Your baby’s first babbles. Your toddler’s first word. Your preschooler’s first question. Your child’s communication development depends on both strong speech and language skills, which develop side by side. A delay in one skill set, or both, can affect how easily your child is understood by family, friends, and teachers. When that happens, a speech-language pathologist (SLP) can help you identify whether it’s your child’s speech or language skills that need support, and can help your child become a confident, clear communicator.
Understanding the Difference Between Speech and Language
You often hear the words speech and language used together but they are two separate skills. Knowing the difference between speech and language can help you determine the area where your child may thrive or need extra support.
Speech is how your child forms sounds and words. It includes how clearly they speak, the quality of their voice, and how smoothly their words flow. These skills depend on the lips, tongue, teeth, jaw, and vocal cords working together to produce clear sounds.
Language is how your child understands and uses words to share thoughts, needs, and feelings. It includes the vocabulary they know, how they put words together into sentences, and how well they comprehend and respond to questions.
The Difference Between Speech and Language Delays
Before looking at the signs of a speech or language delay, it helps to understand what a delay is and how it is identified. A delay means your child is reaching key milestones later than expected for their age. Milestones show the typical order and timing of skills such as babbling, saying first words, or starting to combine words, but they are not strict deadlines. Instead, they help SLPs determine whether your child may need extra support in a specific area.
Because speech and language develop side by side, it’s common for their respective milestones to overlap. A delay in one area can sometimes affect the other, especially as your child begins expressing more complex thoughts. Some children experience a delay in just one skill, while others have delays in both. Each skill has its own milestones, but there is often shared progress between them.
Signs of a Speech Delay
A speech delay is when your child has difficulty with the physical production of sounds and words. This can include challenges with:
- Articulation: Trouble forming sounds clearly so that words are easy to understand.
- Oral-motor skills: Problems with the movements of the mouth, tongue, and lips needed to produce speech sounds.
Speech-language pathologists use typical developmental milestones to see whether a child’s speech skills are on track:
- Birth to 6 months: Not smiling, babbling, or interacting with others.
- 7 to 12 months: Makes only a few sounds, rarely uses gestures such as waving or pointing, and seems unaware of simple words.
- 12 to 24 months: Says only a few words, struggles to follow simple verbal requests by about age 2, and is not yet putting two words together to form short phrases.
- 3 to 4 years: Has not begun putting words together into short sentences by age 3, remains hard for others to understand, and has difficulty learning sounds and letters.
Signs of a Language Delay
A language delay affects how your child understands words or puts them together to share thoughts and feelings. These challenges can make everyday routines like asking for help, following directions, or telling a story more difficult.
Children with a language delay may show difficulty in one or both of the following areas:
- Expressive language: Trouble using words, sentences, and grammar to share ideas clearly.
- Receptive language: Trouble understanding what words mean or following simple directions.
Speech-language pathologists use typical developmental milestones to see whether a child’s language skills are on track:
- Birth to 6 months: Isn’t smiling, responding to sounds, or making eye contact.
- 7 to 12 months: Makes only a few sounds or gestures (like pointing) and is not babbling with consonant sounds by about 15 months.
- 18 months to 2 years: Says very few or no words, struggles to understand what others say, and relies mostly on gestures to communicate.
- 2 to 3 years: Uses fewer than 50 words, is not yet putting words together into short sentences, or speech is still hard for others to understand.
- 4 to 5 years: Has trouble playing and communicating with other children or struggles with early reading skills such as listening to stories or recognizing rhyme.
How Speech Therapy Treats Speech and Language Delays
An SLP begins with an evaluation to see whether your child needs help with speech, language, or both. Treatment is tailored to your child’s age and abilities, using play-based activities to keep learning fun.
For speech delays, therapy may focus on:
- Showing your child how to move the lips, tongue, and jaw to make sounds more accurately
- Using picture cards, mirrors, and games to practice tricky sounds made by the letters k, g, and s in words, short phrases, and sentences.
- Strengthening clarity and fluency so others can understand them in everyday situations
For language delays, therapy may focus on:
- Building vocabulary to name familiar objects, actions, and feelings
- Teaching your child how to combine words into longer phrases and sentences to express ideas clearly
- Improving listening skills for following directions and answering questions
- Using storytelling, pretend play, and interactive reading to build comprehension and grammar naturally
Parents play a key role, too. Your therapist will show you simple ways to practice new skills at home so progress carries over between sessions.
Reach Out to Tender Ones Therapy for Support
If you’re wondering whether your child is experiencing a delay in speech, language or both, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Call Tender Ones Therapy Services at (770) 904-6009 to speak with an SLP and schedule an evaluation. We’re here to support your child’s speech and language development and help them become confident communicators.
