While every child develops at their own pace, if you’re concerned that your child isn’t learning new words or speaking enough, you could consider speech therapy. At Little Wonders Pediatric Therapy in Charlotte, North Carolina, Danielle McDaniel, MOT, OTR/L, and her team provide customized speech therapy services to help your child develop skills ranging from latching to feeding to using full sentences. Call Little Wonders Pediatric Therapy to schedule a consultation today.

Speech therapy helps your child develop their speech and language skills. For example, your child may not articulate sounds and words correctly or may not have a vocabulary that allows them to communicate their thoughts and needs. A speech therapist can help your child develop both their speech and language skills.

Speech

Speech involves articulation, voice, and fluency. All three aspects of speech must come together for effective verbal skills.

Articulation is the process of using the lips, mouth, and tongue to make sounds. A child that struggles with articulation may have trouble with certain sounds, such as the “R” or “TH” sounds.

Voice is the use of breath and vocal cords to make sounds. Some voices are softer or louder than others, but a child needs to be able to use their voice to be understood.

Fluency is the rhythm of speech. Disrupted fluency could lead to the repeated sounds of a stutter or getting stuck on a word in a stammer.

Language

Language involves both vocabulary and how a child uses their words to communicate. Children need to learn new words, what they mean, and how similar words can all have slightly different meanings, such as friend, friendly, and unfriendly. Learning to put together sentences is another important aspect of language.

All children master the ability to speak at their own pace, and there is a wide age range that’s considered normal for certain speech and language milestones. However, some of the signs that your child may need support to improve their speech and language skills include:

• Uses fewer than 20 words by 18 months
• Uses only a few sounds in all words
• Unclear or immature speech
• Talks infrequently
• Trouble using language socially
• Difficulty recognizing letter sounds

Your child may also have speech difficulties if they have trouble latching onto your breast or a bottle to feed, or if they cough or gag on food.

If you’re concerned about any of these signs or that your child’s speech development is delayed, call Little Wonders Pediatric Therapy to schedule an assessment today.

The speech therapists at Little Wonders Pediatric Therapy provide play-based, fun therapeutic activities in a warm and nurturing environment. Activities center around articulation therapy, language intervention activities, and oral-motor/feeding and swallowing therapy. The therapists provide one-on-one and small group activities to help your child improve and master their speech and language skills.

Call Little Wonders Pediatric Therapy today to learn how speech therapy can help your child.