May is National Speech-Language-Hearing Month, which is a mouthful to say, but each of these aspects of communication is critical to a child’s development. And they’re often related, which means that you can find symptoms of one disorder, such as hearing, in another communication area, such as speech.
When it comes to hearing issues in kids, studies estimate that about 2-3 kids out of every 1,000 have detectable hearing loss, which is often found during early testing. That said, many kids have hearing issues that can go undetected and only become apparent as they learn to communicate.
In this month’s blog post, the team of speech disorder experts at Celebrations Speech Group wants to review a few speech-related warning flags that your child may be struggling with hearing loss.
While kids learn at their own pace, there are some rules of thumb when it comes to speech and language development, such as:
These are very simplistic guidelines, and we invite you to check out this link for more details on speech development milestones.
So, if your child misses any of these speech development milestones, it may be a warning sign of several issues, including a speech delay and/or hearing issues.
Kids learn to speak by mimicking people around them. If they have a hearing issue, it can alter what they hear. As a result, the child may struggle with articulation, such as omitting parts of words or consonants.
For example, instead of saying, “dog,” they might drop the first D and just say, “og.” Or they can drop the last letter and “Do,” without the G.
Another way a child’s speech can be affected by a hearing disorder is if their pronunciation is fuzzy. This is hard to describe, but think of it like this: You hear someone talking and they say a word that you don’t know, and you don’t catch it all. So, when you go to say that word, you sort of fudge it and get as close as possible to the pronunciation you heard, which might not be correct. That’s exactly what can happen when a child with hearing loss is learning to speak.
Kids with hearing loss need to really concentrate to hear, and this concentration can wane the more complex a word becomes. So, a common sign of hearing issues in kids can be dropping word endings, such as plurals or tenses. For example, instead of saying, “I dropped the books,” a child with hearing loss might say, “I drop book.”
Another potential sign of a hearing disorder in kids is when they struggle to find the right note and pitch. This might mean speaking more softly or loudly, or using the wrong tone, such as not raising the pitch at the end of a question.
This list is far from complete, but it gives you a better idea of what might happen to speech development if a child has hearing issues.
The best way to determine whether your child might be struggling with a speech, language, or hearing disorder is to come see us for a full evaluation. To get that ball rolling, please contact one of our offices in Brentwood, Stockton, or Elk Grove, California, to schedule an appointment.
