Speech Language Therapy for Children

In speech-language therapy, a speech-language pathologist (SLP) will work with a child one-on-one, or in a small group, or directly in a classroom to overcome difficulties involved with a specific disorder.

Therapists use a variety of strategies, including:

• Language intervention activities

• Articulation therapy

• Oral-motor/feeding and swallowing therapy

When Is Therapy Needed?

• Hearing impairments

• Cognitive (intellectual, thinking) or other developmental delays

• Weak oral muscles

• Chronic hoarseness

• Birth defects such as cleft lip or cleft palate

• Autism

• Motor planning problems

• Articulation problems

• Fluency disorders

• Respiratory problems (breathing disorders)

• Feeding and swallowing disorders

• Traumatic brain injury

Therapy should begin as soon as possible. Children enrolled in therapy early (before they are 5 years old) tend to have better outcomes than those who begin therapy later. This does not mean that older kids can’t make progress in therapy; they may progress at a slower rate because they often have learned patterns that need to be changed.

Resources:

• Three ways to support child language learning
• Things parents can do to stimulate language development