As a parent, it’s natural to worry about your child’s development. There are certain speech and comprehension benchmarks that children should meet between the ages of one and five. If you’re concerned that your toddler isn’t displaying typical speech fluency for their age, they may have a preschool language disorder. Their causes are not always known; they may be associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but not necessarily. They may also be a result of premature birth, hearing loss, or genetics. Toronto based preschool speech and language therapists help children understand directions, form words into sentences, ask questions, and turn sentences into stories.
First, it’s important to understand that there two basic types of preschool language disorders, although children can experience both.
Expressive Language Disorder – A child’s verbal skills are below average for their age group. A child with poor expressive ability will have a smaller vocabulary and experience difficulty using words together. At older ages, you may notice that they do not ask questions or that they have a hard time telling stories.
Receptive Language Disorder – Children experience difficulty understanding verbal language, which can show itself as a struggle to answer questions or follow directions. If you notice your toddler struggling with comprehension, a Speech-Language Pathologist at Toronto speech therapy clinic Simone Friedman SLS can assess their problem. There is a strong connection between the verbal and the written word. Children who have a hard time understanding verbal communication may struggle with reading and writing later on.
If you’re worried about your child’s development, compare their vocabulary and cognitive ability against the benchmarks explained on Simonefriedmansls.com.
- At 15 months, a toddler should respond to a parent saying, “No,” or point indicatively at objects out of fascination.
- At 2 years, their vocabulary should have at least 100 words, and they should begin to combine words, such as nouns and verbs or nouns and prepositions.
- At 2 ½ years, their vocabulary should have at least 300 words, and they should be using verbs more commonly. This is also the stage at which they begin to use complex grammar like gerunds, for example.
- At 4 years, they should be asking questions and using complete sentences, including a subject, verb, and object.
- At 5 years, they begin to combine sentences to tell stories. It’s a positive sign if they come up to you and tell you a story, even if the characters are made up and it doesn’t make sense. It means they are grasping the ability to express complicated ideas with words.
Toronto based preschool speech and language therapists can help your child develop if he or she seems to be falling behind. The pathologists at Simone Friedman SLS can implement direct therapy in a group-play environment, or teach parents and early care providers how to exercise a child’s expressive skills. An early intervention can put your son or daughter on the right track for their future learning and development.
