The earlier that services are delivered, the more likely children are to develop effective communication, language, and swallowing skills and achieve successful learning outcomes (Guralnick, 2011).
What This May Look Like
Private services at a clinic (like Stewart SLP). We provide direct and consultative services to young children and their parents without insurance or educational restrictions. We tailor the frequency and content of therapy to the individual needs of each child and family. Parents can call us with or without a referral from a medical professional. Clinicians work directly with the child along with supporting family goals.
Public services provided by the county you live in for infants and toddlers (birth-3 years of age) and their families. It is designed for children identified with a medical or developmental diagnosis to address self-help skills, cognitive skills, communication skills, physical development, and social-emotional development. Services focus on training parents to support their children’s development. Public early intervention is called something different state by state (e.g., Early On in Michigan, Help Me Grow in Ohio). It starts with a referral (can self-refer), evaluation, eligibility determination, and if eligible a Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) is created. You can read more about the public service here: https://1800earlyon.org/
Early Development: Think of a Pyramid
During your baby’s first year, they are developing skills that lay the foundation for communication. Now, think of communication development as a pyramid being built:
First, Early Interaction and Preverbal Skills are the foundation (i.e., eye contact, joint attention, gestures)
Then comes Attention Skills (i.e., waiting, completing short activities, listening)
Next comes Play (i.e., functional, symbolic, imaginative, pretend)
Understanding (i.e., following directions and understanding questions)
Talking (i.e., using words to label, request, make comments/exclamations, and greet)
Social Skills (i.e., how your child uses their words to interact with people around them)
Finally, Speech Sounds (i.e., pronunciation of speech sounds)
If there is a break in the pyramid, it can influence the rest of your child’s development, which is why there is no such thing as TOO EARLY.
Important Things to Remember
You may hear just cooing and gooing but they are exploring their voice, sounds that can be made, and watching your reactions to their attempts.
Exploration then moves to canonical babbling (e.g., mama, dada) then to variegated babbling, which resembles more child-like speech (e.g., /bah/ for “ball”).
Once your baby reaches the first year (12 months), their verbal skills begin an upward climb from saying words, imitating sounds, to producing 2-word phrases and so on.
If there is a delay within this timeline, it has the ability to slow your baby’s trajectory towards communicating effectively, possibly leading to frustrations, speech sound delays, and so on.
Milestones Are Not a One-Size-Fits-All Mentality
Yes, there are milestones and skills we expect all children to meet. However, one of the most important questions to address is what is the functional impact on the child’s day-to-day interactions. Can your child access their environment? Can your child communicate his/her needs? If so, these are things that can be monitored and if not, it is a matter of determining what supports the child needs to gain access to communication within the environment.
When Should I Seek Out Help?
If your child does not respond to his/her name (9 months – on)
If your child does not use gestures (e.g., waving, pointing, clapping) (6 months – on)
If your child does not babble or only makes a few sounds (6 months- on)
Does not understand what others says (e.g., give me, come here, want up) (12 months -on)
Does not utilize single words or has a limited vocabulary (18 months – on)
You cannot understand what your child is saying (24 months – on)
Does not put together words (24 months - on)
Difficulty answering questions, retelling events, and holding a conversation (30 months – on)
What Can Parents Do Right Now?
Listen and respond to your child’s communication attempts.
Talk, read, and play with your child.
If you speak multiple languages, talk with your child in the language you are most comfortable using.
Talk about what you are doing and what your child is doing.
Use a variety of words (e.g., nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives).
Use longer sentences as your child understands more or is using more word together.
Encourage social opportunities for your child to develop social skills.
Reach out to an SLP if you have concerns. We’re here to help!
