What do Speech-Language Pathologists (or Therapists) do?

"Speech-Language Pathologists (or Therapists) are professionally trained to :
prevent,
screen,
identify,
assess,
diagnose,
refer, and
provide intervention for, and
counsel
persons with, or who are at risk for, articulation, fluency, voice, language, communication, swallowing, and related disabilities. (American Speech-Language -Hearing Association, ASHA)‏

Does my child need a speech-language assessment ?

I would recommend a speech-language assessment (or at least a consultation) with a qualified speech-language pathologist/ therapist if your baby is very quiet (i.e., not making vocal sounds) or if your child :
- By 12 months, not gesturing (pointing, waving bye-bye), tolerating solid foods
- By 15 months, not understanding and responding to name, ‘no’, ‘bye-bye’
- By 16 months, not using single words (e.g., milk, ball, papa, mama)
- By 24 months, not using two-word sentences (e.g., want milk, eat sweet)
- By 36 months, not using longer sentences
- is difficult to understand
- for any reason, stops talking
- shows difficulty in reading and spelling in school
(Note: list here is a guideline and not exhaustive)

If you feel there is a problem with speech and/or language skills, do not wait and see.

Seek the help of a speech-language pathologist/ therapist near you.

A directory of MASH-registered speech-language pathologists can be found here:
http://www.mash.org.my/membership/ (whoops, please note that my details in this directory will be updated in July !! )
MASH = Malaysian Association of Speech-Language and Hearing