When Should I Seek Speech and Language Services?

It can be difficult to know if your child is struggling with speech or language skills or if they are at a developmentally appropriate level. Here’s a checklist for you before you contact your child’s pediatrician or a speech-language pathologist.

What does my child have difficulty with?

• Responding to loud, environmental noises (e.g., an ambulance driving by, the doorbell)

• Responding to his/her name

• Smiling/laughing when greeted by another person

• Taking turns (e.g., rolling/tossing a ball back and forth, alternating putting blocks on a tower)

• Making/maintaining eye contact

• Following your attention/gestures (e.g., looking where you’re pointing)

• Playing with sound (e.g., babbling, cooing)

• Repeating/imitating sounds/words

• Producing independent phrases/sentences (i.e., can quote from songs/movies/TV shows but has more difficulty with original phrases)

• Using sound effects intentionally/meaningfully (e.g., “oh, no,” “uh-oh,” “yay”)

• Using single words intentionally/meaningfully (may be missing/substituting speech sounds)

• Using 2 word phrases intentionally/meaningfully

• Using 3+ word phrases intentionally/meaningfully

• Producing all/some of the speech sounds of words (e.g., leaves out final sounds, substitutes /t/ for /k/)

• Being understood when communicating functionally (e.g., asking for help, commenting, asking/responding to question)

• Greeting/saying “good-bye” to adults/peers entering/leaving the room

• Interacting with familiar adults/peers

• Interacting with less familiar adults/peers (e.g. family members who he/she may not see often or new teachers/classmates)

How much of an impact do these things have on my child’s daily life?

• Significant impact

• Moderate impact

• Some impact

• No impact

Have I…

• …discussed concerns with our pediatrician? Do they share my concerns?

• …spoken to my child’s family members, friends, daycare workers, babysitters, and/or teachers? Do they share my concerns?

• …eliminated or reduced screen time each day?

• …provided clear, consistent language models?

• …provided opportunities for turn-taking and face-to-face play with adults/same-age children?

• …considered my child’s sleep habits?

Based on your responses to all of the above, evaluate the impact and concern

• Are there more than 2 or 3 areas of difficulty?

• Are the areas of difficulty having a moderate to significant impact?

• Do observations from teachers, family members, friends, and/or pediatricians support your concerns or observations?

• Have your attempts to support development in the concern areas resulted in progress or improvement?

When contacting and consulting with a speech-language therapist

• Make sure the practice/therapist specializes in working with children (i.e., pediatric as opposed to geriatric)

• Provide information about how areas of concern are impacting your child’s and family’s life

• Ask about the evaluation process: A comprehensive evaluation should include an in-depth intake and developmental history (either via questionnaires, a phone call, or an in-person interview), structured and/or unstructured assessment procedures that look at the whole child and consider functional performance across settings, and some sort of meeting/conversation to go over evaluation results and recommendations with parents.

• Share school and/or teacher observations if relevant

If you would like a free pdf version of this list, please find it in our shop here.

We offer development screenings at our clinic in Rockville, MD. Contact hello@theyoungandwell.com or hit the “Start Here” button above.