The most common causes of speech delay include: Hearing loss. Slow development. Intellectual disability.
Speech delay occurs most often in those with an athetoid type of cerebral palsy. The following factors, alone or in combination, may account for the speech delay: hearing loss, incoordination or spasticity of the muscles of the tongue, coexisting mental retardation or a defect in the cerebral cortex.
Speech and language delays can have many different causes. These causes can include hearing problems, Down syndrome or other genetic conditions, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, or mental health conditions. Delays can also run in families. Sometimes the cause is not known.
It is when there is consistent regression, setbacks in engagement, or disconnection in understanding verbal language that there is reason to suspect a speech delay. Around the age of 1.5 to 2 years, it is recommended that a diagnosis of delays and disorders is made and intervention is begun.
While speech delays are very common among children with autism, they are common in children without autism as well.
Red flags for a speech or language delay include: No babbling by 9 months. No first words by 15 months. No consistent words by 18 months.
A delay in speech or language is one of the earliest signs we have for kids that do go on to get a diagnosis of ADHD later in childhood. In this 2012 study, researchers found that two-thirds of the elementary-aged kids with ADHD had a speech or language delay at 18 months.
Children born to vitamin D deficient mothers have been found to have a two-fold higher risk of language difficulties compared with the mothers with sufficient levels of vitamin D [9].
Delays can also be caused by neglect, abuse, or an event or circumstance that was really disruptive to development. These are atypical scenarios though that we rarely encounter. For the average parent doing their best, you can rest assured that your child's speech or language delay is definitely not your fault.
Some late talkers will start to catch up to their peers by the age of three, but some may continue to have difficulty with spoken language. There are many different causes of late talking, and it is often hard to pinpoint the exact cause.
Simple speech delays are sometimes temporary. They may resolve on their own or with a little extra help from family. It's important to encourage your child to "talk" to you with gestures or sounds and for you to spend lots of time playing with, reading to, and talking with your infant or toddler.
Talk to your child's health care provider if you can understand only a few or none of your 2-year-old's words. A delay using words or talking can be an early sign of other issues. Your toddler's provider can refer you to health professionals who test children for these issues.
Speech delay is a problem where a child has difficulty developing speech and language skills. In contrast, autism spectrum disorder is a neurological disorder that affects social skills, learning, communication, and behavior.
Not necessarily. While speech delays, language delays, and learning differences are often a hallmark of ASD, a speech delay by itself does not mean a child has autism. In fact, there are key differences between communication delays caused by autism and other types of speech-language disorders.
A speech sound delay is when speech is developing in a normal sequential pattern but occurring later than is typical. A speech disorder is when mistakes are not “typical” sound errors or are unusual sound errors or error patterns.
By 24 months (two years), 50 to 75% of speech should be intelligible to familiar people. By 36 months (three years), 75 to 100% of speech should be intelligible to familiar people. By four years of age, a child should usually be understood, including by people who are unfamiliar to them.
Studies report a link between TV and language development in young children. The more time kids spend watching television, the more slowly they learn to talk.
If your toddler is speech-delayed, they might catch up naturally. But there's a 20-30% chance they'll continue to struggle without support.
Children need to play every day! They need to be stimulated by and engaged in different play activities in order to develop language skills. If a child isn't talked to often, isn't hearing language modeled, and doesn't have opportunities to play, they may be more at risk for a communication delay.