Early identification of speech, language and communication delay is extremely important as the chance of improving these skills are increased. Outside agencies can be informed and your child will receive the specialist support they require.
If these delays are not identified the delay will continue and the child may suffer from lack of confidence and will more than likely experience emotional problems. Other aspects of development will also be affected, e.g. cognitive, social, emotional and behavioural.
If a child does suffer from this type of delay there a number of outside agencies that would be involved. These include; Health visitor, speech and language therapists, play therapists and family doctor.
During this time when late development is recognised the agencies to be firstly made aware of your concerns would be a health visitor or family doctor. If they thought your concerns were to be warranted they would contact other outside agencies and be capable of offering additional support. The specialised therapists would work together in constructing the correct pathway of help and support.
When children are learning it has been proven that the method of play has been very successful. There are many ways in which play opportunities can support the development of a child's speech, language and communication.
A few of these examples I have listed below:
PLAY DOUGH: Can be used to form objects and the child can guess what has been made. It can also be used during story time to visualise characters or objects.
PICTURE CARDS: A child can recognise an object or word by sight after looking at it a number of times.
I-SPY: For example, I-spy with my little eye something that barks and begins with 'd'. A child can learn new words and be capable of identifying different objects.
SING ALONG: A child can develop