Fully Curable If Therapy Is Started Early

Skills owing to the seizures. "At that point, steroids were the best treatment option," said Dr. Darshan Jayaram Das, senior consultant in neurology at Rajagiri Hospital, Ernakulam, who treated Karthik. "There was some hesitation from the family members due to a lot of myths and fears about giving steroids to children. This caused a delay in starting treatment. But eventually, the family agreed, and thankfully, the child responded very well."

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The abnormal brain activity affecting Karthik's speech development improved significantly, and so did his language and communication skills. "Steroids can be very effective when used for the right condition, in the right dose, and with careful monitoring," Dr. Das added. "In this case, a combination of proper medical treatment, speech therapy, and stimulation really helped improve the child's language development."

Speech and language development involve two key components—receptive and expressive language. "Expression will be effective only if reception is intact. In some children, both receptive and expressive language may be delayed, while in others, only expressive language is affected. For expressive language to develop properly, hearing must be normal. We learn by hearing, and then we learn to express ourselves. If there's any hearing issue—whether genetic or acquired—speech development may be delayed, so hearing should be tested," he said.

The study 'Speech and language delay in children: Prevalence and risk factors', published in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care in 2019, found that the prevalence of speech and language delay is 2.53%. The medical risk factors associated with this are birth asphyxia, seizure disorder, and oropharyngeal deformity. The familial causes include low parental education, consanguinity, positive family history, multilingual environment, and inadequate stimulation. However, with early detection and intervention, the condition is reversible in most cases.