When is it just a delay vs a disorder?

[Anonymous]

Is it age thing or based on severity?

[Anonymous]

My child's speech delay was recategorized to a disorder by his SLP just before age 3, after about 14 months of speech therapy.

I think it was a combination of age + ability to make a firm diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it age thing or based on severity?

In the IEP world usually a child is recoded by age 9 or before from "delay" to a category that generally stays long term.

With my ST delayed kids who also had motor issues, diagnoses were doled out at age 3 and 6 by developmental pediatrician and neuropsychologists who evaluated them.

[Anonymous]

When test results conclusively show a diagnosis that is lifelong.

Note that some conditions like "hypotonia" are not diagnoses.

[Anonymous]

"Just" a delay would resolve itself without intervention. Often, it takes time for a child to be old enough to get an appropriate dx. Therefore, you often don't know at the beginning of the journey whether it's just a delay or something that would benefit from early intervention. Most parents would rather intervene just in case on the theory that it won't hurt and might help and usually earlier intervention is better than later intervention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Just" a delay would resolve itself without intervention. Often, it takes time for a child to be old enough to get an appropriate dx. Therefore, you often don't know at the beginning of the journey whether it's just a delay or something that would benefit from early intervention. Most parents would rather intervene just in case on the theory that it won't hurt and might help and usually earlier intervention is better than later intervention.

This is absolutely not true. Delays may resolve without intervention, but generally a delay to improve it needs intervention.

There are kids that have lisps or can't say their Rs or Ls b/c there was no intervention when they were young. These delays are more difficult to fix the older a person gets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Just" a delay would resolve itself without intervention. Often, it takes time for a child to be old enough to get an appropriate dx. Therefore, you often don't know at the beginning of the journey whether it's just a delay or something that would benefit from early intervention. Most parents would rather intervene just in case on the theory that it won't hurt and might help and usually earlier intervention is better than later intervention.

This is absolutely not true. Delays may resolve without intervention, but generally a delay to improve it needs intervention.

There are kids that have lisps or can't say their Rs or Ls b/c there was no intervention when they were young. These delays are more difficult to fix the older a person gets.

If a child can't sat /r/ or /l/ by age 8 it is considered an articulation disorder. I've never heard anyone describe a child as having a delay in articulation.

[Anonymous]

Age, for speech it is usually 4-5. If it is going to be resolved without intervention for things like speech, its usually 3-4 but you do not want to wait that long as that is a pretty big key time for therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Just" a delay would resolve itself without intervention. Often, it takes time for a child to be old enough to get an appropriate dx. Therefore, you often don't know at the beginning of the journey whether it's just a delay or something that would benefit from early intervention. Most parents would rather intervene just in case on the theory that it won't hurt and might help and usually earlier intervention is better than later intervention.

This is absolutely not true. Delays may resolve without intervention, but generally a delay to improve it needs intervention.

There are kids that have lisps or can't say their Rs or Ls b/c there was no intervention when they were young. These delays are more difficult to fix the older a person gets.

If a child can't sat /r/ or /l/ by age 8 it is considered an articulation disorder. I've never heard anyone describe a child as having a delay in articulation.

Articulation is a disorder, but if its mild most don't consider it a disorder. Its not a delay BUT you don't want to wait till age 8 to correct it either.

You'll never know if there is a benefit or not to intervention as most of us do it so its impossible to guess if a child would be fine without it or not. Better to do it than not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child's speech delay was recategorized to a disorder by his SLP just before age 3, after about 14 months of speech therapy.

I think it was a combination of age + ability to make a firm diagnosis.

That's very rare for a child to be diagnosed at age 2 with a language disorder.

[Anonymous]

Why are you trying to make this distinction, OP? That might affect the responses.

[Anonymous]

A delay describes language or speech development that follows the expected sequence, but at a slower pace. A disorder describe language or speech that does not follow the expected pattern/sequence. The child sounds (not necessarily articulation) markedly different and this involves more than just the timing of development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A delay describes language or speech development that follows the expected sequence, but at a slower pace. A disorder describe language or speech that does not follow the expected pattern/sequence. The child sounds (not necessarily articulation) markedly different and this involves more than just the timing of development.

I echo this. My DS's language, which was also delayed, doesn't sound immature for his age - it sounds atypical. He is five. His language most closely follows the symptoms of Specific Language Impairment. He regularly leaves off the first word or two when asking questions - "You like this book? You want a piece?" He struggled with tenses and retelling simple stories/parts of his day. It took him a long time to stopping calling everyone "he" and learn to also use "she." He struggles to differentiate between words that sound the same: Air vs. Hair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child's speech delay was recategorized to a disorder by his SLP just before age 3, after about 14 months of speech therapy.

I think it was a combination of age + ability to make a firm diagnosis.

That's very rare for a child to be diagnosed at age 2 with a language disorder.

NP. My dd was diagnosed with a speech disorder by 3 because it was motor related. From birth she couldn’t move her mouth reliably, which caused problems with feeding and then speaking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A delay describes language or speech development that follows the expected sequence, but at a slower pace. A disorder describe language or speech that does not follow the expected pattern/sequence. The child sounds (not necessarily articulation) markedly different and this involves more than just the timing of development.

I echo this. My DS's language, which was also delayed, doesn't sound immature for his age - it sounds atypical. He is five. His language most closely follows the symptoms of Specific Language Impairment. He regularly leaves off the first word or two when asking questions - "You like this book? You want a piece?" He struggled with tenses and retelling simple stories/parts of his day. It took him a long time to stopping calling everyone "he" and learn to also use "she." He struggles to differentiate between words that sound the same: Air vs. Hair.

At 5, it is reasonable to call it a disorder and yours sounds like a disorder. A delay is age 2-3. Your child can still catch up but its going to probably be a struggle for a few more years so that would be a disorder.