Paediatrics: Speech and language development

Speech and language development

Speech is assessed in conjunction with hearing. Impaired hear-ing will affect language development. Age of acquisition of language is very varied.

Early signs of normal hearing and vocalization

·  Newborn will quieten to voices and startle to loud noises.

·  By 6wks: responds to mother’s voice.

·  By 12wks:

·  will vocalize alone or when spoken to;

·  begins to coo and laugh.

Early language development

·  At 6mths will use consonant monosyllables, e.g. ‘ba’ or ‘da’.

·  By 8mths will use non-specific two-syllable babble, e.g. ‘mama’ or ‘dada’.

·  By 13mths two-syllable words become appropriate and develops understanding of other single words (e.g. ‘drink’ or ‘no’).

·  By 18mths:

·  vocabulary of 10 words;

·  demonstrate 6 parts of the body.

Phrase and conversation development

Conversation becomes increasingly complex with sentence development in the 2nd year.

·  By24mths begin to combine 2 words together progressing to 3-words phrases by the age of 2yrs (e.g. ‘Give me toy’ or ‘get me drink’).

By 3yrs knows age, name and several colours.