Delayed Speech Development

🔬Causes & Risk Factors

• 1Delayed speech development can result from hearing impairment that limits a child's ability to hear and learn spoken language
• 2limited language exposure and interaction in the child's environment
• 3or broader developmental conditions such as autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disability that affect communication development more generally. Oral-motor difficulties affecting the coordination needed for speech production
• 4and in some cases prematurity or complications around birth
• 5can also contribute to delay. In a significant proportion of cases
• 6particularly isolated expressive language delay
• 7no specific underlying cause is ever identified.