Your child learning to speak and communicate is one of the most exciting moments in parenthood. It’s such a thrill to hear their little voice and finally understand what’s going on in their adorable head. With my son, Blake, speaking and communicating were a breeze. He was speaking in full sentences before he was two and can have complete conversations now at three. But with my daughter, Iris, who I knew before her birth would have a cleft lip and palate, we knew her speech would not come as easily. She was literally days old when it was determined she would need speech therapy by her cleft team. We began therapy at 6 months old for feeding issues and once she mastered that, when she was around 10 months, we were on to speech therapy for speaking and communicating. 

I knew a little about speech therapy prior to Iris because my nephew, Evan, had access to it when he was a toddler. He benefited from it tremendously, which made agreeing to speech therapy with Iris so much easier. 

For moms, it can be difficult to accept that our child needs assistance, but the sign of a wonderful mother is putting their pride away, seeking out that assistance, and doing everything they can to help their child thrive. 

“I was a little sad that he needed speech therapy. I felt like I had failed him,” my sister-in-law, Tiffanie said. “We never spoke baby talk to him and always encouraged his speech so it was hard to accept that he was behind. But the pediatrician pointed out that for babies, their brains can only focus on one thing at a time…motor skills like walking, running, ect, or speech and more knowledge based skills such as imagination play. This helped me accept it a little better.” 

Evan started speech at 17 months when she noticed his vocabulary was less than five words. 

“He would say little things like ‘mama’ and ‘dada’ but never really used sentences. By 17 months he only used maybe 5 words. The pediatrician immediately suggested speech therapy.”

According to parents.com, at around 18 months your baby should be saying 10-20 words. Soon after Evan started speech therapy, he quickly caught up. 

“When he wanted water during the day, he would point and say “uh uh” until you figured out he wanted water,” Tiffanie said. “Before I knew it, he was saying “water” or “agua” then “water please”.

Speech therapy is offered through a variety of companies and services, and according to Tiffanie, finding the right company and therapist is essential. 

“We went through a couple of different speech therapists and companies before we found the right fit for Evan. Once we did, he improved rather quickly. Within about 2 months of speech, he started speaking in small sentences. His vocabulary quickly grew from 5 words to 20 or more.” 

Now Evan is 6 years old and enjoys describing to me in detail the difference between a Tyrannosaurus rex and spinosaurus. He excels in school and reads beautifully. He’s funny, smart, and sweet.

Tiffanie says she knows she did the right thing by seeking out speech therapy for her son, but it wasn’t the easiest decision. Admitting that your child needs help beyond you is tough for any parent. 

“Don’t blame yourself,” she said. “You are doing everything for your child by knowing and acknowledging the speech delay and getting the right help.” 

My daughter Iris is now almost a year into speech therapy and I can’t recommend it enough. She loves her therapist and seems to say new words every time she visits with her! The costs for therapy vary greatly due to insurance companies and how you qualify. For Iris, we pay $14 a month and her therapist comes to our house four times a month for nearly an hour. It seems like such a small cost for the amount of time and dedication towards our daughter.

Speech therapy was obvious for Iris due to her cleft palate, but it may be difficult to determine if your child needs therapy. According to kids-first.com, a children’s therapy service provider, here are a few indicators that your baby or toddler may benefit from speech therapy. 

• Between 3 and 12 months, the child should be babbling, making gestures, and playing with other people.

• Around 12 months of age is typically when we hear children saying their first word

• By 2 ½ years of age, your toddler should be understanding approximately 1000 words and using approximately 500 words

• By age 2, your toddler should be combining at least 2 words together to make simple phrases (“mummy up” , “drink please”) and by age 3, your toddler should be combining 4-5 words in sentences.

• By age 2, children should be understood by an unfamiliar communication partner at least 50% of the time and by age 3, 75% of the time. If your toddler is very difficult to understand, they may need help learning to pronounce their sounds correctly.

5 signs that your toddler needs to see a speech therapist