Is my child talking normally?

The ability to speak and use language is one thing that sets humans apart from all other species on earth.

In ourdaily interactions with young children, wesee them at various stages of language acquisition. While it is true that all children learn language at an individual rate; there are guidelines to help a parent know if intervention is necessary.

In infancy, children begin by babbling and making recognizable sounds such as “ooh”, “aah” and “ee”.  They begin to turn towards spoken words. By the time they are one year, children should have mastered simple words such as “maa maa” “daa daa” and imitate sounds that you make.  By 18 months, children should have a vocabulary of approximately 20 words and be learning new words every week.  Between two and three years of age, the average child's vocabulary will have increased to about 500 -900 different words.  These are only guidelines and each child will progress at their own pace, but that being said, early intervention is critical to helping a child “catch up” to his peers if there is a problem.

In London, there is a program called Tyke Talk to assist families.  It is a free service, and children are assessed by Speech and Language Pathologists. To enroll in the program, you can be referred by your doctor or you can self-refer using their online referral form on their website.  The website also has suggestions of activities you can do to help your child as you wait to see the Speech and Language Pathologist.  The website is www.tyketalk.com

You know your child best. If you have a concern, Tyke Talk is a great community resource to access