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.