Good Speech is vital to your Child’s Well Being and Future

Have you considered the consequences?

when your child senses that his parents do not understand what he is saying
when your toddler is passed over as a potential playmate, because of her inability to connect with others
when your child is afraid to put up his hand in class
when your child is teased by playmates about the way she says things
when a child gets into fights on the playground because he cannot verbally defend himself
when the self esteem you have worked so hard as a parent to instill, is diminished by negative talking experiences
when a child is labelled ‘lazy’ or ‘stupid’ just because reading and writing are hard for her
when your child doesn’t pass provincial literacy testing for his secondary school diploma
when lack of early speech and language intervention puts your child at risk of lower than expected income
when your child chooses a field of work or accepts a position that does not involve talking or making presentations, because of the way he speaks.

These are just a few of the risks of children with undiagnosed and untreated speech, language, stuttering and reading problems. These findings are drawn from clinical research in the field of communication disorders and sciences.

Early signs of problems!

My two-year-old is late in talking compared to his peers.
My two and a half year old uses gestures and gets extremely frustrated when he is not understood.
My two and a half year old does not play with toys in the expected way.
My three-year-old says “tootie” for “cookie” and “ta” for “truck”.
My three and a half year old is hard to understand, and strangers look to me for a translation.
My four-year-old says “Her want it’, or ‘Him do it.”
My four and a half year old stutters and says, “mommy, my words are hard for me”.
My five-year-old doesn’t know what a rhyme is, and can’t produce words that rhyme.
My five and a half year old starts talking and I have no clue what she is talking about, until a few sentences into her story.
My six-year-old can’t remember the sounds that letters make.
My six and a half year old doesn’t follow instructions well in the classroom and frequently finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
My seven-year-old mixes up p’s and q’s and b’s and d’s and it isn’t getting easier with time.

If any one of these signs is familiar you should seek the help of a Speech- Language Pathologist immediately.