SpeechTherapy.org

What causes autism - and why the sudden jump. In Jersey the number has jumped to 1 in 97.

JJ

So often when doing therapy - I see a focus on what’s not there. Often the question I’m asked “Will he ever talk?”. More often - far more often the answer to that question is “yes” and success is found by adjusting one’s focus  away from what’s not (happening) to what is.

Child speech acquisition is a multi-faceted process that occurs over time in incremental steps. How quickly development occurs can vary greatly. Some children say first words as early as 8-9 months and others as late as three years(+).  Why there is such discrepancy can be related to a child’s skill set in each of the below area’s.

- Airlfow
- Voicing
- Lip Contol
- Jaw Control
- Lingual (tongue) control
- Auditory processes
- Initiation processes (The ability to formulate a thought/word and translate that word into motor movements found in the oral motor mechanism).
- The ability to coordinate all the above

Everyone of the above processes plays an important role in the formation of a spoken word - and when incomplete or underdeveloped can have a limiting effect on speech acquistion.

J-Burke SLP

The first word list.
Filed under: Words children say first… — admin @ 7:31 am Edit This

In addition to obvious choices of “ma, da, bye, and hi,” there seems to be commonality to the below word list.

Animal Sounds (I count animal and environmental sounds as first words - because they clearly serve as a foundation to more elaborate speech - and point to the fact a child has started to associate spoken sounds with meaning.

Moo
Ba
Woof

Words having to do with food
eat
cookie
water (often “wa wa”)

Often first words occur off the b,m,k,p sounds

ball
book
boo

me
my
moo
milk

key
kite
car

poo
pee pee

TV characters
Elmo (still number 1)
Dora (very popular)
Big Bird
Sponge Bob - rarely pronounced correctly or even close - but somewhat popular

Will add more soon. Have to run out and get son.

BY BURKE-SLP

Welcome to the new and ever expanding speechtherapy.org. This blog, administered by a certified Speech-Language Pathologist, is now functional and open to the anyone with an interest in speech therapy. Speech Therapists are welcome to publish articles or thoughts on therapy here. Consumers and families of consumers are invited to post their questions or experiences as well.

We’re still trying to work out the format of this blog - and your input will only help.

- Please post in the appropriate categories

- Note one category is simply to suggest a topic/category you’d like to see here

Again we welcome your input!

J Burke-SLP