Speech therapy is the science that deals with speech, speaking voice and chewing-swallowing disorders in children and adults, whatever the cause of these disorders: neurological, developmental or functional. It aims at the development of extra-verbal and verbal communication, the clarity of speech and voice and the speech production of the hard of hearing.
From the age of about eighteen months until the day the children go to school, they first learn sounds, then words, and finally to make sentences. But if they do not learn to speak properly, when they later go to school they will have difficulty writing properly. Many of the children who have learning difficulties at school age had speech problems in preschool. Fortunately, however, the reverse is not the case: It is not a rule that all children who have speech problems will also develop learning problems. This is because, when speech problems are detected very early, they can be overcome relatively easily with the help of a specialist.
For a parent to understand that their child has a learning problem, they must first join the learning process. However, from very early on there may be signs that the child will have difficulties in school. Already at the age of 2.5 years, unintelligible or difficult to understand speech is a sign that should concern parents, as it hides a complex phonological disorder that can affect their ability later to correctly decode syllables and words containing sounds that they had difficulty to produce earlier. Each person has their own pace of development. But there are certain time limits that, when exceeded, parents should seek expert advice.
