Speech and Language Therapy For Children

Speech and Language Therapists provide therapy to children with speech and/or language difficulties or delays. A speech disorder refers to a problem with the actual production of sounds. Language disorders refer to a difficulty understanding or putting words together to communicate ideas.

Speech disorders can include the following:

• Articulation difficulties, eg. producing sounds in syllables or saying words incorrectly to the point that other people can't understand what's being said.

• Fluency disorders such as stuttering – a condition in which the flow of speech is interrupted by abnormal stoppages, repetitions (st-st-stuttering), or prolonging sounds and syllables (ssssstuttering).

• Resonance or voice disorders which include 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 the child when speaking.

 

Language disorders can include:

• Problems with understanding or processing languages (receptive language disorder) eg doesn’t understand teachers' directions at school or has difficulty playing with friends.

• Difficulty putting words together, limited vocabulary, or inability to use vocabulary effectively (expressive language disorder). This may cause frustration and tantrums because of difficulties in expressing need effectively.

Speech and Language Therapy Assessment

If your child has been recommended to see a Speech and Language Therapist, an assessment of their needs will be completed prior to therapy. You will be asked to fill out a pre-assessment questionnaire to provide current and background information on your child. This helps the therapist to get a wider picture of your child’s strengths and areas of need so that an appropriate and effective assessment session can be planned.

 

The assessment session will last up to 1.5 hours (depending on the needs of the child) and incorporate the following standardised assessments as appropriate: Verbal comprehension, Communication, Expressive language, Receptive language, language, Play, Pragmatics, Articulation, Phonology (speech sounds), Phonological awareness, (pre-literacy skills), Social skills, Feedings kills, Oral-motor functioning.  

 

What happens next?

Following assessment, a comprehensive report which includes standardised scores, a written narrative of the assessment findings and their impact on your child’s speech and language development will be compiled. The report will include recommendations that can be put into place at home and nursery/school which will promote your child’s strengths and support them to develop their areas of need as well as recommendations for therapeutic intervention as required.

You will be invited to an additional 45 minute parent feedback meeting to discuss the assessment report. This provides an opportunity to meet with the therapist post assessment to discuss the assessment findings and recommendations in depth.

 

Kids In Sync associates with a number of Speech and Language Therapists. They may see you at Kids In Sync or at their local practice for assessment and therapy.
 

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