A question we are often asked here at Active Speech Pathology is,
“Is my child too young for therapy?”
Some other similar things we hear are:
“I might be overreacting but…”
“It might be too early but…”
“People have told me he/she will grow out if it but…”
So, let’s talk early intervention and answer that first question – is your child too young for therapy?
Put simply, no! The earlier we can assess your child and diagnose speech and/or language difficulties, the better the outcomes. The ‘wait and see’ approach can result in lost time, when you could be building critical language skills.
You may have heard about how very busy your child’s brain is between the ages of 0-5. Your child’s brain is developing at speed in this period. They are primed to learn our sound system, and their home language. This is when your child is at their most receptive to learning new skills! It’s the prime time for us to enrich language learning.
The evidence is clear; waiting to take action until your child starts school at age 5 or 6 makes it harder for them to catch up to their peers. Identification and intervention in their preschool years reduces the longer-term impact of speech and/or language difficulties on your child’s communication competence, academic performance (including learning to read and write) and social-emotional well-being.
You can be confident that our team is equipped with the skills and training to engage even the most busy 2, 3 or 4 year old (and we even relish these opportunities!)
You might imagine that your young child will have to sit and complete activities as instructed – this is not the case. When working with this age group, we utilise a play based approach. We also work with YOU – the most important adult in your child’s life, to equip you to use strategies and interactions at home to boost language learning. This allows for your child to access intervention everyday through you, in their home environment.
We recently wrote about communication milestones from 18 months to 5 years, which can be found here .
Remember: Speech and language therapy is beneficial to ALL, harmful to NONE, crucial to SOME! Call our friendly team today with any concerns related to your young child’s communication development.
