By Kimberly Mayo-Achan MA, CCC-SLP
Having a baby is one of the most exciting events that can happen in your lifetime. Once your child is born, you wait eagerly for them to reach each developmental milestone, with the hopes that on the very day they are supposed to master a skill, they do so perfectly. Although there are specific, concrete times as to when a child is supposed to master their language, it is important for parents and educators to understand that in actuality these “times” are more of a “guideline”.
Instead of focusing on a specific date or time, familiarize yourself with the “critical periods” of language development. These critical periods are periods of time where the developing brain is best able to absorb language. This “period” of time is usually a range of weeks or even months. If you child is functioning on the latter end of this developmental timetable, do not automatically assume that something is wrong.
Crying is the very first sign of a child’s ability to communicate and this is usually seen within the first few days of their life. By 6-8 months research has shown that infants can usually produce repetitive syllables such as “da da da” and “ba ba ba”. It is these very syllables that are the foundation for which children build their language upon.
Many parents are under the assumption that by the time their child turns 1, they should be able to effectively articulate new words. In reality, it is not until around 18 months that the child will have mastered a few simple words. The real influx of vocabulary and simple word combinations do not generally appear until around 24-30 months.
Again, each child develops at their own rate, so for some children these skills may appear much earlier and for some not until much later. While the developmental time frame differs from child to child, the milestones tend to remain the same. It is more concerning if a child misses a milestone than the actual time they achieve it.
If you have any concerns about your child’s speech or language development, talk to your pediatrician or speech language pathologist. Additionally, you can access more information, as well as a developmental checklist, by visiting the site www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/speechandlanguage.asp and www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/speechandlanguage.asp#mychild.
Feel free to let us know your thoughts below.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Very interesting! And that baby is adorable!!!
October 15th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
My daughter is now 9 months. She can barely say ma-ma and da-da. Looking forward to when she can talk. Hopefully, sooner than later.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:07 am
At 26 months my son didn’t utter a word but mommy. I started to worry that he will develop a speech delay. Whenever he wanted or needed something he will point it out to me. He will cry when I couldn’t understand him. I thought I was doing something wrong as a parent. I would see him get fustrated because he couldn’t express himself with words. I thought maybe he might have a hearing problem but when I took him to get evaluated he refused for anyone to get close to his ears. Things didn’t get better until my peditrician referred me to a speech therapist who would came 2x a week to my home and would work with him for about an hour.
1 year later my son cannot hush up! I totally agree with you when you say that children develop at their own rate. I wish I would had come across this website a year ago.
Your articles are interesting and very helpful!
Thank you
Connie
New York, N.Y.
October 17th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
You can’t imagine the anxiety this has lifted. My child has not yet at 15 mos
but I’m not at all concerned. Thank you
October 18th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Teaching our child sign language at six months gave him a HUGE jump on language. Some people think it holds the child back because they will only use sign, but it is the opposite. When your child can communicate early on it is easier to learn the words associated with the signs. I highly recommend this. Our child is now 4 and is almost at a 2nd grade reading level!
October 28th, 2009 at 2:12 am
Thanks for this article. It really has made me more relaxed about my daughter and her lack of speaking. I just came across this while googling answers for it. I would be very interested in any ideas on how to develop her talking, even though I am ok with her not doing it as yet, and thanks for the comment about sign language – I will try that
October 28th, 2009 at 8:25 am
I cant find valuable articles on speech therapy for my child. Its so expensive. This is a good intro to what I believe mothers everywhere would not mind reading more about. Will you write more on this subject or can you tell me where I can read more ?
October 29th, 2009 at 6:41 am
I’m so glad you found this information useful. There are many sites out there that offer information and guidelines, as well as therpay techniques to use with your child, depending on their age. The American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) has a pretty concise, reputable and informative website for both the public and therapists -www.asha.org. It’s a great place to start looking as well as obtain additional resources from. Other websites such as http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/infant-development, http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/not_talk.html and http://www.speech-language-development.com are useful and very parent friendly. If you have any specific questions I’d be happy to help. Check back soon for more related articles.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:08 am
Other variant is possible also
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