Even though the first words that make sense to us appear at the age of 1, language development begins while still in the womb. As the auditory system begins to develop approx. At 6 months, the fetus begins to distinguish speech sounds. At birth, he can hear almost completely. The transition to the expected meaningful word takes place around 12 months after babbling, mumbling, babbling, creating unique jargons by bringing together the same syllables, and syllables that seem meaningless to us, which start around 2 months. Around 18 months, a child has a vocabulary of about 10-50 words, but a quarter of what he says can remain intelligible. By the age of 2, it is expected that the number of words will increase to 200-300 and the speech will be more understandable, but it is a speech devoid of conjunctions and attachments. After the age of two and a half, the use of pronouns and grammar rules begin to settle into the language. A 3-year-old child can form sentences of 3-4 words, and more than half of what he says is understandable by the people around him. In other words, it is possible to come across children who understand what is being said, have no problem with their receptive language, but have a delay in expressive language.
There may be differences between children in language acquisition skills. There is a small group, mostly boys, who, although they are two years old, still have few words, but catch up with their peers towards the age of three. However, the awareness of the existence of such a group sometimes leads to negativities, delays the time of bringing these children to the specialist and prevents early intervention for different underlying causes. Neurobiological factors, environmental factors such as insufficient socio-cultural-economic level, hearing problems, anatomical problems related to mouth/nose/throat structure, neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism, and medical conditions such as genetic syndromes may not develop the language expected.
Although speech delay does not always mean that there is a disorder, understanding the cause and early intervention can affect the emotional, cognitive and cognitive problems that may arise in the future. It has a key importance in the prevention of mental, behavioral and medical problems.
Early (first two years) diagnosis of autism, hearing impairment and intellectual disability and early intervention in children presenting with language retardation It increases the benefit that can be obtained from the treatment.
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