Which pediatric client is most likely to have a speech impairment?

The 5-year-old who answers with single words is most likely to have a speech impairment because, by this age, children typically have a vocabulary of several hundred words and are able to form simple sentences. Speech development benchmarks indicate that a child should be able to communicate using more than just single words. They should be able to engage in more complex forms of expression and conversational speech, including the ability to ask simple questions or make statements that involve more than one word.

In contrast, a 3-month-old who babbles and an 8-month-old who laughs spontaneously are demonstrating normal early communication milestones. At 3 months, infants typically begin to vocalize sounds like cooing and start to experiment with babbling, while at 8 months, laughter is a key social engagement indicator.

The 4-year-old who jumps when asked is likely demonstrating physical development and social communication, acknowledging a request. While the child is not specifically showcasing verbal skills, their ability to respond to prompts through actions rather than speech does not indicate a speech impairment in itself.

Overall, the 5-year-old's use of single-word answers stands out as a significant deviation from expected language development milestones for that age, suggesting the possibility of a speech impairment.