Importance of Early Identification

 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