While a child who stutters or who has trouble pronouncing sounds may have a speech disorder, children who have difficulty understanding others or trouble sharing their own thoughts are described as having a language disorder. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, speech and language disorders can have a medical cause or the actual cause may remain unknown. However, with the help of parents, schoolteachers, doctors, dentists, audiologists and speech-language pathologists, a child's speech-language goals can be achieved.
Step 1
Talk to your child's pediatrician if you are concerned about the way your child talks or if he is not communicating well. It is important to identify your child's language impairment. Sometimes what seems like a language impairment is actually the symptom of a physical disorder.
Step 2
Ask your doctor to refer your child to a speech and language specialist who can screen him for specific disorders. The therapist will then work with your child. Many language disorders can be treated most effectively if they are identified before a child goes to school. Contact your local school district for assistance if you believe your child needs speech therapy.
Step 3
Praise your child when she speaks well, but do not point it out when she stutters. Help your child work on difficulties with stuttering at home. MayoClinic.com recommends maintaining eye contact with your child while she speaks. Be patient and allow your child to complete her thoughts. Set aside some quiet time each day when you can talk to your child without interruptions. Be patient and give her your undivided attention when she speaks.
Step 4
Encourage your child to use pictures or sign language to help him communicate if he has extreme difficulty expressing himself through speech. Children who have difficulty saying what they want to say sometimes suffer from apraxia of speech in which case they need the help of a speech therapist. Since there is no one way to effectively treat the disorder, treatment will depend on your child's needs. Developmental apraxia of speech, or DAS, is a condition present from birth. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports that DAS seems to affect more boys than girls although the cause in unknown.
Step 5
Use cues and drill exercises to help a child with developmental articulation disorder learn to pronounce words correctly. Cues may be verbal or visual. For example, tell your child where to place her tongue or have her watch the movement of her mouth in a mirror. Have conditions, such has a cleft palate or hearing problems that may be contributing to the problem, medically treated. Although these may hinder some children's articulation, the Princeton Speech-Language and Learning Center points out that most articulation errors are developmental in nature; therefore, parents should not be overly concerned.
Step 6
Encourage a child with an orofacial myofunctional disorder, or OMD to focus on mouth and tongue postures. Since children with OMD move their tongues forward in an exaggerated way when they talk or swallow, a child should also practice swallowing and work on improving articulation of speech sounds. According to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, besides genetics, OMD can be caused by extended pacifier or bottle use, chronic thumb sucking or upper airway obstruction.
Tips and Warnings
- Your child may have developmental articulation disorder if he mispronounces certain sounds when speaking. Common signs are a lisp or the use of the "w" sound for the "r" sound. Children who have OMD sometimes need dental work or to increase the strength and coordination of their facial muscles.
- Hurrying a child or interrupting her while she is talking can create stress and cause her to stutter more.
References
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center: Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders
- MayoClinic.com: Stuttering: Coping and Support
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders: Apraxia of Speech
- Princeton Speech-Language and Learning Center: Articulation Disorders
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: Speech and Language Disorders and Diseases
