For Families / Does my child need speech therapy?
What to notice, when to ask, and what happens next
Maybe your child is talking less than their cousin of the same age, or their teacher has mentioned something, or you just have a feeling. It’s hard to know whether to wait or ask.
Children develop at different rates, and a lot of variation is normal. This guide won’t tell you whether your child has a difficulty. That takes a proper assessment. What it can do is help you notice what’s worth mentioning, and decide when to ask.
You don’t need to be sure something is wrong before you ask a speech-language pathologist (SLP), called a speech and language therapist (SLT) in the UK. Asking is how you find out.
What to look out for
These are some of the things that bring families to an SLP. Noticing one of them doesn’t mean your child has a difficulty. It means it’s worth mentioning, especially if it carries on for a while or affects your child’s day.
If you’d like to know more about any of these areas and how an SLP can help, see How SLPs Can Help.
Development
As a very rough picture of how communication builds over time:
Interact with you by looking at faces, responding to voices, making sounds and babbling, and later by using gestures.
Understand more and more words, start talking, and begin putting words together.
Use longer sentences, start telling short stories, and become easier for new people to understand.
Use more complex language, follow classroom talk, hold longer conversations, and build the language skills reading depends on.
There’s a wide range of normal at every stage. Milestones help you notice and talk about what you’re seeing. They aren’t a test, and missing one doesn’t mean your child has a difficulty.
Check our milestones tool →Waiting or asking
Many children do. In the studies ASHA reviews, about half to two-thirds of toddlers who are late to start talking catch up with other children their age (ASHA, n.d.-d). That’s a figure across groups of children, so it can’t tell you what will happen for your child. Many young children who start stuttering also stop, with or without therapy (ASHA, n.d.-b).
The difficulty is that early on, it isn’t always possible to predict which children will catch up and which won’t (ASHA, n.d.-b; ASHA, n.d.-d). Toddlers who use few gestures, or who also find it hard to understand words, are more likely to need support (ASHA, n.d.-d).
So it makes sense to keep an eye on things rather than simply wait. ASHA suggests checking a late talker’s progress regularly, and arranging a full assessment if the delay continues (ASHA, n.d.-d). CDC’s advice to parents is the same: if you have concerns, don’t wait (CDC, n.d.-a).
Asking early doesn’t commit your child to anything.If all is well, you get reassurance. If not, your child gets support sooner.
Bilingual families
Children learning more than one language may use and develop their languages in different ways, and many of the things parents worry about are a normal part of growing up multilingual. Being bilingual is not a communication disorder (ASHA, n.d.-e).
A child is often stronger in the language they hear and use most, and this can shift over time. Being weaker in one language usually reflects how much exposure they’ve had, not a difficulty (ASHA, n.d.-e).
This is called code-switching. Many fluent bilingual speakers do it, and it’s usually not a sign of a problem (ASHA, n.d.-e).
Pronunciations that come from your child’s dialect, or from one language carrying over into the other, are not a speech difficulty on their own (ASHA, n.d.-e; ASHA, n.d.-g). A bilingual child can still have a speech sound difficulty, so if you’re unsure, ask an SLP.
Some children speak very little when they first start somewhere a new language is used. They may need time to feel comfortable listening and joining in. But don’t assume that long silences are just part of learning a new language. If your child seems distressed, struggles to communicate, or isn’t speaking in familiar places either, ask an SLP (ASHA, n.d.-f).
A language difficulty generally affects a child’s ability to learn and use all their languages, but the signs may look different in each one (ASHA, n.d.-e). A child can also find one language harder simply because they’ve had less exposure to it. An SLP can help work out what’s happening by looking at all the languages your child uses.
No. Keep using the language you’re most comfortable with. SLPs encourage families to keep their home language (ASHA, n.d.-e).
Hearing
Children learn to talk by listening, so hearing is one of the first things to check when there’s any concern about speech or language. Even a mild hearing loss can affect a child’s speech and language (ASHA, 2025).
A child can respond to some sounds and still have a hearing loss (ASHA, n.d.-c). So
An audiologist tests hearing, and an SLP looks at communication (ASHA, 2025). If you have concerns about your child’s speech or language, ask about a hearing test, even if your child seems to hear you. Hearing difficulties aren’t always obvious.
Next steps
There’s no minimum number of signs, and you don’t need to wait for a teacher to mention it. If you’re worried, getting advice early is better than waiting (ASHA, n.d.-a).
In an emergency: if your child is choking and can’t breathe, cough or make a sound, call emergency services immediately.
A simple plan
A few real examples help more than a general worry: words your child uses, sounds they find hard, or situations where they struggle. A short video from home can help too.
Our milestones tool → can give you context. Milestone checklists help you talk about what you’re seeing, but they aren’t a screening or diagnostic test (CDC, n.d.-b).
Share your concerns with your child’s doctor or an SLP, and ask whether a hearing test would be useful (CDC, n.d.-a).
Talk, play, read and respond to your child in the languages you’re comfortable using. You don’t need to stop speaking a home language or start a special program while you wait for advice.
No. After an assessment, an SLP might:
Whatever the outcome, you should leave with a clearer picture and ideas you can use at home.
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