Reasons why children are slow to speak

Children with speech delay are often due to problems with the mouth muscles, hearing, and psychology and may stem from a certain medical condition.

From 0-2 years old is the period when children begin to form basic skills such as learning to walk, learn to speak, learn to eat... According to medical experts, there are many factors that affect the development process. children's speech and language. It could be an illness or a motor or intellectual problem... Here are some causes and solutions.

Problems in the brain

Speech delay often occurs when there is a problem in the areas of the brain that control the muscles responsible for speech. As a result, children may have difficulty making sounds because they cannot coordinate movements of their lips, tongue, and jaw.

In addition, the phenomenon of the brain not communicating with the facial muscles also causes apraxia. With this condition, the child will not be able to move the muscle groups needed to speak.

Autism

Speech delay is common in children with autism. According to research, half of 3-4 year olds diagnosed with autism cannot speak. In particular, autism spectrum disorder also affects language development in other ways.

According to scientists, children with autism have difficulty in non-verbal communication. As a result, these children may not express their needs and feelings by 12 months. Besides, autism also causes another common problem which is language delay. With this condition, children will have symptoms of repeating the same words over and over, often a phrase heard in a TV show, video game or movie.

Babies don't always develop in the normal sequence, and speech delays may occur. Photo: Freepik

Hearing problems

Hearing loss also significantly affects a child's ability to speak or use language. When children have difficulty hearing, they tend to have difficulty speaking, understanding, imitating, and using language. Some children with auditory processing disorder are also unable to understand what they hear.

Intellectual disability

Intellectual disability (intellectual retardation) in a child is a limitation or abnormality in brain development. Some common symptoms are unclear speech, difficulty remembering. In the long run, children will have difficulty communicating and learn more slowly than normal children.

Due to illness

Cleft palate, ear infection, otitis media are the reasons for the delay in speech. With the group of children with cleft palate, the tongue brake (tongue brake) of the child will be abnormally short, limiting the movement of the tip of the tongue and the child's ability to pronounce. In addition, otitis media, chronic inflammation or other diseases related to hearing are also the causes that make it difficult for children to understand and learn to imitate the words of those around them.

According to medical experts, children may have speech delay if there are some signs such as: not being able to say simple words when the child is between 12 and 15 months old; inability to understand simple words by 18 months of age; could not speak short sentences by the age of 3 or could not tell a simple story by the age of 4-5 years. Therefore, parents need to observe and take the child to the hospital when the child falls into the above cases. With early treatment, children can improve speech and language development.

In daily life, parents can reduce risks by spending more time playing and talking with their children. Many studies show that the habit of reading stories to babies can help them start getting used to and practice reflexes and interactions with people around them. Avoid exposing children to too much electronic devices because they can hinder language development.