Terlenda Crawford

Research updates regularly but generally there are different developmental rates between boys and girls. I've noticed a trend in boys having faster gross motor skills while girls have faster fine motor skills. But that is a question for a neuropsychologist.

Every toddler is different. Some are late talkers. In general, I expect to hear a 2 year old using approximately 50 words regularly and even beginning to link together words such as "my cup" or "all gone". 50% of what they say should be understood by the parents and I expect them to use pronouns such as me and you or she and he, even if they sometimes get them a little mixed up. I also expect them to identify body parts, being able to point to head, shoulders, knees and toes.

I encourage you to treat every moment like a conversation exchange, a teachable communicable moment. Have fun with words! Play with letter blocks, sing songs, celebrate any attempt they give you at purposeful communication even if the word is pronounced differently. They should be encouraged to be excited to speak. You can always take them into an early intervention center and have an ASHA certified speech language pathologist do an evaluation or checklist if you are concerned about a language delay. I cannot diagnose without conducting an evaluation. Hope this helps.

When I see pediatric clients, I don't usually get concerned until they are beyond the age the phonological process is expected to stop. A 1.5 year old is still developing in their sound development and it is common for them to reduplicate words. If you still have concerns between 2.5-3.5 years old, you can locate a private practice SLP or an early development center speech language pathologist (ASHA Certified) for an assessment. To alleviate your concerns, I've included a link to a pdf about what phonological processes are and some common things we see in young toddlers. You can copy and paste the pdf link into your browser >>> http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/wp-content/downloads/forms/phonological_processes.pdf Hope this helps :)

I would recommend you consider an evaluation by a speech language pathologist in your local area before that question can be answered. There are many reasons including dentition related components that could interfere with the production of the /s/ sound.

You can see a speech language pathologist in your local area for an assessment and treatment. You can also youtube Pam Marshalla who works on lateral and frontal lisp correction through exercises.

YES. I strongly recommend he get an SLP evaluation ASAP.

A person with dyslexia is best served by an interdisciplinary team. She is appropriate to be referred to both a speech language pathologist in an educational setting or private practice who has experience with dyslexia AND a reading specialist who specializes in dyslexia.

Yes they can. Speech language pathology is a cradle to grave profession. We diagnose, assess, and treat clients of all ages, in school settings, medical settings, private practice, and health centers.

Speech language pathology is a unique profession that specializes in communication disorders. I commend his physicians for knowing about the profession and referring him accordingly. The many domains of language, socialization, purposeful communication, and even attempting to elicit words are all just scratching the surface of the amazing things SLPs do. You are more than welcome to youtube or google search videos of different speech language pathology sessions with toddlers or children with autism and you can get an idea. I highly recommend you give it a try!

/r/ is a difficult sound for many students and between ages 6 and 7, some children are able to narrow down sound production. I have an idea of what is going on because of the "w" also being difficult for her and I would recommend her to get an assessment completed by a speech language pathologist.

There are many different etiologies for delayed speech. I would recommend you have him seen by a speech language pathologist for an evaluation.

Speech language pathologists diagnose, assess, and treat communication disorders, including dysfluencies. There are fluency techniques your daughter can be taught to have more "smooth speech" vs. "bumpy speech". In speech language pathology sessions, we make it fun so our clients do not get self-conscious about speaking or communicating. Some children outgrow stammering and others benefit from continued speech therapy. Does not hurt to get an assessment from an ASHA certified Speech Language Pathologist.

Dysarthria of speech is a condition that speech language pathologists work with and it is definitely advised for you to get an evaluation. There are many exercises that can be demonstrated to you to improve comprehensibility of speech.

I recommend you take him to get an evaluation completed by a speech language pathologist. There are standardized tests that they can give your child that have been normed against thousands of children and the results can give you an objective answer.

This is a red flag for your child to be evaluated by a speech language pathologist.

This is the perfect age for him to work on his /s/ and /v/. He is still in the age where those sounds are in development. If he is still having trouble with those sounds after age 6 yrs 3 months and beyond, then he would benefit from a speech language pathology evaluation.

Activities: For the /s/ sound, playing games can help practicing the sound feel natural instead of like a drill. Smile really big and have him touch his teeth and make hissing sounds, pretend a teapot is ready or the airbags or being released in the toy car, or a toy snake is slithering across the floor. Have him practice breathing hard and "sighing" through this exaggerated smile to simulate the "s" sound. Try to have him connect that to words like "sun" or "soap". Some kids actually have an easier time saying the sounds at the ends of words like "oats". For the /v/ sound, he can start practicing to wipe peanut butter or something fun off of his bottom lip and when he "bites his lip" practices to make the "f" sound "stronger" or "harder" to practice "vee" for fun. Just a couple of ideas to get you started. Allow his 6th birthday to come first before you really really worry though.

Yes! There is so much to be done. Aphasia is the loss of language that is often seen after a stroke. Dysarthria is something that can happen after a stroke as well where articulation is negatively impacted because of weakness in the tongue. Apraxia is something that can happen after a stroke where words are not pronounced correctly but not because of a weak tongue. Without an evaluation, I cannot give you exactly what his direct problems are, however, you can look into the National Aphasia Association for resources and local support groups who do activities where he can practice speaking. Definitely see a speech language pathologist for an evaluation. There are exercises specific to each condition. Tactus Therapy has an application you can download to your tablet or phone where he could use visual demonstrations of people saying words, phrases, sentences, etc. and speak alongside with them. You can also use the Lumosity software, where he can perform exercises to find words he wants to say. You can buy Scattegory cards from Target and have him think of different category items. You can also find a list online of common opposites and see if he can come up with the opposites of different words. You can find empty comic strips and have him try and narrate them or explain them to practice producing words. There are many things he can do and I gave you a few ideas to start and application idea to download but I also recommend in addition to those, for him to see a speech language pathologist in his local area either private practice or telepractice.

She can definitely benefit from a speech language pathology evaluation and treatment. I have not done her assessment so I cannot be specific on different tongue exercises. Pam Marshalla is a great resource who specializes in frontal and lateral lisps, and you can youtube search her videos on pronouncing different words.

There are common phonological processes that we see in developing children. /l/ is a sound that is still developing in a 5 year old. It is somewhat common to see a child substituting "wun" for run or "wook" for look. We call this process, gliding. You can smile and gloss the statement by saying the word correctly and exaggerating how you lift your tongue for him to see but do not cause him to become shy about speaking. It is a process that is usually eliminated by age 6. If he is still doing this at age 5 years and 9 months or 6 years old and 1 month, I would just have him screened by his school SLP or a local speech pathologist.

/R is a very difficult sound. It can come anywhere in development from age 3 to age 6.5. Speech pathologists are specially trained in exercises and play activity to maximize a child, teen, or even adult's production of target sounds, including /r/.