What doctor should I go to if my child is late in speaking?

Every parent is very nervous about their children. They pay close attention to every stage of their children's development and are very afraid that something might go wrong with their children. Some parents find that children of the same age can already speak, but their own children can only say a few words. They want to know what department to see if their children are late in speaking. In fact, if the child does not have any other symptoms, parents do not need to worry too much, because each child's development is different.

If a baby still cannot speak when he reaches the normal speaking age, it does not mean that he will be mute and will never be able to speak again. Every baby starts speaking at a different age. Some children start speaking single words at 8 months old and can speak simple sentences before they are 1 year old. Some children have normal intelligence but don't learn to speak until they are 3-4 years old, and some don't learn to speak until they are 5 years old.

However, generally speaking, a one-year-old child can say two stressed words in a row, such as Dengdeng, Dongdong, and Guoguo. Later, he will be able to say words consisting of 2-3 characters, such as TV, towel, and sandal straps. When you want something, you point and say its name.

Whether a baby starts speaking early or late, in addition to the differences in the child's own developmental conditions, parents who are not talkative are also a factor in the child's delay in speaking.

A baby's ability to speak is mainly affected by two factors. One is physiological conditions, such as congenital damage to the auditory organs or certain parts of the brain, congenital poor physical condition, and heredity, which will affect the development of language ability. The second is the external environment in which the baby is located, including a good language atmosphere, objects of interaction and opportunities for communication with the child's language, etc.

If the baby is physically normal (if the parents started talking late, it may be genetic, which is normal, and one cannot simply judge the baby's intelligence based on how early or late he or she starts talking), we need to analyze whether there is a problem with the baby's language learning environment, find the cause and then solve it accordingly.

1. One of the reasons why babies speak late

Is the language environment too complex? In many families today, the language context is not unified, such as the baby’s grandmother speaks the local dialect, the mother speaks Cantonese, and the father speaks Mandarin. When faced with several different languages ​​at the same time, a baby in his language-sensitive period will not know who to learn from, and he may choose not to speak.

2. The second reason why babies speak late

Are you doing too much for your baby, depriving him of the opportunity to speak? Many "diligent" parents over-indulge their children, making their babies lazy to speak and lose the motivation to learn to speak. If the child wants to drink water and just opens his mouth to ask for it, the quick-eyed and quick-handed parents will have already handed him the cup of water. Over time, the child will develop a lazy mentality and will no longer be willing to speak, but will express his or her needs through gestures and eye contact.

3. The third reason why babies speak late

Is there a lack of communication with the baby, so that the baby has no context to learn to speak? Nowadays, in most families, children are taken care of by the elderly, who are quiet and taciturn. If parents do not have sufficient language communication with their children after get off work, the children will lack the environment for learning language, and their language development will naturally be affected.

4. The fourth reason why babies speak late

Do you often blame your baby and worry about his/her late speaking? Many parents like to compare their babies with babies of the same age. If they criticize their babies in front of others for not speaking as clearly and fluently as other children, or even laugh at their babies for inaccurate pronunciation, it will hurt their self-esteem and make them feel fear and disgust towards speaking.