What I Want All Parents to Know........Summary of Issue...
The purpose of this blog was to increase awareness in
parents and healthcare professionals of the speech, language and hearing
milestones in young children. Language refers to our ability to understand what
is said to us, and the way in which we communicate our needs, wants and ideas.
Speech skills develop from the time we are born through the school age years.
In order for a child’s speech and language skills to develop normally, the
child must be able to hear the language and speech of those around him. Six
infants out of every 1000 are born deaf or with a hearing loss. Approximately
6% of preschool children in the United States have a language disorder and 8-9%
of school age children have a speech disorder.
If a child’s speech, language and hearing deficits can be
identified at an early age, intervention can be provided that will minimize the
effects of the deficits on the child’s academic, social and emotional
well-being. Even if a child initially
passes a newborn screening test for hearing, a child’s hearing can be severely
affected by various illnesses and infections.
But depending on the type of hearing loss a child has, there are various
treatment options available that can provide the child with the ability to
communicate with their families, teachers and peers.
There are many different disorders which may impact a child’s
speech and/or language skills. Many times, a child may demonstrate a speech or
language problem with no other disorder. It’s important to identify the
disorder and, when possible, the cause of the problem, to be able to provide
the appropriate treatment.
If parents are concerned about their child’s hearing, speech
and/or language skills, the child’s primary care provider can be consulted, or
the speech pathologist at the local public school can be contacted to provide
the appropriate resources to evaluate the child.
It has been well documented that the academic, social and
emotional skills can be significantly impacted in a child with a hearing,
speech and/or language disorder. By
providing information in this blog, my hope is that readers will become
familiar with normal milestones and will be able to recognize when it is
important to consult a healthcare professional or speech pathologist to further
assess a child’s hearing, speech and language skills.
References
American
Speech, Language and Hearing Association. (2012). Incidence and prevalence. Retrieved from www.asha.org
National
Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders. (2012). Statistics. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved
from www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/vsl/Pages/Default.aspx
