The first thing you should do if your child is a late talker

If your little one is struggling with their talking or listening there are a number of things you can do to support them right away, and one of those things is getting their hearing checked, here’s why…

If children have an episode of hearing loss it can affect their speech and language skills. If they don't realise we are talking to them (because they can't hear us) they aren't able to attach language  to meaning. For example if we are walking down the street and a bus goes past and we point this out and say "look a bus!" but they don't hear this they won't attach the word 'bus' to the object. In this way it can affect both children’s understanding of language as well as their ability to use words.

Hearing loss can also affect children’s speech sounds. In English we use a number of 'high frequency' sounds (e.g. 'f', 't', 's') when speaking. If a child is experiencing hearing loss they may not perceive these sounds. Which can result in them omitting these sounds in words or replacing them with another sound altogether.

If you are at all concerned about your child’s attention, understanding, talking or sounds it is absolutely worth getting their hearing checked. You can do this through your GP. It may mean that they need a course of antibiotics to clear up and ear infection, a period of time off swimming or monitoring to see how their hearing changes. Whatever the outcome it is worth knowing if this could be impacting your little one’s communication skills.