Deafness and Autism Spectrum Disorder are NOT THE ONLY causes for delay in language development. A very common issue that we note nowadays is environmental understimulation.
A child\’s brain starts to develop in the womb, way before she/he is born into this world. After birth, the first two years see the fastest rate of growth and development. Thereafter, this rate gradually slows down but by the age of 6, about 90% of the brain has developed – the base for further learning is already laid.
These first few years are, therefore, the golden years of development and children need enough stimulation from the environment to facilitate the same. If a child is exposed to screens from the very beginning, the brain is not receiving the stimulation it needs to actively form strong neural connections that are essential for future learning.
With the use of screens to make parenting tasks easier, the amount of language used in the child’s environment is also decreasing gradually. This is leading to underexposure in a lot of infants who otherwise don’t have any physical or developmental disabilities. This then leads to language delay, followed by delay in almost all other developmental areas (cognitive, emotional, social and moral).
We at SAHAS work with parents of such children to help them learn language and bridge the gap in their development so that they can lead an absolutely mainstream life.