How toddlers learn to speak

Slow or unclear speech
The concerns that most parents have are that their children don't speak as well as other children their age, that their vocabulary is not large enough, or that they don't speak clearly enough for most people to understand them. Doctors usually advise parents to wait until the child is about three before arranging tests for speech problems. But with the recent advances in knowledge about language acquisition, speech pathologists suggest they should see children as young as two years old, if parents are concerned. The earlier a speech therapist starts to treat the problem, the more effective the resolution. Keep in mind that a child "talks his age" from about age one to age five. A three-year-old should be able to construct understandable three-word sentences. If you're in doubt, discuss it with your doctor and ask for a referral to a speech pathologist.

Stuttering
Theories about stuttering have changed over the years, but current researchers believe that there may be a genetic predisposition, since it's not uncommon for stuttering and dyslexia to run in families. But even a child with a predisposition is unlikely to stutter without the additional factor of stress. A child's feeling that he always has to compete for attention, for example, might create enough stress to bring on the stuttering. A third possibility is that there is a problem with the development of the child's fine motor ability to coordinate breathing and shape mouth, tongue, and teeth to create particular sounds.

Do not immediately assume there is a problem if you hear your child repeating words or sounds. Almost all children go through a phase of mild stuttering as they try to work out sounds and words for themselves. It should only become a concern if the child starts repeating a whole sound or syllable and seems to come to a halt after each repetition. For example, if a child tries to say mom and it comes out as muh, muh, muh, mom, there could be a problem. However, a faster repetition of the consonant m as in m-m-m-mom should not cause concern.

If you suspect there's a problem, don't delay getting help. Speech therapists say it is relatively easy to treat children as young as two or three years of age, but much more difficult by the time the child reaches the teen years.