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Local expert urges parents not to neglect speech and language development issues

May is speech and hearing month and one local expert says families should keep themselves well-informed with regard to speech development issues and take the issue seriously.

May is speech and hearing month and one local expert says families should keep themselves well-informed with regard to speech development issues and take the issue seriously.

Sherry Miller-Pitzel, a speech-language pathologist with the Winning Therapies, stresses that parents play a key role in the development of their children’s speech and language skills.

According to Miller-Pitzel, the most fundamental improvement in speech and language skills occurs between the ages of two and eight years of age and that is the critical time to provide intensive direct intervention to a child to have the most success in the remediation and development of speech-language skills .

“Early intensive direct intervention in case of delayed speech-language skills has a direct impact on the academic success of your child. It improves and facilitates a child’s speech - articulation, receptive and expressive language skills development,” she says.

She also emphasizes the role of listening as a vital component of the communication process between the child and the parent and urges parents to make sure that their actions in communication, and in particular listening, are good models for their children to adopt.

Miller-Pitzel recommends to parents not to neglect the story time and the practice of reading together, an exercise which she describes as an opportunity to exchange information and ideas.