Q: My mother tongue is Sindhi and my husband's is Tamil. Our son has learnt Sindhi since childhood. Recently my husband has started talking to him in Tamil. He has started going to the day care, where people talk in both Hindi and English. I have noticed that words he could pronounce earlier are not clear anymore. He also slurs while talking and I can't understand what he says. He had started saying sentences of 3 to 4 words. But he mostly talks gibberish. Is it too early to start exposing him to another language? What is the right approach?

A:Not all children are born with the same proficiency for language. Many kids are brought up in multilingual environment and they end up learning all the languages perfectly. But at times multiple language exposure becomes a cause for the child's delayed language development. If you are putting up amidst Hindi speaking population then you should stop all other languages except Hindi and English in order that he is able to communicate with his peer group also. You will not see any immediate results so don't panic. Increase the child's language exposure but keep the number of languages restricted to just Hindi and English (wherever applicable). Also, consult a Speech pathologist to have a detailed speech and language evaluation and a further detailed home plan (if required).