All we hear is baby ga-ga

Some Kiwi children are now struggling to speak by the age of three - and a shortage of speech therapists is exacerbating the problem.

A UK survey has revealed almost one in six parents have had problems with their children learning to speak, and experts say those numbers are mirrored here.

The problem is even worse for boys, with one in four parents reporting a problem.

The most common age for children to say their first word is between 10 and 11 months, according to the YouGov survey, but 4 per cent of parents said their child did not utter their first word until the age of three. More than 1000 parents took part in the survey.

New Zealand speech and language specialists said the same problems applied here.

"We are increasingly hearing from both primary and kindergarten teachers that kids are starting the first day of school with poor communication skills," says Professor Thomas Klee from the Department of Communication Disorders at Canterbury University.

"There needs to be more solid research. But there is no reason to suspect New Zealand is any better then the United Kingdom."

He says a range of factors contribute towards speech problems.

"There are some studies that show kids that watch lots and lots of television have smaller vocabularies than kids whose parents are more active with them.

"However, you can't blame parents if their child is struggling. Kids who have severe problems are probably going to have difficulties regardless of the input they are getting.

"I've found that kids who have severe problems on the whole have parents who are active with them. Reading story books is one of the best things a parent can do."

Klee warns that ignoring a child's early speech difficulties could have dire long-term consequences.

"A lot of kids grow out of it but many don't.

"It can lead to reading and writing problems and have a longer term impact. It stands to reason that if you can't communicate, you act out. Research shows two thirds of youth offenders had communication problems in their early years."

Colette Maier, an Auckland speech and language therapist from Not Only Words, agrees.

"Not every child who has a speech and language delay is going to go on and be a young offender or have difficulties at school but potentially they are more at risk."

She says parents need to be more aware of the issue and seek help earlier.

"There tends to be an ethos in New Zealand to adopt a wait-and-see approach.

"Some early-childhood teachers, GPs, Plunket nurses tend to say, 'hey look give it another six months and he will be fine'.

"A speech and language therapist is able to identify a child at a much younger age who is at risk of having a persistent speech and language delay."

The Ministry of Education funds some speech therapy for the more serious cases but Maier said waiting lists can be between six and 12 months in Auckland.

New Zealand Speech-Language Therapists Association president Dr Megan McAuliffe called for the Government to do more for the early detection and treatment of children with speech difficulties.

Jo McKeowen, acting deputy secretary of special education at the Ministry of Education says around $15 million a year is spent on speech, language and communications services.

She says the ministry is aware of the waiting list and is working to resolve these issues.

Verbs start the vocab rolling

When James Rashbrook-Field was 3, he had a vocabulary of just a dozen words.

His parents, Christchurch couple Alison Rashbrook and Guy Field, became concerned. Despite nurses, friends and family suggesting a "wait-and-see" approach, they sought help from a speech and language therapist.

In mid-2009, James started getting help through the Department of Communication Disorders at Canterbury University. The strategy was to give James 10 verbs to work on at a time.

"The theory behind that is if you worked on the verbs then the rest of the words come. Like 'kick ball' or 'eat food'.

"It was a way of boosting his vocabulary by focusing on the smaller verbs."

It has had great success with James. In his first three months of therapy his vocabulary mushroomed to more than 150 words.

"The Plunket nurse said they thought he would be fine and to call back in three months. Friends and family agreed and kept saying he was just a late developer," said Rashbrook.

"We were still concerned and didn't feel he was saying enough for his age.

"I didn't want anybody to say: 'If only you had come and seen us we could have done something about it'."

First words

The 10 most common first words

1 Dada/Dadda (152) 15 per cent
2 Daddy (125) 13 per cent
3 Mama/Mamma (101) 10 per cent
4 Dad (99) 10 per cent
5 Mummy (75) 8 per cent
6 Mum (69) 7 per cent
7 Cat (19) 2 per cent
8 Car (14) 1 per cent
9 No (14) 1 per cent
10 Dog (13) 1 per cent

Unusual first words included beer, gadget, hoover, oh dear, and tits-up 10-11 months was the most common age for children to say their first word 13-18 months was the most common age for children to start putting two words together