Speech Therapy
Does my child need Speech Therapy?
Speech is the expression of or the ability to express thoughts by articulate sounds. A speech disorder is an issue that prevents a person from communicating using spoken words. So what is speech therapy and can your child benefit from it?
When most people think about speech therapy they think it can only be used to help our children learn to communicate more clearly. Although this is true, speech therapy has a wide range of areas and ages for which it can be useful.
What is speech therapy?
Speech therapy is the assessment and treatment of communication problems and speech disorders. It is performed by speech language pathologists (SLP), who are often referred to as speech therapists. Speech therapy techniques are used to improve communication. Speech therapy can be used to help infants and into adulthood. The type of therapy your child will receive will be based on their particular disability and need.
Speech Therapy for Infants
It is never too early to start the development of good speaking skills. Especially if your baby was born with a condition that makes it more likely for them to develop problems down the road. Things like hearing loss, structural abnormalities, oral restrictions, and developmental disabilities.
Depending on your child’s need they could start receiving help from a speech language pathologist while still in the NICU. The SLPs are there to help your baby with feeding and early communication skills. They assess your baby’s readiness to feed by mouth and help your baby feed safely, especially if your baby is having a hard time nursing or taking the bottle.
SLPs who work with parents in the unit are there to help with feeding as well as provide developmentally appropriate and supportive care. Some things the SLPs help to provide are:
Oral and motor swallowing evaluations
Pre-feeding readiness assessment
Early communication therapy
Oral stimulation suggestions
Feeding interventions to help improve skills and safety
Resources for follow-up care when needed
SLPs will also provide resources and education to help you support your baby at home. These resources include:
Strategies and precautions to be aware of during feeding
How to find the best positions to feed your baby
Activities to help your baby develop the ability to breast or bottle feed
How to identify signs of swallowing difficulty
Feeding and swallowing disorders
Learning to chew and swallow is a process that children have to learn. There may be spills and leaks. However, your child will learn. A child with a feeding disorder will continue to have trouble. What are signs that my child might have a feeding or swallowing disorder? Things to look out for include:
Arches their back or stiffens during feeding
Refuses to eat or drink
Takes a long time to eat
Spits up or throws up a lot
Has problems chewing
Is not gaining weight or growing
Has trouble breathing while eating or drinking
Coughs or gags during meals
Your child can go through treatments to help them improve and build muscle. You can talk to your child’s doctor or an IBCLC about your concerns and they can refer you to a SLP. The SLP will do an assessment and provide services that are appropriate for your child’s needs. The SLP may observe your child feeding or swallowing so they can see how they eat or drink. The SLP will:
Ask questions about your child’s medical history
See how your child moves his mouth or tongue
Watch your child eat to see how they pick up food, chews, swallows,or drinks
Watch how your child behaves during meals
Do special tests if needed
After your child has been assessed then the treatment will begin. The SLP or feeding team may suggest:
Medical treatment, like medicines for reflux
Feeding therapy
Trying different foods or adding calories to food
Changing your child's position while eating
Ways to get your child to try new foods or textures
Refer you to another professional, like a psychologist or dentist
What can I do at home?
If your child is receiving speech therapy services, there are plenty of activities that you can do at home to help promote communication, even if your child does not have any risk factors. These activities can help to carry over the services into the child’s everyday home life. This will make the therapy more effective and promise better results. Many SLP's give parents specific therapies - such as playing tug-o-war with your finger, and other physical activities to do daily with baby to help them gain more strength, loosen or help them with their latch or feeding skills.Some other at home activities include:
Reading:
Reading to your child is one of the most important things you can do to help promote speech and language development. You do not have to wait until the child is old enough to read the book! Research shows that children who are read to early in life tend to be those with the highest language skills when they are older. You can start reading to your baby as early as the womb! You can read anything and everything to your child when they are young.
Singing:
Singing to your child helps to promote good language skills because it activates different parts of the brain. The music centers are located on the right side of the brain and the language centers are on the left side. When you sing to your baby, they are having to use both sides together. This human-to-human contact helps to stimulate your child’s brain and make those language connections.
Play Social Games
Social games are a great way to promote communication skills. By interacting with your child during these games they are able to predict what is coming next which helps them make sense of the social interaction. These games also provide your child a way to tell you they want more of what you’re doing without having to use words. Children will use gestures such as putting their arms up, or pulling the blanket in front of their face. Some social games you can play with your child might include:
Peek-A-Boo
So Big
Here come the tickle fingers
Talking
Studies show that families who frequently talked to their children more had a larger vocabulary later in life. Children from professional families heard 2153 words per hour whereas children from families who need assistance heard 616 words per hour. By the time they were 3, children who heard 2153 words per hour had an average vocabulary of 1100 words. The children from families who need assistance had an average vocabulary of 500 words. How amazing to know that just chatting with your child all day does so much for them!
What does speech therapy look like when my child goes to school?
Speech therapy will usually begin with an assessment by an SLP who will identify the type of communication disorder and the best way to treat it. Speech therapy looks different from each child. It could take place in a classroom, small group, or one-on-one. The therapists will use a variety of strategies depending on your child’s needs. These include:
Language intervention activities:
The SLP will interact with a child by playing and talking, using pictures, or objects to stimulate language development. The therapist may model correct vocabulary, grammar or repetition to help build language skills.
Articulation Therapy:
Articulation or sound production exercises involve having the therapist model correct sounds and syllables in sentences for a child, often during play activities. The level of play that the child engages in is developmentally and age appropriate. The SLP will model certain sounds and demonstrate to the child how to make them as well.
Oral-motor/feeding and swallowing therapy:
The therapist may use a variety of oral exercises such as facial massage and various tongue, lip, and jaw exercises. This helps to strengthen the muscles of the mouth to assist with eating, drinking, and swallowing. In some instances SLPs may even introduce different food textures and temperatures to increase a child’s awareness during eating and swallowing.
Speech therapy should begin as soon as possible. Children who start therapy early (before they’re 5 years old) tend to have better results than those who start later. However, don’t freak out if your child is older! They may just have slower results because the pattern has to be changed.
How do you find a speech therapist?
When finding a speech therapist you can ask for a provider or IBCLC (Lactation Consultant) referral and also can be provided one through the school your child attends. You can also check local directories online.
When finding a SLP that is right for your child you need to make sure they are licensed in your state and have experience working with children of your child’s specific needs.
Resources:
How can parents help?
As a parent you are your child's first teacher. There are many activities and interventions you can implement at home to help continue your child’s therapy. Ask the therapist what you can do at home to help your child. This will ensure the carry over of new skills.
Overcoming a speech/language impairment can be hard for families and children! It takes time and effort. It is important to know that you are not alone and that all family members involved be patient and understanding with your child.
Sources
https://www.healthline.com/health/speech-therapy#what-to-expect
https://www.speechandlanguagekids.com/speech-therapy-for-babies/
https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/quick-statistics-voice-speech-language
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/speech-therapy#what-it-is
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/speech-therapy.html
https://www.chop.edu/services/niicu-feeding-specialist
https://www.asha.org/public/speech/swallowing/feeding-and-swallowing-disorders-in-children/