Causes
At times, speech delay and impairment is caused by a physical disruption in the mouth such as a deformed frenulum, lips, or palate. If the motion or ability to form words and appropriate sounds is disrupted, the child may be slow to pick up words and lack the ability to shape their mouth and tongue in the formation of words. Other more serious concerns are those that can be caused by oral-motor issues. Oral-motor dysfunction refers to a lack or delay in the area of the brain that speech is formed and created and communicated to the mouth and tongue. While speech may be the only concern, this disorder can be highlighted with feeding issues as well. The many other causes of speech delay include autism spectrum disorders, Auditory Processing Disorder, prematurity, and hearing loss. Children with these disorders will often show early signs and are at times identified as “at risk” when the speech delay is diagnosed.
Read more about this topic: Speech Delay