frequently occur together so a child may be demonstrating a combination of several problems concerned family members may notice the child struggling an offer well-intentioned advice that as a parent you may consider intrusive but if you sent something is different about your child's speech or language development and others have shared concern it's probably time to seek help identifying whether or not disorders present there are many different causes a speech and language disorders including hearing loss brain injury or physical impairments to name just a few but most of the time the causes of speech and language disorders is on now by the time children are ready to start kindergarten critical speech and language development has already occurred family friends or even your pediatrician may advise you to wait and see if a child's communication improves without any intervention but this could have lasting negative effects speech and language abilities lay the foundation for reading and writing success children with communication disorders may struggle with reading stories are essays and have difficulty taking tests this can have a lasting impact on attitudes about school and participation in lifelong learning communication skills are critical for normal productive life left untreated a communication disorder can have a life on the fact on social development interpersonal relationships the ability to learn and on ultimate independence some other characteristics are red flags commonly associated with speech and language disorders that I briefly mentioned here may be short-lived and may signify only a fleeting developmental blip but if they persist or worsen they could indicate difficulties that require professional evaluation and intervention early intervention has been shown to have a significant impact on a child's speech and language development it improves their ability to communicate interact with others and improve social and emotional development so , when you have concerns to ensure that your child is correctly assessed it is important to receive a thorough evaluation by a certified speech language pathologist a certified speech language pathologist will help you sort out whether or not disorders present and if so what you can do to get your child the right treatment evaluation and therapy services for preschool children ages 3 through 5 are provided free of charge to the public school systems the services available through a federal law called the individuals with disabilities Education Act or IDEA also make available early intervention for children birth to five and services for school-aged children as well if you are concerned about your child's speech and language development please click on the Learn More section at this module for a link to resources that will put you in touch with the speech language pathologist in your area also on our website are answers to frequently asked questions about how to children develop speech and language however you have questions or concerns that are unanswered there please call us call us on the talk line listed on this web page and remember take time to talk to children every day about the things that matter to you and to them because talking matters thank you for watching