Posted on July 6, 2009 in latest news
You think your 4 year old may probably be experiencing speech and developmental disorders. Here are some pointers to decide whether your child really is experiencing speech and developmental disorders.
Signs of speech and developmental delays
Your child is experiencing speech and developmental delays if
- He cannot follow two directions at the same time
- Cannot tell his first name and last name
- Cannot understand picture directions
- Cannot tell stories about what he did during the day
- Does not ask you to do things for him
- Cannot speak sentences at least 3 – 4 words long
- If you cannot understand what your child is saying
- If your child is not asking you questions
- Cannot distinguish between some shapes and sizes
- Is not able recall atleast some events after listening to a story
What you should do if your child is experiencing speech and developmental delays
Early intervention is the key in countering speech and developmental delays. Here is what you can do at home.
- Spend a lot of time communicating with your child. Talk, sing, make gestures and encourage him to make sounds.
- Read stories to your child. Start with simple ones. It is even better if you read from a picture book, while showing the pictures to your child. Show some simple actions in the story and encourage your child to imitate them.
- Help your child relate to some of the characters in the stories.
- Do not use ‘baby talk’ while talking to your child. Talk normally, but talk slowly.
- Do not hesitate to take professional help. Give your child speech therapy. It helps a lot.
- Do not be hard on yourself. You need to stay calm in order to be able to help your child.
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July 10th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Thanks for this article! These are great tips for talking to your 4-year-old child, whether or not s/he has a speech or language disorder. For children with language disorders, early childhood is a time when speech therapy can be tremendously effective because of the neural plasticity of the brain at that age. A good speech therapist, in addition to helping your child in therapy, can help you figure out what you are doing that is helpful for your child, so that you can do more of it and be even more beneficial to your child. Please don’t hesitate to see a speech therapist if you feel there is something wrong with your child’s speech or language development. If it turns out that everything is fine, you can stop worrying about it and have peace of mind; if there is something wrong, you can stop worrying about it and start working on it.