Is this medical advice?

No. This page is educational support for parents and should be used alongside qualified clinicians, early intervention teams, or school teams.

What should I do if I am worried?

Document what you are seeing, support communication in low-pressure routines, and ask a pediatrician, SLP, early intervention program, or school team about evaluation options.

What to Ask on a Preschool Tour (As an ND Parent)

If you're heading into a preschool tour and trying to figure out what to actually ask about speech and communication support, you're probably not looking for a lecture, you want to know whether your concerns are normal, whether you should push for answers now, and what questions actually matter once you're standing in the classroom. The most useful question isn't "how do I get my child to talk more?" It's "what is my child already communicating, and what would make the next step easier for them?" That shift matters both at home and on a tour: it helps you notice what a preschool's routines and staff actually support, and it gives you sharper questions to bring to an SLP, pediatrician, early intervention team, or school team later. Before you tour, it helps to watch your child across several different moments rather than judging from one rough afternoon. Pay attention to gestures, imitation, response to name, and whether they understand more than they can say. These patterns, seen across routines, tell you more than any single moment does, and they'll shape what you ask the school about (how they handle language modeling, sensory needs, or a child who communicates through scripts or a device rather than spoken words). At home, you can try something simple this week: pick a routine that already happens daily, model one useful word or gesture within it, then pause long enough for your child to respond in whatever form that takes; a sign, a point, an approximation, a script. Accept it as communication and stop before it turns into a battle. When you're actually touring a preschool, the questions worth asking go deeper than "do you have an SLP on staff." Around 30 specific questions are worth bringing, covering things like sensory accommodations, how staff model language throughout the day, restraint policies, how they coordinate with an existing IEP, and how often (and how) they'll communicate with you as a parent. If your child's communication is part of a larger pattern you're already worried about, don't wait for the tour to sort it out. Ask for a hearing check, an early intervention evaluation, or a school-based or private SLP evaluation now. Getting ahead of it isn't overreacting, it just means your child has access to support sooner rather than later. For related reading, the AAC for Autism hub is a good starting point, and you may also find it helpful to look at Choosing a Preschool for Your Autistic Toddler: The Real Tradeoffs, Childhood Apraxia of Speech: A Parent's Plain-English Guide, Delayed Echolalia: What It Means and What to Do, How to Respond When Your Child Echoes You, Is Echolalia Bad? The Honest Answer, DTTC for Apraxia: What It Is and How It Works, How Many SLP Sessions Per Week for Apraxia?, and Montessori for Speech-Delayed Kids: Honest Take, or browse more in Parent Guides.

Important: Little Words is meant for educational support during home practice. It isn't a medical device, an AAC replacement, or a stand-in for a licensed speech-language pathologist, pediatrician, early intervention program, school team, or full developmental evaluation.