Does your child struggle with their speaking abilities? If so, they may benefit from working with a speech therapist.
Working with a speech therapist is very similar to working with a physical therapist, at least as far as the routine goes! The child receiving therapy will have regular appointments with their speech therapist to monitor and track their progress and will be given easy exercises to work on at home to make additional progress.
For children with a speech disorder, the parents will be an integral part of the process. Our clinic provides speech therapy for children in addition to physical therapy, so be sure to give us a call if you require these services.
Here’s a closer look at how speech therapy can help a child with a speech or language disorder.
What is speech therapy like
The type of speech disability confirmed during the diagnosis process will determine your child’s work with a speech therapist. In a calm, welcoming environment, one of our speech-language therapists will work with your child on a series of activities.
Depending on your child’s strengths and weaknesses, they may have one or two sessions a week. Speech therapy activities may include tasks to reinforce the muscles of the forehead, tongue, and throat, as well as language learning and basic listening skills such as maintaining eye contact while speaking to others.
The length of therapy all depends on where your child is developmentally. In addition, by keeping up with regular appointments with a speech therapist, the exercises and focus may change or adjust to help better meet your child’s needs.
How can a speech therapist help my child
Your speech-language therapist can test your child for a speech disorder. These tests will likely lead to a diagnosis of the exact type of condition that needs to be treated.
In other cases, your child may have an autism diagnosis from your pediatrician and was referred to us for speech therapy. Either way, testing can help to determine whether the speech disorder involves apraxia, dysarthria or a combination of factors.
Here are some of the most common types of tests used to diagnose speech disorders in children.
- Early Language Milestone Scale 2 – The ELM Scale-2 test takes about 10 minutes to complete and is used to measure language milestones in children up to 3 years of age, or older children who developmentally fall within this range.
- Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – This test has been used to diagnose speech disorders for decades. The therapist recites words and the child identifies an associated picture that matches each word. This test measures the child’s vocabulary and examines their ability to speak.
- Denver Articulation Screening Examination (DASE) – This is a developmental screening test designed for children between 2 months and 5 years of age. It tests communication, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem-solving and social skills. Believe it or not, all of these things relate back to speech and may be used as part of a speech therapy program!
Different kinds of speech language disorders
There are several different kinds of speech and language disorders that a person may have. The best way to find out whether or not your child has one of these is to consult with a therapist at our clinic, however, there are some signs you may have noticed in their speaking and communication patterns.
As stated by KidsHealth,
“A speech disorder refers to a problem with making sounds. Speech disorders include:
- Fluency disorders: These include problems such as stuttering, in which the flow of speech is interrupted by unusual stops, partial-word repetitions (“b-b-boy”), or prolonging sounds and syllables (sssssnake).
- Articulation disorders: These are problems with making sounds in syllables, or saying words incorrectly to the point that listeners can’t understand what’s being said.
- Resonance or voice disorders: These are problems with the pitch, volume, or quality of the voice that distract listeners from what’s being said. These types of disorders may also cause pain or discomfort for a child when speaking.”
The work that a speech therapist does with your child will largely depend on the type of speech disorder being treated. You have probably heard of stuttering, which is one of the most common disorders, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.
A speech disorder can also include apraxia or dysarthria. Apraxia is a condition that is usually neurological in origin and can be caused by damage to the brain, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or other medical conditions. Dysarthria is a speech disorder caused by a problem with the muscles in the mouth, face or respiratory system.
Getting started with therapy
If your child is struggling with delayed speech, vocabulary development, or a neurological or physical disorder that is impacting their speech, give us a call to set up a screening appointment.
The good news when it comes to a speech disorder is that the earlier your child begins speech therapy, the better the long-term results can be.
Sources
Tags: speechtherapist, #childdevelopment, Health, wellness, healthandwellness, speechtherapy
