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What should I do if my child doesn’t speak his first word by the age of 2 years?
If your child has not spoken his first word by the age of 1.5 years. Check is he listening to you and following commands like sit-down, come here, go there give me etc.
If yes start interacting more through different play activities with him. Play ball throw and catch, say ‘catch the ball’, ‘ throw the ball’, ‘give me a ball’ and ask him to repeat ball. In the same way play with different toys, speak the name of the toy, how do we play with the toy. Talk all the time with your child. Speak more and more.
The more you speak, more your child will listen and one day you will observe that he came up with a word that you spoken so many times in the past
Who is a Speech Therapist?
A speech therapist is a professional, who can assess, and treat individuals with Speech and Language issues.
Speech Therapist make an individualized therapy plan to target milestones and take therapy sessions to make a child or an adult express verbally.
Speech and language problems are of different kinds for e.g. delayed speech and language, Misarticulation, stammering. Some children doesn’t speak due to conditions like autism, hearing impairment, auditory skills etc.
A therapist is fully equipped with the knowledge of speech development and how to increase the vocabulary and language skills.
What if I spoke, play and talk to my child and I noticed there is no change after one or two months and my child is almost 2 or 2.2 years old now. Should I continue home practice for some more time? Should I contact a professional?
If you have tried everything at home. You tried interactive play activities, continuous talking during daily activities, you spoke all the time, you gave him many chances to repeat or speak.
Still your child is not responding. You must contact a Speech and Language professional
Before 5 years the rate of learning is fast, so this time is good to start therapy sessions.
What should I expect when I first time visit to Speech Therapist?
First visit is the meeting with the therapist and child, so you should go along with your child. A Speech and language therapist assess the child by playing and talking to the child in their own ways.
Then therapist will tell you, how many days are good for your child per month or on the weekly basis. It may be twice, thrice or five days in a week. You can always share your preferable days and timings. Ask fees of the sessions, how can you pay the fees etc.
Regular Speech Therapy sessions help children in hitting the milestones and covering the gap.
So don’t waste time if you find out your child has a delayed speech issue or due to some other reason, verbal expression is not developed.
The right age of therapy is to start as soon as you find out the issue.
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Thanks Nicholle..my pleasure