Early Intervention Is Key When Treating Kids With Communication Disorders
By Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--Early intervention is key for kids suffering from communication disorders. That's according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, which is working to tell parents and teachers what to look for.
"They can have difficulty with social isolation, they can have some academic difficulties, and they can just struggle with everyday activities."
Robin Kushner is a speech-language pathologist in Philadelphia. She says the warning signs of communication disorders, like formulating sounds, speaking in sentences, and following directions, include lack of eye contact and little social interaction.
"Beginning at one year, they don't follow or understand what you say. And some of the older kids struggle to say some sounds or words, and can't really follow simple directions."
Doctors and speech-language pathologists can help, but you have to know what to look for.
"There's early detection so we can improve treatment and quality of life for those kids who are affected. If it's not detected, we have to play catch-up. Some kids don't get detected until they're three, four, five years old, so the treatment ends up taking longer.
More symptoms are detailed at identifythesigns.org.
