Red flags for speech impairment: who should we refer to speech therapy?
We found a high prevalence and variability of errors up to 6 years which explains why so many families seek support for speech development in the preschool years. Furthermore, our data suggest speech may be mastered more slowly nowadays compared with two decades ago. We provide an assessment tool with age-referenced normative cut-points and identify 'red flag' speech errors to guide data-driven referral of children at risk for persistent disorder to speech and language therapy.
Authors
- Daisy A. Shepherd (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8540-0473)
- Olivia van Reyk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7333-4384)
- Adam P. Vogel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3505-2631)
- Simone Debono
- Charlotte Boulton
- Francesca Coles
- Angela Morgan
- Ashleigh Hill
- Tully Coldrey
Institutions
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Archives of Disease in Childhood
- Published
- 2026-02-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2025-329279
- Primary Topic
- Language Development and Disorders
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Medical Research Council
- National Health and Medical Research Council