Doctors raise awareness of childhood language delays
Local medical specialists are encouraging parents to take their children to a hospital if they don’t have language expression by the age of 24 months. Research finds that most parents wait at least four months before taking their child to see a doctor for delayed language development.
“There are several causes for delayed language development such as autism, hearing disorders, intellectual impairment and simply slow language development. Parents should take their children to a doctor in due time for a detailed evaluation and diagnosis, and also to receive targeted intervention and education," said Dr Zhang Yiwen, director of the pediatric development department at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center on Friday.
The hospital has also launched a three-day training program for grassroots doctors, social organizations and training facilities to help build a formalized health service system which can promptly identify childhood language disorders and improve clinical capabilities.
“Language training can’t depend only on hospitals. It also requires involvement from families and social institutes. We also invite teachers from autism training schools, and some parents, to participate in courses to study how to intervene and help children with language disorders,” Zhang said.
According to Zhang, about 15 to 20 percent of children experience some form of language disorder and timely intervention and training are extremely important.
Dr Zhang Yiwen from Shanghai Children's Medical Center provides training to a child patient.
