Every parent will definitely find themselves worrying about their child’s development. You may find yourself anxiously watching closely for every “first” of their milestones. Among the various developmental milestones, one area that many parents look forward to is their child’s speech and language development. There is nothing quite like the feeling of hearing your child speak their first word!

It is undeniable that every child progresses and develops at their own unique pace – some may begin speaking and reading earlier than others. However, when should you start to worry about your child’s speech development?

Here are 6 warning signs that may indicate that your child is falling behind in their speech development to watch out for.

1. Inability to follow verbal instructions

Generally, children should be able to comprehend and follow simple verbal instructions by the age of 2. The inability to comply with verbal instructions is a warning sign to watch out for as it may indicate that your child is unable to understand what you are saying to them.

2. Confusing look-alike letters or sound-alike letters

If your child is still finding letters challenging at the age of 6, it may be a sign of a more serious learning difficulty, such as dyslexia. This is especially so if they find it difficult to connect the visual symbol of a letter with the sound it makes. For instance, they may confuse the letters “b” and “p”, which leads to them mixing up the words “bear” and “pear”. If you suspect that your child may have dyslexia, it may be worthwhile to consider a dyslexia assessment in Singapore.

3. Inability to process the sounds of languages

Some children may have difficulty processing the sounds of words with more than two syllables. They may only be able to absorb the sounds of the first and last syllable of a word, but not those in between. Moreover, they may have issues with rhyming words.

4. Poor memory

Children with slow processing speeds or attention issues may find it difficult to retain information. For example, if you read your child a book and find that they are unable to remember anything about the story, it may be a sign that they are struggling to grasp  the language.

5. Auditory challenges

Does your child struggle to memorise the words to songs? Does he or she frequently ask you to repeat yourself? If so, then they may be exhibiting signs of auditory challenges.

By the age of 12 months, if your child is only using gestures to communicate, it may indicate a speech delay. They may be unable to understand sounds, including spoken words, which is why they choose to communicate by gestures rather than words.

6. Issues with self-regulation that affects engagement

Your child’s capacity to adjust their level of attentiveness in any given circumstance throughout the day is known as self-regulation. The main cause of your child’s inability to regulate their behaviour is that they are incorrectly processing sensory data.

If your child has issues with self-regulation, it is likely that they will have a hard time with engagement. Their inability to focus and stay engaged will hinder their ability to build on their speech and language skills.

The Singapore Brain Development Centre’s holistic and integrative programme for speech and language development

If your child is exhibiting any signs of speech and language delays, it may be worthwhile to seek out speech therapy and language therapy. Here at Singapore Brain Development Centre, we go beyond offering speech therapy on its own. Instead, we offer a holistic and integrative programme that focuses on building on a child’s speech and language skills, engagement and two-way communication, through Play Techniques and Auditory Training.

Our play-based therapy approach allows children to acquire cognitive, speech, language, motor and social-emotional skills all whilst having fun. They will learn to express their thoughts and build on their vocabulary and expressive language with the help of our experienced therapists. Moreover, learning through play increases a child’s engagement levels, which allows for more opportunities for language acquisition.

To learn more, feel free to contact us today.