Muhammad Bham | mbham@radioislam.co.za
25 January 2023 | 10:00 AM CAT
3 min read

Photo Credit: Provided

Speech therapy diagnoses and treats speech disorders and communication problems and helps people develop skills like comprehension, clarity, voice, fluency and sound production. Speech therapy can treat childhood speech disorders or adult speech impairments caused by stroke, brain injury or other conditions.

Most children reach their speech milestones without issue, but teachers may recognise speech impediments and will inform parents should the child require speech therapy.

Speaking to Radio Islam, Sister Sumayya Vayej, a qualified speech-language pathologist, says speech parents of toddlers should be concerned and seek help if their child is not reaching the typical milestones. An example is an eighteen-month-old child not saying any words and a two-year-old not putting two words together.

Ninety per cent of children should be reaching these milestones, and if the child does not achieve it at this point, parents should be concerned and seek help.

During the schooling years, a speech assessment shows the preactivity of a parent willing to assist the child in ensuring that the child gets the help they need in time, if necessary.

An assessment will highlight the areas that need to be looked at, and therapy helps build communication skills in their natural settings, like the classroom or at home.

The speech therapist will administer a standardised, informative statement to evaluate the child’s abilities in areas like sound, language, social limitations, fluency, the voice.

Many factors contribute to speech delay, and it does not reflect poor parenting. Speech delays can be caused by various factors, which include environmental factors.

Parents should get out of the cycle of blaming themselves or their partners and instead be proactive and get the proper help required.

Listen to the full interview on Your World Today with Mufti Yusuf Moosagie.