Language is a beautiful gift. It allows us to share our needs, wants, thoughts, feelings and everything that makes us human. When you spend time with your child, you have the power to give and nurture this gift of communication.
Many factors affect the rate at which a child develops language skills. Speech and language development can be thought of as a natural progression of stages in which a child passes through. However, the pace or exact age at which a child achieves his or her milestones may vary. Some factors that may contribute to how fast or slow a child learns speech and language include:
- Inborn ability to learn language
- Hearing loss or impairment
- Motor skills such as walking, jumping, writing, self-feeding
- Frequency and quality of language that a child is exposed to
If a child is slow in speech and language acquisition, he or she may have a speech or language difficulty.