Should I be concerned about my child’s communication development?

Margaret H. Briggs, PhD, CCC-SLP
Executive Director
Briggs & Associates, APSLPC

Some common questions we hear from families are:

  • Should I be concerned about my child’s communication development?
  • What’s considered normal?
  • When is it OK to wait and when should we see a professional?

In general we advise that if you have a question or are concerned about your child’s development, it’s wise to get a professional’s advice. We have books and brochures that help answer many questions. See the web site of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association www.asha.org for more information.

Some general guidelines follow:

Between about 3 to 11 months, children should be exploring the various sounds of their native language. Children should begin playing with sounds during the first few months of age—typically vowel sounds like “oo,” “ah,” and “ee.” Consonant sounds come in next (“p,” “b,” and “m” first) and children start babbling, combining consonants and vowels at around 6 months. This continues and at around 9 months children begin using what is referred to as “jargon.” This means they combine different sounds and add inflectional patterns—the rhythms of speech, sounding very much like they’re speaking to you…only in a language you’ve never heard. At about the same time, children should be using a variety of gestures to indicate what they want. Even though they are not yet talking, they are communicating. Moreover, children even at this young age, clearly are interested in communicating with others around them—we refer to this as intentionality. Children should be responding to their name and be able to follow simple directions by the time they reach one year.

By children’s first birthday they should have at least one recognizable word. Although that word may not be perfectly articulated, it should stand for one object or person only. For instance early on, a child may say “baba” and refer to a bottle, a blanket, and the family dog. By one year “baba” should now refer only to one of those things—like the bottle. Now they can follow a simple direction (e.g., “put the diaper on the shelf”). We refer to this stage of development as symbolic or representational—children understand that things have names and that a name can stand for or represent something else (in other words, we don’t have to have the bottle here right now; we can refer to it or represent it by using its name).

By the time children are 2 years they should have at minimum 50 words that are relatively clear to others and that stand for objects, actions, people, or events. And they should be combining words to make short sentences: “all gone juice,” “Mommy bye-bye,” “more apple.” They should be understanding many more words. When you go through a book they should now be able to point to pictures of familiar objects as you say the names (e.g., “show me horse” “where’s the baby?”). They should be engaging in pretend play, representing simple themes and ideas (e.g., feeding a doll). A lot happens between 2 and 3 years: there is an explosion in vocabulary, play becomes more sophisticated and varied, and sentences move beyond the here and now and simple descriptions.

By 3 years children are having short conversations. Their speech is flowing easily and is understandable about 75% of the time to most people. They delight in talking with others and are even beginning to make up their own stories—both real and imaginary. They understand incidental conversations, that is, those not directly addressed to them; they're very aware of what's happening around them. We notice a qualitative change between 2 and 3 years.

There are a number of “red flags” or warning signs to consider:

  • Little or no vocal play during the first few months
  • Failure to turn or respond to name or simple directions by 1 year
  • Early feeding difficulties
  • Repeated episodes of ear infections or fluid that remains in the middle ear
  • Speech that is difficult to understand
  • Frustration or lack of interest in communicating
  • Speech that is not fluent—stuttering
  • No words by 1 year
  • Lack of gestures, like pointing
  • Fewer than 50 words or no 2-word combinations by 2 years
  • Any skills developed and then lost

Remember... it’s never too early to get some professional advice and assistance.

That’s why we’re here.

So contact us at briggsandassociates@earthlink.net or 626.793.0937

© M. H. Briggs, PhD, 8/05

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