Speech difficulties in children are common. In fact, 1.9 million children in the UK are currently struggling with their speech.
There are lots of different reasons for this, from the physical to the mental, there are a number of key reasons that these children may have difficulty speaking or communicating.
If your child or a child that you care for is experiencing speech difficulties, it’s important to address the issue as soon as possible. But in order to do so, you need to understand what is causing the problem. This is crucial for effective diagnosis and treatment.
To give you a better understanding of common speech difficulties and what your child might be going through, we’re going to share some of the most common causes. These include:
1. Developmental delays
It’s first worth noting that some children will develop speech and language skills more slowly than their peers without any underlying condition. This is not something to be concerned about, we are all different and everyone learns at a different speed.
Not only this but some may suffer with cognitive development delays that can impact their speech and language acquisition. Again, this can be minor and nothing to worry about but in some cases, it can be more severe and can impact their speech, as well as their social skills and ability to take care of themselves in the future.
2. Hearing impairment
Children with partial or complete hearing loss may struggle with their speech. This is because they cannot hear the sounds they need to replicate and it is much harder for them to have conversations and interact with their peers in the same way.
It also makes it harder to teach them in traditional ways such as through reading, song and games, techniques that are often recommended by speech and language therapists.
Similarly, those who suffer from recurrent ear infections as a young child may find they have temporary hearing loss. This can also affect their speech development, but often this is a short-term issue.
3. Neurological disorders
There are also several neurological reasons that your child may be suffering from a speech difficulty.
Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have speech and language difficulties because this can impact their auditory processing and motor skills.
Similarly, Developmental Apraxia of Speech (DAS) is a motor speech disorder where children have trouble planning and coordinating the movements they need to speak. Some children with Autism can also suffer from DAS.
Another neurological disorder is Cerebral Palsy. Though the severity of this can vary, this disorder affects the movement and muscle tone of children and can impact the key muscles needed for speech.
4. Physical impairments
It’s not just neurological conditions that cause problems, physical impairments like cleft lip or palate can make speech articulation much harder for sufferers. As can conditions like dysarthria. This is weakness in the muscles required for speech and can hinder the child’s ability to speak clearly.
5. Genetic syndromes
There are two key genetic syndromes that can impact a child’s ability to speak and again, this can differ in severity.
Children with Down syndrome often have speech and language delays because of differences in their oral structure and function. For example, they may have weaker oral muscles, less muscle tone and a smaller upper jaw which can all affect their speech.
Similarly, Fragile X Syndrome is a genetic condition that affects a person's development and ability to learn. This can result in speech delays and language difficulties.
6. Psychological and emotional factors
Deep-routed psychological issues can stop a child from speaking, for example, selective mutism. This is a complex anxiety disorder where a child is unable to speak in certain situations.
Psychological trauma or extreme stress can also have the same impact on speech, either stunting a child’s development or pushing them towards selective mutism anyway.
7. Environmental factors
It is an unfortunate reality that children who are not exposed to enough language stimulation at home may experience delays. Those who are not given stimulation by way of toys, role play, reading, music and even TV can take longer to learn how to speak and communicate.
Interestingly, bilingualism, while not a disorder, can also cause problems in the early stages. Children who are learning multiple languages simultaneously might experience temporary speech delays as they navigate both languages.
In this case, although this may be potentially alarming at first, it can leave your child with more specialist linguistic skills later in life and obviously the ability to communicate in multiple languages, which is great.
8. Illness and injury
Finally, there are some other medical conditions that can affect speech. Infections and illnesses can temporarily or even permanently impact speech, though these are less common in young children.
Traumatic brain injuries can also stunt or stop their speech development. This can happen if the trauma or injury affects the areas of the brain responsible for speech and language.
Diagnosis and intervention
Early diagnosis and intervention are the key to managing speech delays or difficulties in children. If you're worried about a child in your care, speech and language therapists can conduct comprehensive assessments to determine the cause of the issues and develop an individualised treatment plan to tackle this.
Some of these interventions or treatment plans might include:
- Speech therapy using tailored exercises and activities to improve their speaking skills
- Hearing aids or cochlear implants may be given to children with hearing impairments
- Other medical treatment can be given to address underlying conditions or infections or counselling may be offered to those stunted by psychological and emotional factors like anxiety or trauma
- Family education and support may be given to help parents or caregivers understand and support their child's learning and speech development
But in order to ensure that the correct course of treatment is given, you first need to first identify which of these causes is affecting your child. That way, the appropriate strategies can be implemented to help them overcome their speech difficulties and improve their communication skills for the future.
