Does My Child Need Help?
Consider having your child evaluated at Kid Talk by a speech or occupational therapist if any of these characteristics are noted:
At Any Age if...
- you are concerned about any aspect of speech or language development.
- you are concerned about your child’s fluency.
- your child is frustrated or embarrassed by his or her speech.
- you have learned your child is hearing impaired.
- your child has been diagnosed with a genetic or medical disorder associated with speech/language impairments and/or fine motor or sensory impairments
- your child is difficult to understand compared to their same aged peers
- your child has frequent difficulty with transitions
- your child is not able to physically keep up with their peers in play
- your child is overly sensitive to textures or sounds
- your child does not engage in age-appropriate play
As an infant your child...
- does not swallow well, difficulty nursing or with latch, has difficulty chewing, or has delayed oral-motor development
- has a cleft palate
- demonstrates neuro-motor impairment
- has neurological or structural deficits that put him/her at a high risk for later communication or feeding problems
- is quiet and not producing any cooing or babbling type sounds
- cannot tolerate tummy time
- limited visual tracking or visual attention
- does not acknowledge (smile, visually attend) a familiar person
- is overall quiet and does not vocalize excitement or displeasure
- is not rolling from side to side then progressing to back to stomach
At 18 months if your child...
- is not talking, has little speech sound play, or few consonants
- has fewer than ten different words, but has an advanced gesture system
- does not respond accurately to short, simple directions accompanied by gesture
- is not able to identify simple body parts
- is not able to stack 3-4 blocks
- is not attempting to imitate words and sounds
- is not starting to combine 2 words (“all gone, mommy bye-bye”)
- is not walking and moving about independently
- is not able to or not showing interest in holding a crayon or pencil to scribble
- does not cooperate with dressing or undressing
- is not able to be easily soothed by a caregiver
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Feeding is frustrating for child and family.
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Doesn’t eat chopped foods, including many meats and raw vegetables
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Does not chew with lips closed
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The tip of the tongue protrudes between the child’s lips during swallowing. Stuffs their mouth.
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Avoids different food textures
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Gags, chokes or vomits in the presence of food or while eating.
- shows any of the previously listed problems
At 2 years if your child...
- has less than 50 words and is not obviously increasing his or her vocabulary
- has many words, but is unintelligible, with very few consonants or a lot of vowel distortions
- does not understand short directions or simple questions, or does not pay attention to talking
- cannot name pictures and actions
- is not starting to combine 2-3 words into phrases
- is not able to sustain attention on one activity for 6-7 minutes
- is not using alternating feet going up stairs
- is not using words to make requests
- does not respond to their name
- is not staring to ask “wh” questions (“what’s that?, where’s my…?”)
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Stuffs their mouth
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Avoids different food textures
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Gags, chokes or vomits in the presence of food or while eating.
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Unable to bite through a hard cookie with ease
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Appears difficult for child to use their tongue tip to place and collect food for chewing and swallowing
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Chewing seems abnormal or effortful, or child swallows food whole
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The tip of the tongue protrudes between the child’s lips during swallowing.
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Avoids different food textures
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Eats a limited variety of foods.
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Feeding is frustrating for child and family
- Shows any of the previously listed problems
At 3 years if your child...
- is very difficult to understand
- consistently omits initial consonants
- has excessive nasal tone
- is not combining three and four words into connected utterances
- still has a lot of jargon
- is not able to tell short stories, convey ideas, or use words to describe observations
- echoes frequently and does not initiate many of their own utterances
- cannot draw a circle and a vertical line
- demonstrates limited sustained attention (less than 8 minutes on one activity)
- demonstrates difficulty kicking a ball
- has an uncoordinated gait
- cannot follow two-step commands or does not respond appropriately to who, what or where questions
- has excessive potty accidents during the daytime and/or is not showing interest in potty training
- has excessive dysfluencies and is showing obvious tension or actually blocks (freezes) on some of his sounds
- Gags, chokes or vomits in the presence of food or while eating.
- Unable to bite through a hard cookie with ease
- Spills liquid from an open cup when drinking
- Appears difficulty for child to use their tongue tip to place and collect food for chewing and swallowing
- Chewing seems abnormal or effortful, or child swallows food whole
- The tip of the tongue protrudes between the child’s lips during swallowing.
- Child stuffs their mouth
- Avoids different food textures
- Eats a limited variety of foods
- Feeding is frustrating for child and family
- has any of the previous problems listed
At 4 years if your child...
- is hard to understand (should be 100% intelligible to an unfamiliar listener)
- consistently drops word endings
- has noticeably faulty sentence structure
- cannot identify colors or shapes
- cannot copy a line, circle, or square
- is not able to independently dress self
- has consistent difficulty pronouncing multisyllabic words and either mixes up the sound order or drops out whole syllables
- is not able to relate events with good sequence and information content
- is not asking “why” and “who” questions
- is not speaking in longer 4-5+ word sentences
- demonstrates difficulty with balance, coordination, or walking on tiptoes
- Gags, chokes or vomits in the presence of food or while eating.
- Unable to bite through a hard cookie with ease
- Spills liquid from an open cup when drinking
- Appears difficulty for child to use their tongue tip to place and collect food for chewing and swallowing
- Chewing seems abnormal or effortful, or child swallows food whole
- The tip of the tongue protrudes between the child’s lips during swallowing.
- Child stuffs their mouth
- Avoids different food textures
- Eats a limited variety of foods
- Feeding is frustrating for child and family
- has any of the previous problems listed
At 5 years if your child...
- has difficulty following directions and attending to verbal information in a classroom setting
- does not speak in complete sentences
- demonstrates ongoing mispronunciation of any sounds
- cannot count 10 objects
- has a harsh, hoarse, or unusual voice
- demonstrate difficulty stating objects functions
- has a suspected learning disability that may be language based
- does not understand positional concepts (on top, behind, far, near, over, under)
- has difficulty understanding basic opposites
- is not asking questions to obtain information
- has difficulty using a scissors or continues to use a whole hand pencil grasp
- has difficulty telling a simple story (problem, action to solve, and outcome)
- becomes easily frustrated or lengthy emotional outbursts
- does not show interest in playing with a variety of toys and playground equipment
- is excessively rigid during play or routines
- Gags, chokes or vomits in the presence of food or while eating.
- Unable to bite through a hard cookie with ease
- Spills liquid from an open cup when drinking
- Appears difficulty for child to use their tongue tip to place and collect food for chewing and swallowing
- Chewing seems abnormal or effortful, or child swallows food whole
- The tip of the tongue protrudes between the child’s lips during swallowing.
- Child stuffs their mouth
- Avoids different food textures
- Eats a limited variety of foods
- Feeding is frustrating for child and family
- Has any of the previous problems listed
