Services for children
Parents instinctively know when something is not quite right with their child. So we recommend that, as a parent, you follow what your gut is telling you. If you are concerned about any aspect of your child's communication development, try to organise for your child's hearing to be tested and then seek the professional opinion of a Speech-Language Therapist - either for peace of mind or for early identification of problems.
Speech-Language Therapists are uniquely qualified
Plunket Nurses, Kaiako, Teachers, GPs, Paediatricians, and others often take it upon themselves to say when they think a child's speech, language, and communication skills are fine. We wish that they would tell concerned parents to talk to a Speech-Language Therapist, and let the Speech-Language Therapist decide! Speech-Language Therapists are the only professionals uniquely qualified to assess, diagnose and treat Communication Disorders. And even with their specialist training, it is still tricky enough for Speech-Language Therapists themselves to figure out if a child's level of communication reflects normal developmental variation, or if something has gone wrong with their communication development.
Some late talkers "grow out of it" by the time they start school, but most late talkers go on to have weaker oral language skills than their peers. So we recommended intervention for all toddlers who are late talkers to prevent difficulties later on at school.
We also recommend early intervention for children with speech that is hard for others to understand to avoid long term negative influence on their self-esteem, their friendships and social development, and on learning to read and write.
When a child has language difficulties that create obstacles to communication and learning in everyday life and these language problems are unlikely to resolve or have not resolved by age 5;0, they can be diagnosed with a Developmental Language Disorder, or DLD for short. When a child has speech dificulties that prevent effective communication, they can be diagnosed as having a Speech Sound Disorder, or SSD for short.
We also recommend early intervention for children with speech that is hard for others to understand to avoid long term negative influence on their self-esteem, their friendships and social development, and on learning to read and write.
When a child has language difficulties that create obstacles to communication and learning in everyday life and these language problems are unlikely to resolve or have not resolved by age 5;0, they can be diagnosed with a Developmental Language Disorder, or DLD for short. When a child has speech dificulties that prevent effective communication, they can be diagnosed as having a Speech Sound Disorder, or SSD for short.
About Communication Disorders
About Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Here are links to diagnostic criteria so you can check and see if your child could have one of these 4 Communication Disorders:
Parents instinctively know when something is not quite right with their child. So we recommend that, as a parent, you follow what your gut is telling you. Try to organise for your child's hearing to be tested and then seek the professional opinion of a Speech-Language Therapist - either for peace of mind or for early identification of problems.