Your baby's speech appears to be delayed

What should I do if my child's speech appears to be delayed?

You should talk to your family doctor if you have any concerns about your child's speech or language development. Your doctor may decide to refer you to a speech therapist, a health professional trained to evaluate and treat people who have speech, language, voice or swallowing disorders (including hearing impairment) that affect their ability to communicate.

The speech therapist will talk to you about your child's communication and general development. He or she will also evaluate your child with special speech and language tests. A hearing test is often included in the evaluation because a hearing problem can affect speech and language development.

Depending upon the test results, the speech therapist may suggest activities for home to stimulate speech and language development. These activities may include reading to your child regularly; speaking in short sentences using simple words so that your child can successfully imitate you; or repeating what your child says, using correct grammar or pronunciation. The speech therapist may also recommend group or individual therapy or suggest further evaluation by other health professionals such as an audiologist, trained to identify and measure hearing loss, or possibly a developmental psychologist.