Speech therapy is the assessment and treatment of communication problems and speech disorders. It is performed by speech-language pathologists (SLPs), which are often referred to as speech therapists.
Speech therapy techniques are used to improve communication. These include articulation therapy, language intervention activities, and others depending on the type of speech or language disorder.
For your child, speech therapy may take place in a classroom or small group, or one-on-one, depending on the speech disorder. Speech therapy exercises and activities vary depending on your child’s disorder, age, and needs. During speech therapy for children, the SLP may:
A childhood language disorder can affect the child’s ability to learn to speak, to name objects and build complete sentences. Although the causes of these disorders are often not clear, the main known risk factors include hearing problems, general developmental problems and disorders affecting the development of the brain.
Children with speech disorders have difficulty producing the sounds of speech, saying words clearly or talking fluently. Children often have trouble with pronunciation, and may have a lisp or substitute certain sounds for others. Speech disorders may be the result of developmental disorders. Another group of speech disorders, known as fluency disorders, involve problems with the flow or evenness of speech.
Speech therapy offers a number of benefits, including:
Everyone’s needs are unique. Some speech disorders improve with age — others require years of speech therapy. If a health condition caused your speech disorder, your speech and language skills may improve as you recover from the underlying issue.
How long you need speech therapy depends on:
