”“With EI, you get right down to the roots, coaching families and helping them to carry through in many different ways.”

Laurie Sherman-Prusko MA, CCC-SLPGoldstar Therapist

What are some signs that my child may need speech therapy?

What skills are taught in speech therapy?

How can speech/ language therapy benefit my child?

What are the signs that my child may need speech therapy?

Speech therapy helps children develop their speaking, listening and understanding skills. A child may need speech therapy if they are having trouble with any of the following:

  • Effectively communicating with others
  • Using gestures to communicate
  • Producing sounds, words and phrases 
  • Getting frustrated when they are unable to be understood
  • Understanding language (receptive language disorder)
  • Using words or symbols to communicate (expressive language disorder) 
  • Using language in a socially appropriate manner to interact with others (pragmatics)
  • Hearing

Your child may benefit from speech therapy if he or she is experiencing symptoms of any of the following language disorders:

Receptive language disorder:

Your child may have difficulty understanding the words they hear or read. It may be tough for your child to look toward the person speaking, follow a pointing gesture or verbal direction, identify familiar objects and people, respond to his/her name, and follow another’s gaze to establish joint attention.

Expressive language disorder:

Your child may have trouble expressing him/herself through various means of communication, such as using signs or gestures, naming objects, using words correctly, asking for help, trying to gain an adult’s attention, using two-word phrases, and pretend play.

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS):

Your child may have difficulty coordinating oral movements needed to formulate sounds into syllables, syllables into words, and words into phrases. This affects speech sound production. The most common description of a child with childhood apraxia of speech is that he is often very difficult to understand. Often, your child will develop their first words and sounds later than other children.

Social communication delay:

Your child may have trouble initiating and maintaining communication with a familiar adult or another child, participating in familiar routines, taking turns during activities, communicating personal likes and dislikes through verbal and non verbal actions and choices, playing with others as play partners, playing independently, and transitioning smoothly between activities at home or other settings.

Autism Spectrum Disorder: see autism services

How can speech/language therapy benefit my child?

The speech therapist will utilize a variety of techniques to determine what your child needs in order to communicate more effectively. Speech therapy can significantly help your child improve verbal, nonverbal, and social communication. Therapy focuses on maximizing your child’s communicative potential through a personalized program of intervention.

Our approach emphasizes stimulating speech and language development in a child’s natural environment using toys, books, pictures and everyday objects as a springboard for learning. Through verbal models, prompting, sign language, and visual tools, we can help children learn to appropriately express their thoughts and needs.

The therapist may introduce the concept of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) in order to suggest alternative forms of communication. Some examples include picture communication boards and computerized devices with large vocabulary sets and synthesized speech output. For more information about AAC, click here.

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