Speech Therapy

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP) provide diagnostic evaluations and treatment programs for communication problems. Evaluations are provided for children who have difficulties with language comprehension and expression, articulation or poor speech intelligibility, fluency or stuttering difficulties, poor vocal quality or vocal abuse, and language or communication difficulties related to developmental delays. Speech therapy may help your child achieve a greater ability to use and understand language, to communicate with others, and to express himself or herself to the greatest extent possible.

ST Developmental Milestones

By 6 months your child should be able to:
Babbles and tries to imitate sounds. Can look towards the sound of music and sounds. Can chuckle and laugh and vocalize excitement and displeasure.

By 12 months your child should be able to:
Can use a word consistently like “mama or dada” and imitate more sounds. Will start to identify basic body parts, and follow simple directions with a demonstration.

By 18 months your child should be able to:
Says or imitates 8-10 words and can attends to pictures. Can shake head “no” and follow 1-step directives.

By 24 months your child should be able to:
Says 15-20 words and can point to pictures in a book when named. Can use words more than gestures to communicate.
Understands basic questions like “Where’s your shoe?”

By 3 years your child should be able to:
Uses 50-100 different words. Can matches colors and answer simple “yes/no”, “what” and “where” questions. Can count to 3
Likes to play with other children.

By 4 years your child should be able to:
Starts to use complex sentences. Sentences may range in 4-8 words in length. Can count to 10 and can talk about feelings.

By 5 years your child should be able to:
Says all speech sounds in words and can name letters and words. Will follow classroom directions like “Draw a circle on your paper around something you eat.” Hears and understands most of what is said in home and in school. Can keep a conversation going with another person.

This information has been compiled from the following sources: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (www.asha.org), Pathways, Skillbuilders, CDC, Arvedson and Brodsky (2006), Toomey and Associates, Inc. (2002), Richmond, M., (2006), Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (www.luriechildrens.org)