Will My Child Catch Up Without Speech Therapy?

Have you ever wondered if your child really needs speech therapy, or if their errors are just age-appropriate and they will catch up?

If you aren’t sure, get my free speech and language tracker (available at the bottom of the homepage).

Here’s a copy of the speech development chart included in the tracker:

This freebie also has language milestones for each year up to 6. It’s super handy if you want to know if it’s worth taking your child to a speech therapist for an evaluation.

If you already know your child is behind or isn’t saying words as well as other kids their age, it’s worth taking them to a speech therapist for a screening or a full evaluation. But here’s a trick you can try while at home: Use the free speech development chart from above and see if they can imitate all the sounds up to their age. Here’s an example for the ‘k’ sound. Say 5 ‘k’ words (kick, car, cake, can, cap) and see how well they can imitate you. If your child can imitate the ‘k’ sound in those words accurately, that’s a good sign. That means they are ‘stimulable’, which is SLP talk for ‘can imitate the sound’. If a child is stimulable for a sound, they are less likely to need intervention for that sound. However, some kids still need speech therapy even if they can say a sound in imitation because they need more practice to get good enough at it to say it accurately in spontaneous conversation. This varies from child to child.

Another huge factor is how well your child is able to express themselves. How well a child is understood is called intelligibility (but it has nothing to do with intelligence). If friends/family/teachers have a difficult time understanding your child, or they often get frustrated because they aren’t understood, that is an excellent reason to do speech therapy. Even if your child will eventually catch up, it isn’t fun in the in-between time when frustration is high and needs or wants aren’t being understood.

I always recommend getting an evaluation if you have any concerns, because it’s better to have answers instead of worrying. You will either get peace of mind, or a plan to help your child improve their speech and language skills. It’s a win-win either way.