Speech Therapy for Children
What is a speech and language pathologist?
A speech therapist or speech-language pathologist (SLP) has a master degree or higher in the field and should be licensed by the state in which they work. National certification is obtained through the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA.) SLP’s are trained to work with people of all ages and often specialize in specific ages or areas of the field.
What type of diagnosis do children have that require a SLP? The young children don't always have a diagnosis. They may be referred because they are not meeting developmental milestones as their peers or are showing signs of frustration not being able to be understood. Babies and young children may have already been diagnosed and those include:
- Developmental delays
- Hearing impairments
- Weak oral muscles or low muscle tone
- Motor planning problems
- Stuttering
- Traumatic brain injury
- Respiratory or breathing problems
- Down Syndrome
- Autism
- Feeding and swallowing problems
- Apraxia
- Cleft lip and palate
- Genetic or chromosome differences
If a parent, teacher or pediatrician feels there may be a delay in a child’s development or ability to communicate a referral to an SLP may be made whether or not there has been an identified diagnosis. An infant may start seeing and SLP in the hospital if early feeding and swallowing issues arise.
When should an evaluation and therapy begin?“When in doubt, check it out!” is how pediatric interventionists think! Babies and toddlers should show communicative through reaching, pointing, facial expression and verbal attempts. If a toddler is not trying to communicate or having difficulty communicating and showing frustration between 10-24 months, consult your child’s teacher or pediatrician.
Therapy should begin as soon as possible. Research indicates that children that start early, before the age of 3 years, have better outcomes. But, no time is too late.
Where can I find a speech-language pathologist? SLP’s work in hospital clinics, private clinics, schools and independently. Ask professionals working in related fields and with your child for names of pediatric SLP’s in your area. Your pediatrician or child’s teacher should be consulted and they will be able to make referrals to area therapists and a prescription for an evaluation is often needed.
What happens during an evaluation? The therapist will want to know the pre and post birth history, developmental milestones and medical history. Take pertinent doctors names, reports or IEP's with you. From there the SLP will determine what standardized tests should be attempted to determine the child's present levels of oral motor development, articulation, understanding and use of language.
For more information please sign up for my free speech therapy fun course and familiarize yourself with as much information as you can regarding your childs specific speech disorder or speech dealay. The earlier you start the better for the child.
Here are some recommneded readings and products:
- Speech Language Therapy
- The Parents Guide to Speech and Language Problems
- Language Disorders from Infancy Through Adolescence: Assessment and Intervention
- Help Me Talk Right: How to Teach a Child to Say the 'R' Sound in 15 Easy Lessons
- Children's Speech Sound Disorders
- As a Speech Pathologist I have used an adaptive keyboard called comfy keyboard. It encourages imitation, vocabulary development, understanding of cause and effect and hours of fun engaging learning experiences. It plugs into your computer with a USB cable. The children I work with love the CD that comes with the keyboard as well as MY HOME, MY IMAGINATION, MY COLORS and WORLD of COLORS software. Each program can be set to 3 different levels and on many different languages. I highly recommend this product.
