Fit and Well Idaho: Speech language therapy

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Alexis Dutko, a speech-language pathologist at St. Luke’s, says it is becoming more and more common for children to need speech therapy.

Most children should be saying their first words around 12 months of age, but lately, many kids are talking later and later in life.

Children have been using technology more and more and have been having less face-to-face interaction, which is impacting this.

If a child is having trouble speaking, it could mean they have autism, or they could be struggling to hear because children repeat sounds that they hear.

Dutko reminds parents that early intervention is the best prevention in making sure children get the help they need.

“Some kids will say dada, so if they are pointing to dad and saying dada that is their first word, that’s the intentional use of communication,” Dutko said. “But for some, it might be a sound, like meowing like a cat or barking like a dog, so we count those early sounds like words.”

She says parents are their child’s best advocates, so if you think something is off with your child, it’s always great to get them checked out to ensure nothing is wrong.

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