Does your child need a speech pathologist?

One of the joys of raising a child is watching your little one develop the ability to communicate. In most children, language acquisition appears almost effortless -- while their speech skills certainly don't start out perfect, they progress from their first word to being able to hold conversations with ease. But some children do have difficulties learning to speak. Here's how to tell the difference between normal development and speech difficulties -- and what to do if you suspect your child needs help.

What is normal?
Normal speech development follows a series of stages, from infant babbling -- a means for babies to practise making sounds with their speech organs -- to finally learning all of the sounds of the mother tongue by the early school years. According to Elizabeth Baron, speech-language pathologist at CommunicAid Speech and Language Services in Vancouver, English-speaking children should have acquired proper pronunciation of all English speech sounds by age six, although some of the more difficult sounds may not be properly learned until age eight. These more difficult sounds include the "th" sound in words such as "these" and "thick," "s," "z," "r" and "l." Consonant clusters such as "bl," "tr" and "skw" (as in "squeeze") also tend to emerge later. Different children will have difficulties with different sounds.

All children will have difficulties pronouncing certain sounds as they develop their language skills. Most of the time, this is a normal part of linguistic development. Learning to speak is a motor skill, and it takes time -- just as children have to learn how to catch a ball, they have to learn how to move their tongue and lips to make different sounds. (Want more info on child language development? Find out how toddlers learn to speak.)

Assessing your child
It's not always easy to judge whether your child's skills fall within the normal range -- parents are around their children a lot and will learn to understand what they say, even if they are making errors. So the best way to evaluate your child's abilities, says Baron, is to determine how easily other people understand him or her. "A less-familiar listener," Baron says, "should be able to understand most of what your child says -- about 88 per cent -- by age three."

Another way to analyze your child's speech is to pay careful attention to what they're saying while they are playing happily -- their speech will be hastier and less clear if they are angry or upset. "Engage your child in some imaginative play and see what you are hearing," says Baron. "Often parents notice certain patterns or sounds that are more consistently used in place of correct sounds, and that is helpful information." She also recommends using books as a way to set up conversations with your child that have a controlled topic. For instance, if you are worried about your child's pronunciation of a certain sound, choose a story to read together that contains many instances of that sound. "If you were concerned about a child's ability to produce a 'g' sound," says Baron, "you could read Goodnight Moon together, where there are many opportunites to produce the 'g' sound."

Looking for more hints on communicating witih your young child? Read Understanding toddler speak.

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