Delayed communication skills must be addressed to avoid future problems in pre-K, Kindergarten and then school.We, speech experts at Talkaroo Academy, have created a Toddler Speech Boost 14 day Challenge you, the parent, can take and learn the necessary tools needed to get your toddler to talk!
The 2-year-old Matty’s story
I had a child in therapy, let's call him Matty (I can't reveal his real name of course), and he wad no words at all, at 24 months of age. His mother was out of her mind with worry!!! Matty could not speak and could not explain his emotions well. He cried for everything instead of using words and then his frustrated mom needed to guess what was happening, hand him things and wait for protest or acceptance. When he wanted something that was not next to him, then they were both really stuck.
Let's talk about what happens if a toddler does not talk or only has a few words ?? Plain and simple-he can’t get his needs and wants met well. Are you are stuck feeling helpless next to a crying child too? you are not alone.. This is very frustrating for both the toddler and his parent.
· If Matty does not speak, he can’t say “miss you”, “love you”, “I am sad”, etc
· His social relationships with other kids suffer as Matty can’t say “I want to play with you”
· Matty cannot use a variety of verbs like “go, sit, bathe” which he needs in order to request routine activities.
· Matty cannot use routine words like “more, help, thank you”.
· Matty cannot request to open something with words so he whines/cries.
· Matty cannot ask questions so he can’t get answers to what he wants to know.
· It is not possible to have a back and forth conversation with him so a lot of the time, Matty spends time by himself.
· Matty cannot express that he/she is tired or wants to go outside with words, so he whines/cries instead.
· When his family members talk about yesterday’s or tomorrow’s events, he is not involved in family discussions as he does not have words he can comment with.
The importance of communication
Communication has two forms- verbal and nonverbal. So making sounds, crying, exclaiming and using words-that’s verbal communication. Pointing, pulling mom, shaking head for no, nodding, etc. - that’s non-verbal communication.
Every child has some form of communication, with the earliest form of it being crying. At first a child cries and then he learns to reach and point and pull mom.
Matty, who has no words, uses non-verbal communication such as pointing, pulling mom to what he wants. It is not very efficient because he cannot explain everything he wants by pointing or pulling, especially for things that are out of his reach or outside the house. So Matty cries a lot and after 18 months has gotten really bad with throwing temper tantrums.
As Matty is not communicating effectively with words, his self-esteem suffers as he sees others getting things he wants and he cannot ask for them;
As Matty is not communicating effectively with words, he has a hard time making friends at his daycare and then his pre-K, so social isolation is very frustrating for him and he starts to bite/hit and scream often. So behavioral problems get worse and worse.
What are the expected milestones for speech?
By 12 mos- we expect babbling
By 18 mos-we expect an average of 15 words
By 24 mos-e expect 50 words minimum and for 2-word combinations to begin
By 2 ½ - we expect 3-5 word phrases and some sentences to start
By 3 years old- we expect conversational speech/easy dialogue
What to do if your toddler misses his speech milestones
Based on research, Leaving Matty’s communication delay without any help will lead to “2 to 5 times higher risk for language impairment persisting into the late preschool to elementary school years”. (“Early Identification of Language Delay”, Philip S. Dale, PhD, Janet L. Patterson, PhD, Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, University of New Mexico, USA, February 2017, Rev. ed.)
What can you do at home?
Talkaroo Academy speech experts (speech pathologist and special educator/behavior analyst duo) created a course, a 14 day challenge, will give you the powerful tools and strategies you NEED to finally make a difference in your child's communication skills!!! You will see what you need to do, one short video lesson at a time.
In the course, we discuss what foods need to be eaten to advance speech, how to stimulate air control needed for speech, how to develop imitation of various actions, vowels, consonants and, of course, words!
GET THE TOOLS TO TEACH YOUR TODDLER TO IMITATE ACTIONS, SOUNDS AND WORDS!
THE COST OF THE ENTIRE 14 DAY CHALLENGE IS $27 FOR A LIMITED TIME. INVEST IN YOUR CHILD, STOP THINKING WHAT TO DO AND START DOING! YOU HAVE GOT THIS ! NOW IS THE TIME!
Written by the founders of Talkaroo Academy LLC
Jelena Vilensky, M.S. CCC/SLP, TSHH
Jennifer Levin, MS Ed, BCBA, LBA
