Parents wait with bated breath for their child's first babbling utterances. And as these babies grow, their parents learn to interpret their variations of words or invented terms.

However, knowing when a cute mispronunciation or perpetual baby talk is cause for concern often escapes many moms and dads, and it isn't until preschool that many problems are identified.

In fact, when children reach preschool, their teachers are often the ones to point out a potential speech problem to parents, and can lead them to a speech language pathologist for help.

"In my 21 years of working with children, it is almost always the case that if the parent is concerned with development, then there is probably a reason for concern," says Darlene O'Keefe, private registered speech/language pathologist at Chatterboxes Speech and Language Inc.

If parents are uncertain, it is best to seek out help early, as untreated language and speech difficulties can carry with them behavioural, social, and academic problems down the road, she says.

O'Keefe recently attended an early intervention assessment and treatment conference, and the bottom line was the need to treat problems quickly.

"The profound message relayed was that early communication skills are the single best predictor of academic success for children," she says.

This success can be achieved through early speech and language therapy, which ranges from teaching children certain sounds to ensuring children are exposed to a wide variety of language so they are learning vocabulary, hearing words and pairing language with activities.

"There are kids who may be exposed to a very rich environment, but for various reasons present with some speech and/ or language difficulties," says Susan Rafaat, registered language pathologist at Therapy Connections.

These children may benefit from some professional help.

Often, parents and their child meet with a speech pathologist to learn techniques to evoke the correct speech outcome and then practise these techniques at home.

For more serious problems, multiple sessions may be required to get the child moving in the right direction.

Parents don't always know exactly what the direction is or how to get there. The answer often depends on the age of the child and the issues at play.

"There's typically a developmental progression of what we expect kids to be able to produce," Rafaat says.

By three years of age, children should be able to produce most of the sounds made with thelips--the M, P, and B sounds--as well as the tongue tip sounds like T, D and N.

"Some of the later developing sounds are still going to be problematic. Even at three, kids might have a bit of a hard time with the K and G, the velar or back sounds made in the back of the mouth," says Rafaat. By four, those velar sounds should be mastered, but some others remain challenging for some children, including the R, L, CH, SH and the TH sounds.

While there are milestones, parents also need to be on the lookout for other factors that can signal a speech or language problem. Some children are late talkers and need help building their vocabulary, comprehension and understanding concepts. Other children exhibit unusual speech patterns.

"There's a difference between a child who uses a W for an R, and a child who, for instance, omits the initial sounds of words," says Rafaat.

Parents should also consider how well they understand what their child is saying, even with the aid of contextual clues.

At three years, about half of what a child says should be decipherable by strangers while people outside the family should understand most of what a four-year-old says, says Rafaat.

If parents struggle to figure out what's being said, and if the child is frustrated with not being understood by family or peers, it's a good idea to get the child's speech-language skills checked out, she says.

Whether making an appointment with a private speech language pathologists or seeking publicly funded professionals through community health clinics, there is a lot of support for children with speech problems.

Getting an assessment early is key in order to provide the support that is needed.

"It is critical that these communication delays are addressed in the early years in order that children will be successful learners," says O'Keefe.

By assessing a speech or language issue early, children can be in a better position developmentally, she adds, to tackle the challenges of kindergarten and beyond.

Source: Calgary Herald - http://tinyurl.com/ylmdely