g., size, colours), plurals, action words, location concepts and pronouns into their communication. They are asking and responding to lots of different questions. Individual speech sound difficulties are also apparent now; for example, a child may say “done” for ‘sun’ or “tea” for ‘key’. The articulation of speech sounds also develops at different rates and ages for each child. Concerns should be addressed with a Speech Language Pathologist to ensure that further investigation is not warranted.

Every child develops and progresses at his or her own rate, but above are a few of the skills expected at each stage. If there is a concern with a child’s speech-language/communication development, it is best to initiate a referral or to speak with a Speech Language Pathologist. Early treatment is especially beneficial with children by preventing many of the difficulties that they could face in their later years.

S.L. Hunter provides full assessment and treatment for children in the their development of speech, language and communication. Any parent that has concerns in these areas is welcome to contact the clinic to set up an appointment.

The offices of S.L. Hunter & Associates are located at 5195 Harvester Rd. Unit 4B. We can be reached by telephone at 905-637-5522 or online at www.slhunter.ca.