Signs of Speech and Language Delays in Children Ages 3 - 5 Years

As your child enters kindergarten and preschool, you may notice her speech and language development is different from other children her age. The differences may seem more pronounced as your child has more interaction with other children and he begins to learn in a more formalized environment. Naturally, most parents are concerned about their children's development. As in other areas of development, children's speech and language skills advance at different rates.

While it is important to watch for delays in your child's speech and language, development, it is also important to remember that a lag in communication skills does not necessarily mean a speech or language disability is inevitable.

Specific speech and language skills should be thought of as occurring within a range of time rather than by exact ages. However, there are common behaviors that may be signs of potential speech and language delays that you can watch for.

• Does your child's speech seem very different from other children in her kindergarten or preschool? Do teachers and other children seem to have difficulty understanding your child?
• Is your child easily frustrated with learning and play activities that involve talking to others, listening, or following directions?
• Does your child seem inattentive to others and not interested in classroom activities or play with others?
• Does your child appear so challenged by speaking that he becomes angry, bites, or hits at other children rather than using words?
• Doe your child point or grab at objects or people and make noises to indicate his choices or responses rather than calling objects or people by their names?
• Does your child have difficulty following instructions or directions involving one or two steps? Does he follow activities by watching others before trying it himself?

In some instances, you can also spot possible signs of speech and language delays by paying close attention to what your child says and how she says it. Speaking mostly in single words or short phrases rather than speaking in full sentences may be a concern. For example, a preschool child with delays may make grasping gestures toward a toy truck and say, "truck" rather than saying, "I want the truck."

Children with speech delays and possible hearing concerns may leave off beginning sounds of words or slur over words with more than one syllable. They may substitute sounds that are similar to the right sound but are not the correct sound. A child may say "toof" instead of tooth or "parm" instead of "farm." These types of speech differences are sometimes a result of frequent middle ear infections during early language development. In other instances, these kinds of speech errors may be caused by lack of coordination of the tongue and muscles of the child's mouth. Speech pathologists refer to this as oral motor coordination. In either case, speech therapy can usually improve speech in these conditions.