Most children develop normally with time; they achieve the correct milestones at the right age. However, some children may have trouble with certain skills, such as speech or language skills. In such a case, speech therapy is advised to alleviate the problem and speed up the delayed speech development. The sooner the child receives attention, the better are their chances of combating this issue. If the child’s language is not improved to the point you can understand what is being said, then speech therapy might be needed.
Speech therapy is used for children who are having difficulty with speaking certain words or are not showing any interest in speaking. This form of therapy uses exercises to help enhance the ability of the child to speak. The reasons for the speech loss/impairment are many. The child may have undergone extreme trauma which delays the verbal process of speaking. Another instance could be that the child may have delayed speech syndromes that could be genetic. Speech therapy works on the child’s speaking ability in order to strengthen it and enhance it.
If you are worried that your child’s speech is not improving at a normal speed, you should keep in mind the following milestones. You must keep a buffer of three to four months as each child develops differently and at their own pace. It is also important to note that doctors may not always recommend speech therapy for toddlers unless their general verbal progress extremely slow.
Some of the speech and language disorders that can affect children include:
A condition that is common in children, this is when a child has trouble saying a particular word or making certain sounds in the right manner. The most common articulation disorders found in children is the lisp and the most common mispronounced consonants for young children is the ‘r’ sound or the ‘s’ sound. A good example of this is if your child says ‘wace’ instead of ‘race’ or ‘thand’ instead of ‘stand’.
This is a condition that most children face at some point early in their verbal process. A fluency disorder is when a child gets stuck at a particular portion of a word and tries repeating it over and over again before finally speaking the word. An example of a fluency disorder is stuttering. In this type of fluency disorder, a child may get stuck at a portion of a word or might hesitate before speaking a word. There is also prolonging of sounds when trying to speak, like the ‘st’ if they cannot pronounce the word they may say ‘ststsstand’ or ‘ssssstand’ instead of just saying ‘stand’.
This is a disorder that occurs when your child speaks a portion of a word or sentence clearly and concisely but begins to mumble midway. This disorder can sound like your child is speaking with a cold or is speaking under his breath.
This disorder is when your child struggles to understand the simple language or is unable to speak. This type of learning disorder is frustrating as your child won’t be able to understand simple words like ‘eat’ or ‘drink’ and they struggle with communication using any simple language. Language development is a must for children and you should consult the therapist before it’s too late.
Every child develops at a unique pace. Sometimes, your child may require an encouragement to help him reach his milestone. The main question is, when does your child require a speech therapist? If your child meets the following criteria, you may want to consult a specialist to see if they recommend seeing a speech therapist.
Remember, see your child’s specialist before going to a children’s speech therapist and do so only if the doctor feels there is a need. Sometimes, the child may not require any therapy and may show normal development in every aspect but may have verbal delays that go away with time.
At times, your child may speak normally based on the environment around him and naturally develop, if you do see a speech therapist, he may recommend your child be evaluated for a few sessions before treating. If therapy is required, your therapist will ask you to perform certain exercises at home to help maximize the effectiveness of their treatments. Here are some of the exercises your speech therapist may ask you to do at home.
Using flashcards is an extremely effective way to let your child associate a word with an image. Remember to speak slowly and precisely to help your child recognize the mouth and tongue movements required to repeat the word. You can make this a game to keep it fun and interesting, this is a great way to bond with your child as well.
Children with articulation disorders often struggle with moving their mouth, jaw, and tongue in the right way for speaking. Having them stand or sit in front of a mirror with you is a great way to work around this. When you speak, enhance your mouth movements and make it a game so that they can recognize their own mouth movements.
Children respond to melodies, try encouraging them to sing along with you. Sing slowly and try to make it as fill in the gaps game; pause a child’s song midway and slowly fill in the gap, encourage them to do the same and when they succeed, reward them. There are special songs available for speech therapy, so ensure you ask your therapist to recommend a few that are appropriate for your child’s age.
There are a number of extremely fun board games that can help your child with speech therapy and help you bond with him. Check out games like ‘Guess Who’ or ‘Go Fish’. You can also use homemade flash cards to play go fish with your child. Games make the entire exercise seem fun and help your child feel less pressured while doing them.
Go slow, do not force your child to do these exercises and try to spread them out throughout the day. Keep a diary of your child’s development to show your therapist the progress or lack of progress. This will help him figure out the next steps if there are any.
There are a number of activities you can try at home to enhance your child’s speech therapy. Here are a few listed below:
Reading to your child every night is a great way to teach him, but when speech therapy is involved ask your child to read with you. When reading a story, point to an image and repeat the word slowly and encourage him to do the same; for instance, point to an image of a bull and repeat ‘bull’ then the next time the bull shows up in the story, ask your child what that image is. An interactive bedtime story is fun for your child and can help him identify an image and the sounds that come with the word associated with that image.
This is a great exercise to do when you’re doing something at home or in a car. Sing the task you are doing over and over again and encourage your child to do the same. Try singing the simplest of words slowly. An example of this would be singing the word ‘standing’; keep the tune melodious and sing “I’m standing, I’m staa-aanding” and try to get your child to sing along too.
This is a great game for speech therapy and is fun. Hide images and have your child find them; once he finds them, ask him to repeat the word and reward him when he answers correctly.
This can be a really fun activity. Make a few custom flashcards, have your child pick one and repeat the word slowly, then pick a word that rhymes with it. For example, take the word ‘man’; if he says ‘man’, you can say – a man named Dan.
Every kid loves to colour or draw. An effective way to help him speak is by doing this activity along with him and associating a word with the drawing. So, if they draw a woman, you repeat woman and encourage them to do the same.
Apart from speech therapy, there are other ways too to get your children to speak. Try these ways:
It is important to keep in mind that every child develops at his own pace, and no activity, exercise or game should be forced. Listen to what suggestions the speech therapist makes and try not pressuring your child into speaking.