Early Warning Signs of a Speech Delay for Infants
A few days ago, I shared the Early Warning Signs of a Speech Delay for 18+ Months, but today I want to share Early Warning Signs for Birth - 18 Months for all of you mamas out there with sweet babies!
To review, let’s talk about the difference between speech and language! It gets confusing for some people, because the two words are often lumped together (i.e., “speech language pathologist,” “speech language impairment,” “speech language evaluation”), but they really do refer to two different things.
Speech
or articulation, refers to the way we say sounds. Many parents feel they do not need to think about speech until their child is around the age of one (when we typically expect to hear the first true words); however, speech is developing long before that! Below is a chart from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) that outlines speech development from birth to one year.
Birth - 3 months:
Makes cooing sounds
Cries change for different needs
Smiles at people
4 months - 6 months:
Coos and babbles when playing alone or with you
Makes speech-like babbling sounds, like pa, ba, and mi
Giggles and laughs
Makes sounds when happy or upset
7 months - 12 months:
Babbles long strings of sounds, like mimi upup babababa
Uses sounds and gestures to get and keep attention
Points to objects and shows them to others
Uses gestures like waving bye, reaching for “up,” and shaking his/her head no
Imitates different speech sounds.
Says 1 or 2 words, like hi, dog, dada, mama, or uh-oh
12 months - 18 months:
Early developing sounds begin to emerge: p, b, m, h, n, w
Simple CV, VC, CVC, CVCV words (may/may not be clear)
If you have concerns about your infant’s development, don’t wait to contact your pediatrician or your state’s ECI (early childhood intervention) program. You can get a referral to see an SLP (Speech Language Pathologist) to complete a comprehensive evaluation.
As I said in Do’s and Don’ts of Speech Language Development, a parent’s intuition is strong, and if you sense that your child may not be developing as anticipated, make sure to bring up your concerns to your pediatrician or your local ECI program. I can’t stress the importance of early intervention enough! According to the CDC, intervention is likely to be more effective when it is provided earlier in life rather than later and families benefit from early intervention by being able to better meet their children’s needs from an early age and throughout their lives.
If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at hello@macygilson.com or leave a comment below! You can also check out Early Warning Signs of a Speech Delay for 18+ Months and Early Warning Signs of a Language Delay!
