Speech & Hearing Screenings for Children
May is Better Speech and Hearing Month and now is the perfect time to spotlight the special role speech-language pathologists, more readily referred to as speech therapists, play in children’s lives. It’s easy to think that a speech therapist is someone who works with others to correct mispronounced words and help them speak—however, speech therapists do much, much more than that.
Speech-language pathologists are professional therapists who evaluate and treat speech, language and swallowing disorders. A pediatric speech-language pathologist may work with a child in any of the following areas:
- Feeding & Swallowing – safely eating, drinking, and swallowing
- Articulation– producing the correct speech sounds
- Voice– speaking with vocal quality, pitch, loudness, and resonance
- Expressive Language – using language to communicate functionally
- Receptive Language– understanding what is being communicated
- Pragmatics – using social language in order to convey needs and participate in conversations
- Fluency (Stuttering)– speaking using a normal flow and rhythm without interruptions
- Hearing – communicating in the presence of a hearing disorder
Preschool & Daycare Speech and Hearing Screenings
Your first introduction to a speech-language pathologist may actually be at your child’s preschool or daycare. It is a common practice for local speech-language pathologists to offer free speech and language screenings for young students at these early learning centers. With your consent, a speech therapist will conduct a brief screening to review your child’s articulation, language, voice, fluency, and hearing.
The free screening will provide a quick snapshot into your child’s speech and language skills by utilizing a research-based tool to indicate a pass/fail status. A hearing test may also be performed simultaneously. If your child fails his or her screening or hearing test, a more in-depth assessment is typically recommended to determine if a delay or disorder exists.
Some signs of speech and language disorders that speech-language pathologists will watch for in children include:
Feeding & Swallowing Disorders:
- Difficulty chewing
- Choking, coughing, or gagging on food and/or liquids
- Difficulty transitioning to solids or higher textured solids like meat
- Difficulty transitioning from bottle to cup
Speech Sound Disorders:
- Incorrect pronunciation of the letters p, b, m, h, and/or w by 1 to 2 years of age
- Incorrect pronunciation of the letters k, g, f, t, d, and/or n by 2 to 3 years of age
- Unclear speech to both familiar and unfamiliar listeners at 2 to 3 years of age
Voice Disorders:
- Speaking with a hoarse or breathy voice
- Speaking with a nasal voice
Language Disorders:
- Not smiling or interacting with others by 3 months of age
- Lack of babbling at 7 months of age
- Not using gestures by 12 months of age
- Inability to understand what others are saying between 7 months and 2 years of age
- Unable to say more than 50 words by 2 years of age
- Unable to combine words by 2 1/2 years of age
Fluency (Stuttering) Disorders:
- Frequently repeating parts of words or whole words at 2 1/2 to 3 years of age
- Stretching sounds out like “n-n-n-no” for “no” at 2 1/2 to 3 years of age
- Struggling to get sounds or words out by 2 1/2 to 3 years of age
Hearing Disorders:
- Lack of attention to sounds
- Not responding to name when called
- Inability to follow simple commands
Filed under: Awareness, Better Speech and Hearing, Parenting Tips, Raleigh Therapy Services, Speech and Language Development