GUEST POST BY FREEDA THONG - Speech Pathologist at Seed to Sprout
What is normal for communication development?
When should I see a speech pathologist?
What can I do at home?
These are some of the things that people often ask about speech pathology!
What is a speech pathologist?
Most people will think that a speech pathologist works only with children, and to only treat lisps. How boring that would be for those working as speech pathologists if that were the case! In fact, a speech pathologist’s scope of practice is much more varied than this. Speech Pathology is an allied health profession that diagnoses, treats and manages communication disorders and feeding difficulties through a client-centered approach for people across the lifespan. Speech Pathologists can support children and families with the following:
· Speech difficulties
· Language difficulties
· Literacy difficulties
· Social communication difficulties
· Stuttering and voice difficulties
· Swallowing and feeding difficulties
When should you take your child to see a speech pathologist?
As children learn and develop through interacting with everyone around them, it is important to ensure that we are all aware as parents, family members, educators and health professionals, of what the red flags are for their developmental milestones. Literature suggests that early intervention is the key to helping children reach their full potentials. Speech Pathology Australia have put together a communication milestones poster that can help you navigate through your child’s development. Here is a summary below:
12 months
Understanding
Understand about 10 words
Make eye contact
Respond to their name
Recognize familiar people
Start using sounds, gestures and try some words
Continue to babble
Copy different sounds and noises
Start to sing
18 months
Understanding
Speaking
Understand up to 50 words
Follow single 1 step directions
Point to familiar objects
Name familiar objects
Point to pictures in books
Say up to 20 words
Copy plenty words and noises
Name body parts
Use objects in pretend play
2 years
Understanding
Speaking
Follow simple two part instructions
Respond to ‘wh’ questions
Point to several body parts and pictures in books when named
Understand when an object is ‘in’ or on’ something
Say more than 50 words
Put two words together
Use their tone of voice to ask a question
Say ‘no’ meaningfully
Say words with sounds /m, n, b, k, g, h, w, t, d/ in them
Start to use ‘mine’ and ‘my’
3 years
Understanding
Speaking
Follow more complex two part instructions
Understand simple ‘wh’ questions
Understand ‘same’ and ‘different’ concepts
Understand categories
Recognize basic colours
Say four to five word sentences
Use variety of words for names, actions, locations and descriptions
Ask questions with ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘who’.
Have a conversation
Talk about something in the past, but may not use ‘-ed’ a lot
4 years
Understanding
Speaking
Answer most questions about daily tasks
Understand most ‘-wh’ questions
Understand some numbers
Show awareness that some words start of finish with same sounds
Use words such as ‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘because
Describe events such as morning routines
Use a lot of questions
Use personal pronouns such as ‘he’, ‘she’
Count to five and name a few colours
5 years
Understanding
Speaking
Follow three part instructions
Understand time related words
Start thinking about the meaning of words
Understand instructions without stopping to listen
Being to recognize letters, sounds and numbers
Use well formed sentences
Take turns in conversation
Tell simple, short stories with a start, middle and end
Be understood by most people
For a more in depth version of the milestones, please visit Speech Pathology Australia for more helpful resources.
If you have any concerns for your child, and they are delayed in any of the above areas, referring your child to a speech pathologist can be an easy process. You can simply pick up the phone, send an email or make an enquiry through any local speech pathologist’s web portal, and book in for your first appointment.
Some strategies to continue your child’s communication
If your child is developing well and meeting all their milestones, this is really fantastic! You are doing a wonderful job. We know that sometimes it is hard to not compare between children, or even just to be concerned about your child’s communication. If you are querying whether they are hitting their milestones or not, you are not alone. If this is you and you are sitting on the fence, speech pathologists are always able to complete formal and informal assessments to let you know where your child’s speech and language development is at. Additionally, speech pathologists can provide strategies and tips to help you to facilitate their learning and give you some guidance if needing any extra referrals. To continue developing your child’s communication and learning skills, these are some easy ideas to inject into your daily routine:
1. Engage in play based activities with your children.
2. Limit screen time.
3. Get your children involved with chores and tasks around the house. If you are making dinner, have them get involved too and make sure you speak about what each ingredient is and all the actions of what you are doing whilst cooking.
4. Read to your child on a daily basis and talk about the pictures. You may like to include a song at the end of the book, or an activity to further increase enjoyment around books.
5. Sing nursery rhymes to your children when you can see opportunity. This may be a great way to make bathing, packing up and helping around the house fun.
6. Talk about games and activities that your child is engaged in. For example, if your child is playing with cars, talk about what he/she is doing with the car “You pushed the car!”
7. Model to your child the adult version of speech. When your child attempts to say a word that says it incorrectly, avoid asking questions or correcting, simply provide an adult model. For example, if your child says ‘tar’ for car, repeat back to your child, ‘car!’.
8. Expand words that your child is saying by one-two words. For example, if your child says ‘car’, you may like to add on one word ‘red car’.
9. A visual schedule of a routine may be beneficial. This is a really simple yet effective way of helping your child know what to expect next.
10. Have a search of any play groups that might exist in your area. This is a fantastic opportunity for your children to engage with other children, and to engage with your community.
We hope these are helpful tips, but most of all it is so important to have fun with your children! We will be listing out a list of fun games you can play at home during this COVID environment to keep your little ones entertained and still developing their communication skills - keep an eye out for this!
You can get in contact with Freeda at Seed to Sprout. And the good thing is, she is available online, so anyone, Australia wide can contact her today :)
Passionate about communication being humans greatest tool, Freeda started her journey within the field as an Applied Behavioural Therapist. Freeda is a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist, a member of Speech Pathology Australia and has experience working within the not-for-profit and private sector. She has a fond interest in the fields of literacy, early language, speech sound delays and sensory feeding. Freeda can’t wait to meet you and your family!
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