Communication Skills for kids
It is crucial that each child develop communication skills in order to participate in our social world. The Speech-language therapist’s goal is to find fun and interesting ways to help children communicate successfully and learn language independently. The therapist focuses on a variety of areas in order to achieve this goal:
Expressive language skills
Receptive language skills
Speech production/articulation skills
Social skills
Feeding and Swallowing
Oral motor skills
Disorders of voice
Disorders of fluency
Augmentative and alternative communication skills
Using and understanding gestures and facial expressions
Common disorders requiring speech/language therapy include: childhood apraxia of speech, phonological processing disorders, articulation delay, dysarthria, autism, cerebral palsey, cleft palate, failure-to-thrive, fetal alcohol syndrome, dysphonia, vocal nodules, spasmodic dysphonia, reduced speech intelligibilty, tongue thrust, speech sound disorders, hypernasal and resonance disorders, dysgraphia, dyslexia, non-verbal, augmentative and alternative communication, a.d.h.d., central auditory processing, aphasia, bilingual language, swallowing and feeding difficulties “dysphagia”, fluency/stuttering, and many more.
Theratime, Inc. requires speech-language therapists to be certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Speech Teletherapy
Telepractice is the application of telecommunications technology to the delivery of speech language pathology and audiology professional services at a distance by linking clinician to client/patient or clinician to clinician for assessment, intervention, and/or consultation. This is an increasingly popular option for individuals and school districts. It has many advantages and cost savings for the customer while receiving the same face-to- face therapy that they would receive traditionally.