PARENTING TODAY

2

Intervention

Student’s Name:

Professor’s Name:

Course:

Date:

Case Study

I will focus on a family with a three-year-old daughter experiencing language delay. The child is from a bilingual home and lives with both his parents and a sibling. The parents are financially stable. However, her language delay was detected at her 18-month-old wellness appointment, where her paediatrician expressed concern and referred the parent to the infant and toddlers’ program, where it was detected that her expressive language was delayed. I will discuss the case by exploring the unique challenges the girl experiences at “school and home.” Next, I will discuss the infant and toddlers program goals and how they helped the child on her therapy journey and expand her vocabulary. Finally, I will conduct online research and use credible academic sources from the UMGC library database to research interventions that will inform parenting action plans, community programs, and speech therapies to help speech-delayed children.

Introduction

Language delay is a form of communication disorder that is experienced by toddlers when they fail to achieve the language developmental milestone within a certain age. According to research, one in every five children learns how to use words later as compared to other children who are also the same age. Some children with language delay complications also present behavioral disorders such as being easily frustrated and unable to express themselves when they require something. In some cases, the child requires help from trained personnel or a speech and language therapist who will assist the child in learning how to talk to others. Language delay disorder is sometimes temporary and can be easily resolved by getting help from the family, such as encouraging the child to talk back using sounds and gestures and spending more time with the child. In some cases, the language delay disorder may be a sign of a more complicated problem that the child has, such as hearing problems, learning disability, social communication disorder, autism or even developmental delay in other areas.

Moreover, a child experiencing language delay could be a symptom of a learning complication, but this cannot be diagnosed until the child has started their school years. To make the right diagnosis for children with language delay disorder, the care provider has to consider differential diagnoses such as cognitive communication, hearing loss, motor skill development, and the child's global development. When a child is diagnosed with language delay disorder, the parents or the caregiver are introduced to a program that will help the child improve the language and prepare the child to be ready for school. In this case, the three years old daughter has been diagnosed to have language delay since it was detected that her expressive language was delayed. In this research, I will focus on language delay in young children and present some of the interventions that can be applied to assist children with speech delay.

Action Plan

The case study focuses on a family with a three-year-old daughter who is experiencing language delay. The family is bilingual, the child lives with the parent and her siblings, and the family is financially stable. The speech delay was detected at her wellness appointment, and her pediatrician referred the parents to the toddlers and infant program, where it was decided that the child had an expressive language delay. By the age of 18 months, a child should be able to imitate words and some communication actions and speak out some of the words they hear (Feldman, 2005). Being unable to perform these actions means that the child may have a language delay disorder or other related complications.

One of the concerns presented by the case study is that the child’s condition can lead to her experiencing complications in language development and advancement in other areas of their life (Ciccone et al., 2012). This can also suggest that the child has other developmental problems such as hearing complications, down syndrome or autism. The child’s condition can also suggest that they have been having expressive language delay since birth or acquired the problem during their developmental stages. In addition, the child comes from a bilingual family, which means that the expressive language delay experienced by the child can be a result of having a hard time understanding both languages, leaving alone using them.

With the expressive language delay, the girl will experience different problems and issues in their daily life. It is better than an action planned to help the child overcome the expressive language delay at this early age. One of the problems that the child will experience complications with the condition is that they will have a hard time establishing their social skills. Most children with expressive language delay disorder also have issues with establishing social skills since they do not know how to apply language when interacting with other kids (Buzhardt et al., 2020). The expressive language delay can also make the child have limited vocabulary. This means that the child will have issues expressing what they want to say since they might find it challenging to remember the required words. Having vocabulary issues can make the child develop selective mutism, which means that the child will refuse to communicate in some settings. Selective mutism is when the child is able to communicate, but they refuse to speak in some settings such as school or in public places.

According to Munro et al. (2021), children with expressive language delay will have time to construct their words in sequence with their language. This means that the child will have a time constructing logical words or putting an event in the right order when telling a story or when communicating the steps involved in an activity. Moreover, as a result of sequencing, one can have problems with correctly using adjectives when the child grows up. Having problems with language sequencing and the correct use of adjectives means that the child will have issues in learning and in the classroom (Jullien, 2021). This is because the child will have grammatical errors in their writings since they will find it difficult to create complete sentences due to using fewer words when constructing their sentences. When the child is facing the problem of putting together their thoughts using the right words to create a sentence, they can experience an emotional meltdown; thus, it is important to handle them with care and understanding.

Children with language delays risk developing emotional, social, and behavioural problems that adults present. This is because the psychosocial problems a child experiences as a result of language delay can progress into their adult life; thus, it is important to establish interventions that will help the child learn how to overcome their language delay problem (Martin & Miller, 2012). For this case study, since the child has been detected to have an expressive language delay problem at an early age, it is better to establish an effective and comfortable intervention for the child. For this child, we have proposed the Maryland infant and toddlers’ program (MITP) to improve the complication of expressive language delay.

Maryland's infant and toddler program involve a family-centred early intervention strategy for young children experiencing developmental delay or disabilities. The program recognizes the family concerns as well as priorities and then focuses on the child's strengths and requirements within the first four years of a child’s life. When a child is suspected of having a particular development delay or is diagnosed with a particular health care requirement, they are referred to the toddler’s program, where they are introduced to a program that will help make the child ready for school.

In the case of the 18 months old daughter who has been suggested to have expressive language delay, the parents will be introduced to the Maryland infant and toddlers’ program so that they can assist the child in achieving her developmental potential. The MITP will assist the family by showing the parents how they can engage their child in different activities to help her learn through daily experiences and interact with people in the family. The program bases its interventions on the best evidence-based practices to ensure that the child and the family experience the best results (CDC, 2022). Since the family is bilingual, the program will include a family intervention that involves the participation of both parents so that the child adapts to both languages. According to Morgan et al. (2020), most children who have expressive language delay achieve more when they are taught or assisted by a person who is their peer or someone who is close to them; thus, involving the parents in the program will be effective for the child.

Expressive language delay is a common complication among young children; thus, parents must understand that it is common for the child to experience the complication. However, with the MITP program, the parents will be able to access caregivers and guidance on how they will improve their child’s conditions. MITP program will offer monitoring and technical services to the child while working with the parents. The program comprises social, educational, and health services designed to help the child enhance their potential to grow and develop before they reach school age. The services include family training, speech-language pathology, audiology, physical therapy and special instruction, just to mention a few. Since this family is financially stable, the child will be introduced to speech-language pathology and special instructions for the family members (Maryland’s Infants and Toddlers Program, 2022). The family will have access to a speech therapist who will work with the child to enhance speech and language skills. At the age of 18 months, the child should be able to imitate sounds as well as understand some of the verbal requests. The parents will receive special instruction on how to communicate with the child to encourage speech development. The parents will be encouraged to talk to the baby or even sing so that the child is encouraged to imitate the gesture and sounds. They can also read soft books to the child and so them pictures to encourage the kid to talk more frequently.

At the end of the program, the child should have achieved a standard expressive vocabulary, thus being able to communicate with the parents and her siblings. According to Kruythoff‐Broekman et al. (2019), early intervention for children with an expressive language delay is important since it significantly assists in improving expressive vocabulary growth. In addition to this, it also assists the parents in changing their communication behaviour with the child in how they interact and pressure the child. The child should be able to use some of the words and even create simple sentences to communicate their thoughts, feelings or the things they want. In addition to this, the program should assist the child in improving their grammar and vocabulary. With early interventions, the program will assist in preventing emotional, learning and social consequences that result from having poor communication skills. Feldman (2005) explains that helping a child experiencing expressive language delay is very important since language is essential when it comes to communicating, and improving the child's communication skills presents a positive lasting effect on the child’s future. A parent who has children with language delay disorder has to understand that their child can also be struggling to deal with their emotions, and being misunderstood can lead to them becoming more frustrated, and their frustration can cause them to misbehave. Both the parents and the care provider should be alert in determining whether the established program is effective and meeting the developmental milestone for the three years old girls. The parent will also be provided with a follow-up program so that the care provider is able to assess the progress made by the child as a result of the established care program. The follow-up can also assist in determining if the parenting therapy is effective for the patient, and additional efforts can be established to make sure that the patient's condition is improving.

References

Buzhardt, J., Greenwood, C. R., Jia, F., Walker, D., Schneider, N., Larson, A. L., ... & McConnell, S. R. (2020). Technology to guide data-driven intervention decisions: Effects on language growth of young children at risk for language delay. Exceptional children, 87(1), 74-91.

CDC. (2022, May 11). Language and Speech Disorders in Children. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/developmentaldisabilities/language-disorders.html

Ciccone, N., Hennessey, N., & Stokes, S. F. (2012). Community‐based early intervention for language delay: a preliminary investigation. International journal of language & communication disorders, 47(4), 467-470.

Feldman, H. M. (2005). Evaluation and management of language and speech disorders in preschool children. Pediatr Rev, 26(131), 40.

Jullien, S. (2021). Screening for language and speech delay in children under five years. BMC paediatrics, 21(1), 1-7.

Kruythoff‐Broekman, A., Wiefferink, C., Rieffe, C., & Uilenburg, N. (2019). Parent‐implemented early language intervention programme for late talkers: parental communicative behaviour change and child language outcomes at 3 and 4 years of age. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 54(3), 451-464.

Martin, D., & Miller, C. (2012). Speech and language difficulties in the classroom. David Fulton Publishers.

Maryland’s Infants and Toddlers Program. (2022). Marylandpublicschools.org. https://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/Pages/Special-Education/MITP/index.aspx

Morgan, L., Delehanty, A., Dillon, J. C., Schatschneider, C., & Wetherby, A. M. (2020). Early social communication and vocabulary production measures predict language outcomes at two and three years in late-talking toddlers. Early childhood research quarterly, 51, 366-378.

Munro, N., Baker, E., Masso, S., Carson, L., Lee, T., Wong, A. M. Y., & Stokes, S. F. (2021). Vocabulary acquisition and usage for late talkers treatment: Effect on expressive vocabulary and phonology. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64(7), 2682-2697.