Parents often come to us at New Horizons Child Development Centre feeling anxious when their little one isn’t talking at all as much as peers, struggles to pronounce words clearly, or repeats phrases endlessly without real meaning. As a leading child development centre with more than two decades in developmental pediatrics, we’ve supported thousands of families facing these exact worries. Speech and language challenges are far more common than many realize, and addressing them thoughtfully can open up a world of connection, learning, and joy for children.
Helping Children Find Their Voice through Speech Therapy
In India, recent studies and clinic observations suggest speech and language delays affect anywhere from about 2.5% to over 6% of young children in general populations, with higher rates—sometimes up to 4-13%—in those seeking developmental support or in specific communities. For children on the autism spectrum (ASD), these issues frequently include echolalia (repetitive words or sentences heard from TV, others, or themselves), limited use of words for genuine communication, or trouble with back-and-forth conversation. Other patterns we see involve articulation difficulties (sounds coming out unclearly), receptive gaps (understanding what others say), expressive hurdles (putting thoughts into words), or a mix of these.
What lies behind these delays?
Often, it’s a blend of factors. Biological ones might include hearing problems, oral-motor coordination issues, premature birth complications, or neurological influences. In many families, environmental elements play a big role too such as multilingual homes where children hear multiple languages without enough focused interaction, excessive screen exposure, or lower parental education levels limiting rich language models. When ASD is involved, the core differences in social engagement and processing can make verbal expression even harder. Spotting early signs like little babbling by 12 months, few words by age 2, or not responding to their name gives us the best window to step in.
Most centres across the country rely on well-established methods: speech therapy, Speech Therapy Programs for children, targeted speech therapy for autism child, structured speech issues program, hands-on Speech Therapy Exercises, speech impediment therapy, and approaches showing how speech therapy help children gain clearer speech and stronger language use. These often involve modeling sounds, practicing words through games and pictures, building sentences step-by-step, or using rewards to encourage talking. The benefits of speech therapy shine through clearly: kids become more confident expressing needs, join in play more easily, follow classroom instructions better, and feel less frustrated—laying groundwork for better school performance and friendships.
These standard paths offer real help for many, yet they can sometimes stay focused on drilling specific sounds or phrases without digging deeply into the emotional and social roots that spark true, spontaneous communication—especially in neurodiverse children where over-prompting words might unintentionally reinforce echoing patterns.
That’s precisely why our New Horizons Developmental Program (NHDP) takes a fresh, integrated route. Created by Dr. Samir Dalwai and refined over years at our centres, NHDP doesn’t treat speech as a standalone skill to drill. Instead, it follows a logical developmental flow, starting with the building blocks of human connection: consistent eye contact, meaningful gestures, shared attention, and responsive caregiving. Drawing from the New Horizons Social Behavior and Communication (NHSBC) sequence, we gently guide children toward genuine interaction before pushing verbal output.
A standout example is how NHDP handles echolalia in ASD. Rather than jumping into heavy verbal repetition or correction (common in many speech therapy for autism child setups), we coach parents to dial back excessive talking and emphasize non-verbal warmth—leading to natural language growth. In a detailed observational study from our centre involving 114 children aged 3-18 with ASD and echolalia, after following NHDP with parental guidance, about 72% showed echolalia reduction within just eight weeks. Eye contact jumped dramatically (over 84% improvement), and gestural understanding followed closely (over 82%)—setting the stage for purposeful words to emerge.
We’ve witnessed beautiful changes: A young boy once locked in repetitive echoes and distant play, after consistent NHDP engagement over months, began stringing meaningful phrases, sharing stories, and joining peers in games with real smiles. Another child with mixed delays started using clear words for wants and feelings, reducing meltdowns and lighting up family moments. Many families notice brighter engagement, calmer routines, and happier interactions in the first 6-8 weeks alone.
With our team of over 100 specialists across six Mumbai locations, we focus on each child’s unique strengths, delivering personalized, measurable steps forward. Founded in 2003, we’ve helped over 25,000 children move from struggle to strength.