Does My Child Need Speech Therapy?

Your child's speech begins with vocalizations at 2 or 3 months, followed by babbling (playful, vocal sound) at 5 to 7 months, and then jargon (strings of sounds or syllables produced with a variety of stress and intonation) from 8 to 24 months. These various types of vocalizations usually continue through the child's first 50 words. By 12 months, the child is starting to string the sounds together to form 'true' words.

According to a number of experts, the following sounds can be expected to be produced correctly at these ages:

You should take your child to a speech-language pathologist if:

• your child does not produce speech sounds appropriate for his or her age
• strangers have difficulty understanding your child's speech if he or she is 3 years or older
• you child's teacher reports that other children make fun of your child's speech
• your child shows frustration with his or her speech

If you have any questions about your child's speech, or speech-language pathology options, call the Warren Center at 941-2850.

Information from "If you think your child has a speech problem" by Mary Brooks and Deedra Hartung,
Pro-Ed publishers, copyright 1972, 2002