When should you seek the help of a Speech Therapist for your child?

We strongly recommend that you seek the help of a speech - language therapist if your child:

By 12 months

• doesn’t babble with changes in tone – e.g. dadadadadadadadada
• doesn’t use gestures like waving “bye bye” or shaking head for “no”
• doesn’t respond to her/his name
• doesn’t communicate in some way when s/he needs help with something

By 15 months

• doesn't understand and respond to words like "no" and "up"
• says no words
• doesn't point to objects or pictures when asked “Where’s the...?
• doesn’t point to things of interest as if to say “Look at that!”  and then look right at you

By 18 months

• doesn’t understand simple commands like "Don't touch"
• isn’t using at least 20 single words like "Mommy" or "up"
• doesn’t respond with a word or gesture to a question such as “What’s that? or “Where’s your shoe?”
• can’t point to two or three major body parts such as head, nose, eyes, feet

By 24 months

• says fewer than 100 words
• isn’t consistently joining two words together like "Daddy go" or “ shoes on”
• doesn’t imitate actions or words
• doesn’t pretend with toys, such as feeding doll or making toy man drive toy car

By 30 months 

• says fewer than 300 words
• isn’t using action words like “run”, “eat”, “fall”
• doesn’t imitate actions or words
• isnt using some adult grammar such as "two babies" and "diggies sleeping"

By 3-4 years months

• doesn’t ask questions by 3 years
• isn’t using sentences (e.g., "I don't want that" or "My truck is broken")  by three years
• isn’t able to tell a simple story by four or five years 

If you’ve noticed one or more of these warning signs in your child, it’s important that you talk to a Speech Therapist immediately. Don’t “wait and see!” The best intervention is EARLY INTERVENTION! (Source: www.hannen.org)