When should I be concerned about my 3-year-old’s speech and language?
Although by age 3, communication abilities can vary from child to child, certain speech and language red flags can alert parents to potential problems.
By 36 months old, if your child demonstrates the warning signs below, alert your pediatrician and seek out a speech-language evaluation for your child.
- Doesn’t follow simple directions
- Doesn’t answer yes/no or wh- questions
- Doesn’t communicate using basic 3-4 word sentences
- Doesn’t play with toys or other children
- Doesn’t engage in pretend play
- Speech is very unclear (understood by others less than 75 percent of the time) or drools often
- Doesn’t pronounce sounds at the beginning or end of most words
- Shows regression in skills
We got a head start on my daughters speech therapy and started here when she was 2.5 years old. Her speech was very unclear and she was having a difficult time pronouncing beginning and ending sounds. I am so glad that we started early because she has improved tremendously in the last 2 years. We still have her in a speech program and am hoping she will have no issues when it is time to start kindergarten.