Speech Language Therapy for Children

Speech language therapy can help a child whose speech is delayed.

Speech language therapy treats children with speech and language disorders. Speech disorders refer to problems with producing sounds, while language disorders refer to problems putting words together when communicating ideas. Speech language pathologists use different therapies depending on the specific speech or language disorder they are treating.

Remediation Therapy

Language remediation helps children by playing, talking, showing pictures and participating in other forms of interaction to encourage correct language development. It also might include repetition exercises based on correct pronunciation to stimulate speech and language abilities.

Oral-Motor and Feeding Therapy

Feeding therapy can help a child's oral awareness.

Therapists will use tongue, lip and jaw exercises to build strength in the muscles of the mouth. Treatment can also include feeding the child foods with different textures and temperatures to improve the child's oral awareness.

Comprehension Exercises

These exercises encourage the child to listen to stories and then narrate them in his own words to improve his verbal and writing skills. The therapist will tell a story and the child must answer questions about it in writing. The child is then asked to write a brief summary of the story. This stimulates comprehension skills and helps the child express himself more effectively.

Articulation Therapy

The therapist provides a correct pronunciation model.

Articulation therapy helps children improve their pronunciation of certain sounds or syllables. The therapist will demonstrate how the sound is made, and then the problem sound is included during games and other activities.

Personal Attention

Personal attention in the classrom is an important part of speech language therapy.

Therapists will provide personal attention to the child's schoolwork, adapting textbooks and other learning materials so they are suitable for the student. This therapy includes side-by-side support in the classroom during the lessons, which allows the therapist to teach the child to apply his new skills in a real-life setting.

References

• Kids Health: Speech-Language Therapy
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: Language-Based Learning Disabilities

Resources

• Learning Disabilities Association of America