A short video by Ming @ Agents of Speech explaining why children with speech delays may speak only when prompted. The presenter frames the issue as linked to the communicative function and motivation — children speak when there is a clear reason or function for them to do so. The speaker intends to go point-by-point through causes and strategies.
Hey. So today we're going to talk about why your child seems to be only talking when he or she feels like it. It's like, my kid only talks if he feels like it. It's up to his mood. It's nothing I can do. I prompt, I ask questions, I do a lot of things. But if the kid doesn't want to talk at all, there's nothing I can do. I've been doing what the speech therapist has been asking me to do, which is to talk as much as I can, right. In many different ways as I can, and let the child lead and play with them. But it seems like it's been a year or two and child still isn't talking. So we have a lot of these questions. And I'm gonna get to this slowly. I just wanna go point by point. The first point is a child or a person only wants to talk to you if there is a reason behind it. So if every time what you're prompting or what you're trying to get your child to say, you need to think about what function it's doing.
