If you are concerned about possible delays in your child’s verbal skills or understanding of language, consider these factors. All of them can play a role in speech and language delays. Physical problems like this are most often caught by your pediatrician before your child begins to start talking. In some cases, however, they may be missed until your child starts to see a dentist or begins to show signs of delayed speech. In this case, your child may have problems controlling the muscles and parts of their body that they use to speak. Their lips, tongue, or jaw, for instance, may not do what they “should” do to produce certain words. Specifically, pay attention to whether motor, verbal and cognitive skills are on target for your child’s age level. Speech problems related to developmental delays may include speaking very little (or not at all), not understanding what is being said by others, repeating what others say, or having no emotion or inflection and intonation when speaking. A child who has hearing loss may have trouble both understanding others’ speech and hearing their own vocalizations. This makes it hard to understand and master words. It also prevents the child from imitating words and using language fluently and correctly. These types of infections are characterized by inflammation and infection in your child’s middle ear. The infection may not clear up with typical treatments and may keep coming back within short periods of time. If your child falls into that category, your pediatrician may want you to see an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) specialist or may recommend that your child gets ear tubes.
