Fluency:

There may be a concern about your child's speech fluency if your child demonstrates:

• hesitations or pauses which break up the natural rhythm of speech
• repetitions of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases
• prolongations of sounds or words

Voice:

There may be a concern about your child's voice if your child demonstrates:

• excessively high or low voice pitch
• excessively high or low voice volume, which may cause hoarseness or breathiness
• excessive nasal resonance

Play Skills:

There may be a concern about your child's play skills if your child does not demonstrate the following skills at appropriate ages:

• 6 months - brings hands or toys to mouth
• 9 months - bangs objects together
• 12 months - takes things out of containers
• 15 months - stacks 2 blocks
• 18 months - pushes and pulls toys or objects while walking
• 2 years - enjoys watching and playing near other children, copies your actions (e.g.: clapping hands)
• 30 months - acts out daily routines with toys
• 3 years - plays alongside others comfortably
• 3 years - plays make-believe games with actions and words
• 4 years - takes turns and shares with other children in small groups
• 5 years - plays make-believe games with others
• 5 years - shares willingly with others
• 6 years - plays cooperatively with 2 to 3 other children for 20 minutes

Social Skills:

There may be a concern about your child's social skills if your child does not demonstrate the following skills at appropriate ages:

• 4 months - laughs and smiles at you, brightens to sound, especially voices
• 6 months - smiles and babbles in response to adult attention
• 9 months - imitates facial expressions, has a special smile for familiar adults, fusses or cries if a familiar adult looks or acts differently
• 12 months - takes turns making sounds with you, shows emotions e.g.: anger, affection, joy, and fear, starts games with you e.g.: peek-a-boo, clapping
• 15 months - repeats an action that makes you laugh, looks at you to see how you react e.g.: after falling, or when a stranger enters the room
• 18 months - shows affection towards people, pets, or toys, points to show you something, looks at you when talking or playing together
• 2 years - says "no" and likes to do things without help
• 30 months - waits briefly for needs to be met e.g.: when placed in a highchair, recognizes self in the mirror
• 3 years - shares, some of the time, shows affection using words and actions, greets friends and familiar adults when reminded
• 4 years - takes turns and shares with other children in small groups,tries to comfort someone who is upset, looks for adult approval
• 5 years - separates easily from you, responds verbally to "hi" and "how are you?", shares willingly with others
• 6 years - apologizes for actions he/she didn't mean to do, listens while others are speaking, shows an understanding of right/wrong, helps others, explains rules of a game to others

Hearing:

Have your child's hearing checked as early as possible to ensure that hearing loss in not affecting your child's communication development.