Childhood Speech, Language, and Listening Problems, 3rd Edition

Acknowledgments v

Introduction 1

Part I What You Should Know and How to Get Help 5

1 Speech, Language, and Listening: How They Develop 7

What Is Speech? 8

What Is Language? 9

What Is Listening? 11

How Do Children Learn to Communicate? 12

Speech, Language, and Listening Milestones 13

2 Does Your Child Need Help? The Warning Signs 22

When to Get Help 22

Warning Signs to Look For 26

3 Having Your Child Evaluated 36

Whom to See 36

Where to Go 38

The Evaluation (aka the Assessment) 45

Special Considerations:Testing Infants and Preschoolers 56

4 After the Evaluation: Understanding Report Jargon and the IEP 59

The Numbers Used to Measure Performance 59

After the Evaluation: Using Public School Services in the United States 62

Options for Speech and Language Therapy 66

Part II Speech, Language, and Listening Problems 73

5 Understanding Speech Problems 75

Stuttering 76

Common Pronunciation Problems 81

Common Voice Problems 117

6 Understanding Language Problems 125

Your Baby’s First Words 126

Toddlers and Preschoolers with Delayed Speech or Language 128

When Learning New Words Comes Slowly: Vocabulary Problems 144

The “Him Not Talkin’ Right” Child: Morphological and Syntax Problems 159

The “Whatchamacallit, Um, Thing Over There” Child: A Word Retrieval Problem 167

The “I Don’t Know How to Explain It” Child: Sequencing, Referential, and Divergent Language Problems 176

Social Language and Playing: When Something’s Just Not Right 186

7 Understanding Listening (Auditory) Problems 203

The “What? Did You Say Something?” Child: A Central Auditory Processing Problem 204

The “I Forgot What You Said” Child: An Auditory Memory Problem 220

The “I Don’t Understand What I’m Supposed to Do” Child: A Language Processing Problem (AKA Receptive Language Delay) 229

8 Causes and Associated Conditions 242

Common Causes of Speech, Language, and Listening Problems 243

Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Hearing Impairment, and Other Special Conditions 253

9 Answers to Your Questions 275

Appendix A Resources 296

Appendix B Suggested Reading 300

Index 303