Often, preschool-aged children who don’t speak much, use full sentences or respond to questions that ask “who,” “what,” “why” or “where” will be pegged as having a developmental problem. A preschooler should be able to have a conversation and answer the “W” questions; an eight-exchanges conversation is normal for this age. However, there are a few different reasons for language delay, and it’s important to determine which one is occurring. Some children may not know how to express themselves; they could have a hard time understanding what the teacher is saying; or they may be responding to the teacher but not speaking clearly. Also, children who are learning more than one language may have a difficult time communicating.
Teachers should know that a child can exhibit more than one type of delay. If delays occur in several areas, including speech, vision, movement, emotion, social skills or cognitive abilities, the child may have a global delay. The cause of this type of delay could be a genetic defect, fetal alcohol syndrome, fragile X syndrome or a medical problem due to prematurity at birth.
There are times when a teacher will need to speak with parents about having their child evaluated. Evaluations determine why a child isn’t meeting the developmental stages they should be, or why they’re not doing well in school overall. While the teacher won’t directly perform the evaluation, she should still know basics when preparing the child. Children should be allowed to stay with their parents during the evaluation -- separation leads to anxiety and inaccurate results. Formal, standardized tests are not a good measure for young children; evaluations are supposed to take a look at every child’s unique capabilities. Also, a full evaluation includes watching how the child interacts with his parents, not just his cognitive and motor skills.
It’s not always necessary to call in the professionals to deal with a child who has a developmental delay. Often, the teacher can work with the child and practice in order to bring her up to speed. Children who struggle with motor skills will benefit from regularly throwing and catching a large, soft ball. A child who has problems with spatial thinking may improve with regular hide-and-seek or treasure hunt games. Sensory delays can be helped by letting the child control his sensory environment. Letting a child play with a dimmer switch to lower or brighten lights, or asking a child to run, alternating between fast and slow, will let the child experience different sensations in a controlled way.