“At what age can you tell a child has a speech delay?”

A child of 18 months should be saying more words and trying to say more sound combinations. Speech pathologists can diagnose problems even younger. If in doubt please take your child for an evaluation. You might spend some money in copay. But if there is a problem you will be well ahead in addressing it and may correct it quickly.

We usually start assessing at around age of 2 years old. However, it is not only about what they can say it’s also about their receptive language and pragmatic skills. We look for things like:

-Appropriate play skills
-Appropriate eye contact
-Ability to imitate or show you their body parts upon request

We look for them to have proper attention and engagement in activities among others.

When I see pediatric clients, I don't usually get concerned until they are beyond the age the phonological process is expected to stop. A 1.5 year old is still developing in their sound development and it is common for them to reduplicate words. If you still have concerns between 2.5-3.5 years old, you can locate a private practice SLP or an early development center speech language pathologist (ASHA Certified) for an assessment. To alleviate your concerns, I've included a link to a pdf about what phonological processes are and some common things we see in young toddlers. You can copy and paste the pdf link into your browser >>> http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/wp-content/downloads/forms/phonological_processes.pdf Hope this helps :)

There are various indicators to rule in/out a speech-language deficit. I would recommend seeking an evaluation just to be sure.

Typically, by one year old a child should begin using several words spontaneously (usually nouns). He or she should also be able to imitate familiar words said by family members. At two years old we call this the language explosion stage because children should begin connecting two words and have an explosion of language using around 200 different words in their vocabulary. I would say if you are concerned, reach out to your local school district or community center for who to contact about questions, concerns, and an evaluation. With this said, all children develop at different rates.

Hi,

Typically by 1 year of age, a child should be using a couple single words. But I wouldn’t be too worried yet. If he is not saying more by his second birthday, I would seek out a speech evaluation.

Ali Matisse, MS CCC-SLP