May is Better Speech and Hearing Month:

1. Expressive vocabulary delays at 24 months of age increase children’s risk for later speech/language services. (Morgan et al., 2016)
2. Between 40% and 50% of children receiving services through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s Early Intervention or Early Childhood Special Education (EI/ECSE) programs do so because of speech and/or language impairments (Hebbeler et al., 2007; Scarborough, Hebbeler, & Spiker, 2006).
3. Children with speech and/or language impairments typically display lower reading, mathematics, and behavioral functioning at both the start of kindergarten and throughout elementary school (Harrison, McLeod, Berthelsen, & Walker, 2009; McCormack, Harrison, McLeod, & McAllister, 2011; Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier, & Maczuga, 2012).
4. Speech and/or language impairments increase children’s risk of later being diagnosed as having reading (Catts, Fey, Tomlin, & Zhang, 2002) and behavioral disabilities (Yew & O’Kearney, 2013).
5.  Early intervention enhances the development of children at biological risk for developmental delay (Resnick et al. 1987).
6. If screening [for ADHD] indicates concerns about a child’s speech and/or language-including expressive and receptive language, speech fluency, pragmatic language, prosody, or phonology/articulation-a referral should be made to a pediatric speech and language pathologist (p. 26). (Dobie & Donald, 2012).
7. Consider the need for social skills training to improve peer relationships that are often negatively affected by ADHD symptoms (e.g., impulsivity)” (p. 41). The various target skills may include maintaining eye contact, initiating and maintaining conversation, sharing, and cooperating (p. 42). (Dobie & Donald, 2012).
8. The prevalence of speech sound disorders in young children is 8 to 9 %. By the first grade, roughly 5 percent of children have noticeable speech disorders; the majority of these speech disorders have no known cause. (NIDCD, 2015)
9. Research suggests that the first 6 months of life are the most crucial to a child’s development of language skills. For a person to become fully competent in any language, exposure must begin as early as possible, preferably before school age. (NIDCD, 2015)
10. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children be screened for general development using standardized, validated tools at 9 months, 18 months, and 24-30 months [in addition to] autism at 18 months and 24 months or whenever a parent or provider has a concern. (CDC.gov)
11. In typically developing fetuses, the auditory system is fully functional at 25 weeks’ gestation. In other words, your developing baby can hear you in utero at 25 weeks. This means that your unborn baby has 20 weeks of auditory stimulation to mother’s voice prior to being born (if born full term). (Flexer, 2016)
12. 92% of children with permanent hearing loss are born to two hearing parents. (Mitchell & Karchmer, 2004)
13. If a child wears hearing aids for only 4 hours/day for one year, it will take him/her SIX years to catch up to equal the amount of time a child with normal hearing hears in one year. (Flexer, 2016)
14. The 6-year-old child typically has a 2,600 word expressive vocabulary (words he or she says), and a receptive vocabulary (words he or she understands) of 20,000–24,000 words. (asha.org)
15. Approximately 5% of people will stutter during some part of their lives (Mansson, 2000).
16. It is estimated that more than 3 million Americans stutter. Stuttering affects individuals of all ages but occurs most frequently in young children between the ages of 2 and 6 who are developing language. Boys are 3 times more likely to stutter than girls. Most children, however, outgrow their stuttering, and it is estimated that fewer than 1 percent of adults stutter.(NIDCD, 2016)
17. Speech and language impairments are considered a high-incidence disability. Approximately 20% of children receiving special education services are receiving services for speech and language disorders. This estimate does not include children who receive services for speech and language disorders that are secondary to other conditions such as deafness. More than one-half (55.2%) of all 3-, 4-, and 5-year olds with a disability receive speech and language services. (Projectidealonline.org)
18. Children in whom speech and language impairments persist past five and a half years of age have an increased incidence of attention and social difficulties. Children with specific speech and language impairments at seven and a half to 13 years of age have been shown to have impaired writing skills, with marked deficits in spelling and punctuation compared with children without speech and language impairments. (Snowling MJ, Bishop DV, Stothard SE, Chipchase B, Kaplan C., 2006).
19.  Autism now affects 1 in 68 children and 1 in 42 boys. (Boys are nearly five times more likely than girls to have autism.) (Autismspeaks.org, 2016)
20. Autism costs a family $60,000 a year on average. (Autismspeaks.org, 2016)
21.  There is no medical detection or cure for autism. (Autismspeaks.org, 2016)
22. There are critical developmental transitions that must be negotiated in order for eating to advance properly:
    • gross motor skills
    • fine motor skills
    • oral-motor skills
    • sensory inputs
    • emotional/cognitive/self-regulatory skills” (Erhardt, 2010 & Ross, 2011).
23. There are feeding difficulties identified in 40.6% of all infants born 34-36 weeks:
    • 61% of infants at 34 weeks
    • 42% of infants at 35 weeks
    • 35% of infants at 36 weeks
    • Latching and poor effort predominant concerns.(Feeding FUNdamentals; Medoff-Cooper, et al., 2012)
24. Did you know the title Speech-language pathologist does not encompass all that we do? Some therapists also work with children with feeding and swallowing difficulties.
25. The FDA has approved cochlear implants in children at 12 months if a child has a severe-profound hearing loss AND doesn’t receive benefit from hearing aids. There are many components that need to be in place for a child to be successful including family support, strong network of professionals and no medical contraindications. (uwhealth.org)
26. The smallest bones in the body are the auditory ossicles, located in the middle ear: the incus, the malleus, and the stapes (also called the anvil, hammer, and stirrup). (innerbody.com)
27. The inner ear (cochlea) is no larger than a pencil eraser or a pea in circumference. If you were to unroll an average cochlea, it would end up being a tube about 31.5mm long. (medel.com)
28. You do not need to clean wax out of your ears unless you have an abnormal condition. Ears push excess wax out as needed. (healthyhearing.org)
29. The majority of individuals who have hearing loss are under the age of 65. (hearingaids.com)
30. Not all living creatures hear with ears. Snakes use jawbones, fish respond to pressure changes, and male mosquitoes use antennae. (hearingaids.com)
31. There are over 20,000 nerve/hair cells in the average cochlea; damage to these nerve/hair cells cause hearing loss. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books)

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