Dear Ruth,

My grandson is five years old and in Kindergarten. He speaks very few words clearly, and is receiving a half hour per week of speech therapy.

What concerns me is that he babbles a great deal, almost in his own language. The babbling seems acceptable for a toddler but not a five-year-old. His mother says he just has so many concepts he wants to express that words tumble out. His speech worries me. Is such limited speech therapy enough for such severe problems?
How should we respond to him? As a special educator I used to have my high school students look at me and repeat. Is that appropriate at his age?

M.B.

Dear M.B.,

When babies babble, they are practicing the sounds of language. Are your grandson’s real words unintelligible? Although children master speech and language at different rates, five-year-old children should speak intelligibly most of the time.

Unintelligible speech may signal a significant disorder such as apraxia or auditory processing deficit. These conditions are not developmental delays because children do not usually simply outgrow them. Problems like this call for serious attention without delay.

School children need to be able to make themselves understood. Otherwise they have trouble interacting with others, expressing their basic needs, and exchanging information. Uncorrected, the deficit that caused the speech problem very often causes further problems as they try to learn to read and write.

Significant speech problems are easiest to correct with intensive help at a young age. If in doubt, parents should seek an independent second opinion, even if they need to pay for it privately. The speech/language pathologist will also be able to suggest the best way to respond to the child.

Best Wishes,
Ruth Alice Jurey, M.S.
Speech/Language Pathologist