When young children are developing physically, socially, verbally, and emotionally, their progress is bound to be uneven. As a parent, you may not know right away if your child needs extra help in the language department; when is it time to look into speech therapy for kids?

Sounds Of Success: Preschool and Learning Center in Aiea, Hawaii, is the only preschool on Oahu that employs speech therapists. Although it’s difficult to isolate signs of speech and language problems in young children, identifying and addressing the issue early on is essential to getting kids up to speed. Sounds of Success: Preschool and Learning Center can administer a speech-language test to determine your child’s needs, but below is a list of indicators to look for in your child’s verbal development.

Possible Indications Of Speech-Languages Issues

1. Unintelligible Speech 

Children will be mostly unintelligible when they first start “babbling,” and then speaking. But if clarity becomes a persistent, long-term problem, you should seek speech therapy help.

2. Not Stringing Words Together

As children progress from toddler to preschool age, they should begin to string words together to express intentions. At first, they may only manage two words at a time—then more and more. If your child has not started connecting words by age two or three, take them to see a specialist.

3.  Limited Vocabulary

If your child is not acquiring and retaining vocabulary words at an age-appropriate level, consider seeing a speech therapist.

4. Minimal Social Interaction

If your child is hindered socially by communication issues (they do not interact with others, do not understand you when you speak to them, or cannot convey their needs and wants) they may need speech-language help.

Sounds Of Success: Preschool and Learning Center is a nonprofit daycare and preschool that offers a solid educational curriculum. Child care and academics are supplemented by speech therapy from licensed speech-language pathologists, with the goal of preparing children for mainstream education.

Sounds Of Success: Preschool and Learning Center accepts children from two and a half years old to five years of age, with or without speech-language needs, for full-day and half-day programs. Children benefit from the attention and skill of committed, highly qualified teachers with a low teacher-to-student ratio: 1:8 for younger students and 1:10 for older students. Sounds Of Success: Preschool and Learning Center also offers after school speech therapy for kids up to the age of 18.

To learn if your preschooler qualifies for free or subsidized therapy services, call (808) 488-2211 today. You can also contact Sounds Of Success: Preschool and Learning Center online or by email.