Speech Delay Red Flags: When to Check In

When to ask for guidance

Consider discussing your child’s communication development with a professional if you notice any of the following:

• Loss of skills: your child stops using sounds, words, gestures, or social communication skills they previously used.
• Limited response to sound or name: your child often does not react to voices or everyday sounds. A hearing check may be an appropriate part of an evaluation.
• Few ways to communicate: your child rarely uses sounds, gestures, facial expressions, pointing, or words to share needs and interests.
• Difficulty understanding language: your child often seems unable to understand simple, age-appropriate words or directions.
• Speech that remains hard to understand: familiar caregivers have persistent difficulty understanding your child, or clarity is not improving over time.
• Communication frustration: difficulty expressing needs regularly leads to distress or interferes with play, learning, or connection.

Look at the whole communication picture

Communication includes more than spoken words. Gestures, eye contact, shared attention, play, understanding, sounds, and attempts to take turns all provide useful information. Multilingual children should be considered across all the languages they hear and use; learning more than one language does not cause a speech or language disorder.

What to do next

• Write down what you notice. Include examples, when they happen, and any skills your child uses comfortably.
• Check current age-based milestones. The
  CDC’s developmental milestone resources
  can help you organize observations, while the
  American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s communication milestones
  provide speech and language context.
• Bring your questions to a professional. Start with your child’s pediatrician, healthcare provider, or a qualified speech-language pathologist. Ask whether a hearing evaluation or developmental assessment would be helpful.

You do not need to wait for a crisis or be certain that something is wrong before asking. Early conversations can provide reassurance, practical ideas, or access to an evaluation when one is appropriate.

Prepare for the conversation: use our questions to ask about your child’s speech guide to gather observations and plan your next appointment.

A note on urgent concerns

Contact a healthcare professional promptly if your child loses communication or other developmental skills, or if you are concerned about hearing. Seek urgent medical care for sudden symptoms or any immediate safety concern.

This page provides general educational information and is not a diagnosis or a substitute for individualized medical or developmental advice.

Next steps

See the full Speech Milestones hub, download the free checklist, or get the Speech and Development Tracker.