One In Four Parents
Are Concerned About
Their Child’s Ability to
Communicate
Most Don’t Recognize the Majority of
Warning Signs of Communication Disorders
O
ne quarter of U.S. parents
of children ages 0–8 have
had concerns about their
child’s ability to communicate, accord-
ing to poll results released in May 2019
by the American Speech-Language-
Hearing Association (ASHA.org) for
national Better Hearing & Speech
Month. At the same time, parents who
were polled overwhelmingly agree that
speech, language, and hearing develop-
mental milestones are among the most
important in life.
Commissioned by ASHA and con-
ducted this spring by YouGov, this na-
tionally representative poll of more than
1,100 parents revealed perceptions of
communication and communication
disorders among the most populous ra-
cial and ethnic groups — White, Black
or African American, and Hispanic
households. Most common among par-
ents were concerns about speech devel-
opment, followed by language concerns
and then hearing-related worries.
Besides parents’ concerns about
their children’s ability to communi-
cate, the poll revealed the actions that
parents took. Seventy-three percent of
all parents who had concerns sought
treatment, with 8 in 10 of those report-
ing that they perceived “a great deal” or
“a good amount” of improvement after
treatment. Speech-language patholo-
gists headed the list of professionals that
parents sought help from for their chil-
dren’s speech and language issues; for
hearing problems, pediatricians were
the most commonly consulted, followed
closely by audiologists.
“While it is encouraging that par-
32 WNY Family July 2019
ents across the board reported that they
often seek help from our professionals
and see their children’s communica-
tion health improve significantly with
treatment, the polling also found that
more than one quarter of parents with
concerns hadn’t sought treatment. This
is far too many when it comes to com-
munication health, something parents
themselves strongly agreed is impor-
tant to their children’s well-being. Since
communication disorders are highly
treatable, this is an especially unfortu-
nate missed opportunity for those chil-
dren.”
According to the poll results, the
top reasons parents gave for not seeking
treatment were uncertainty about where
to get treatment; pediatricians telling
them that their children would grow
out of the problem; a child’s school or
teacher saying there wasn’t a problem;
parents thinking that the concern didn’t
seem like a big deal; and parents not
knowing where to start or who to con-
tact.
In addition, whether parents had
concerns or not, the polling suggests
that too many families are in the dark
about communication disorders and are
not doing all that they can to foster the
development of their children’s commu-
nication skills.
Just 23% of parents were able to
correctly identify 75% or more of the
signs of communication disorders pro-
vided in the survey. And just 5% were
able to correctly identify all the signs of
communication disorders provided.
In terms of fostering the develop-
ment of communication skills, 9 in 10
respondents correctly identified activi-
ties that have a positive impact on com-
munication skills, such as talking/having
verbal interactions with others and being
read to by family members. However, in
practice, only 46% said that their chil-
dren are read to 5–7 days a week.
More than half of all parents said
that not enough information about com-
munication disorders is available. Four
in 10 received information from their
child’s pediatrician, and nearly as many
(35%) report receiving information from
media sources. Compared with White
families, more Black or African Ameri-
can and Hispanic families report receiv-
ing information via media sources.
According to ASHA President Rob-
ertson, “It is incumbent on us to keep
spreading the word to as many commu-
nities as we can — to build the informa-
tion and education flow about ways to
foster a child’s communication develop-
ment, as well as be informed about the
signs of communication disorders and
the availability of effective treatment.
“Our polling also showed that some
parents may not fully trust their own in-
stincts — less than half (42%) strongly
agreed that they know their child and
their child’s needs the best. I would en-
courage them to trust themselves more
and get professional help right away if
they sense something is wrong. Early in-
tervention is absolutely key.”
As provided by the ASHA website
http://IdentifytheSigns.org, you will find
below the signs of various types of com-
munication disorders in children and
what you, as a parent, can do if you sus-
pect there is a problem: