Evaluation and management of the child with speech delay

A delay in speech development may be a symptom of many disorders, including mental retardation, hearing loss, an expressive language disorder, psychos ocial deprivation, autism, elective mutism, receptive aphasia and cerebral palsy. Speech delay may be secondary to maturation delay or bilingualism. B eing familiar with the factors to look for when taking the history and perf orming the physical examination allows physicians to make a prompt diagnosi s. Timely detection and early intervention may mitigate the emotional, soci al and cognitive deficits of this disability and improve the outcome.