Types of Kids Benefiting From Speech Therapy

Speech disabilities in children manifest themselves in the guise of an articulation disorder, fluency disorder, and difficulty in communication, inability to convey through language or expressing information, trouble understanding language or slurred speech. Speech therapy is an early intervention service that aims to improve child speech and abilities to understand and express language, including nonverbal language. Speech therapy in schools is conducted by well-seasoned and thoroughly trained professionals called Speech and Language Pathologists or SLPs. This tool is mainly beneficial for children with special needs like the following mentioned in this list.

1. Autism

Autism is a severe developmental disorder that onsets even before the age of three in young children. It is characterized by a broad range of conditions like challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviour, and, most importantly, communication disorder – both verbal and non-verbal. An individual with autism can show commutation disorder in the following ways:

• Choose complete silence
• Utter grunts, cries, shrieks, or throaty, harsh sounds
• Hum or talk in a musical way
• Babble with word-like sounds without understanding any meaning
• Use foreign-sounding  words or robotic-like speech
• Parrot or often repeat what another person says (called echolalia)
• Use the right phrases and sentences, but with an inexpressive tone of voice

SLPs develop a specific plan that incorporates exercises that focus on improving articulation skills, speech fluency, and expressive language skills. Significant improvements can be noticed in terms of communication, self-regulation, socializing, and a lot more.    

2. Down Syndrome

Down syndrome is a congenital disorder that stems from a chromosome defect. An extra chromosome caused by an error cell division impacts the child intellectual development as well as physical abnormalities. Owing to anatomical differences such as high arched palate, small upper jaw, low muscle tone in the tongue, and weak oral muscles can be a real challenge for children with Down Syndrome to do any oral motor function. Moreover, a very common issue with such special kids is of hearing loss due to fluid accumulation. The good news is early intervention programs by a team of well trained professionals at London Speech Therapy can bring drastic improvements in the child’s communication pattern over time.    

3. Selective Mutism

Selective Mutism is a complex psychiatric disorder that affects children and is characterized by the loss of ability to speak in certain situations or with certain people, even though the child is capable of communication at other times. Since this is a psychological disorder that stems from anxiety and is generally accompanied by shyness, a psychologist’s presence in the treatment plan of speech therapy in schools is imperative.

4. Dysfluency 

Dysfluency or stuttering is a fluency disorder that hinders the smooth flow of speech. Studies show that as many as 75% – 80% of children who stutter at some point in their life can recover with effective speech therapy. However, delay in treatment can have a severely negative psychological impact on children who can often make them avoid conversation and develop anxiety.  

London Speech Therapy has a team of therapists who are enhanced CRB checked, trained in Safeguarding Child Protection procedures, and receive regular clinical supervision and continued professional development. So, if you notice any speech issue with your little one, then you know where to head.

How can speech and language therapy in the UK benefit your child?

Every child is different, and so is their development or learning process. Some children find it difficult to say certain words or they might use shorter sentences than others. There are kids that get stuck on a certain word, and some kids might find it difficult to spell words. If your child also faces any of these challenges, worry not as the speech and language therapy UK can help.

If you stay in the UK, you can connect with London Speech Therapy as they perform the necessary speech and language assessment for your child and come up with effective and fun therapy for them. 

 Why does a child need speech and language therapy?

The speech-language therapists are professionally educated in the field of human communication, its development, and its disorders. They are experts in assessing the speech, language, cognitive-communication issues along with identifying the types of communication issues and come up with the best ways for treating them.

The kids might need speech-language therapy for various reasons. Let’s have a look at some of them:

• Cognitive delays
• Traumatic brain injury
• Motor planning problems
• Weaker oral muscles
• Hearing impairments
• Chronic hoarseness
• Respiratory issues
• Autism
• Feeding and swallowing disorders
• Articulation problems
• Birth defects like cleft-lip or cleft-palate
• Fluency disorders 

If the child suffers from any of the following issues, the therapy should begin as early as possible. When the kids are enrolled in the therapy at an early stage, the therapy ensures better outcomes as compared to kids that enrol later on. This doesn’t mean that older kids can’t benefit from the therapy; just that the rate of progression may be slower. 

 Find a therapist

Once you figure out that your child needs a communication therapist, it is important to look for the right and certified therapist. He should have at least a master’s degree in the field and should have passed a national examination. You can ask your child’s doctor for a therapist or look for references from people around you. Along with that, you can also look for relevant options online.

Apart from the therapist, experts mention that involvement of parents is equally important to ensure the success of speech therapy. Parents play a crucial role in the communication program. It has been observed when parents are involved in the program, kids complete the program quickly, and the therapy has long-lasting results.

You can also ask for suggestions from the therapist for some at-home activities that can benefit your child’s speech development at home. It has to be a continuous learning process which should not stop at the end of the program. Parents need to work on the language development of kids so that they can overcome communication obstacles.

The London Speech Therapy is one of the best places for getting the communication issues of your child assessed and addressed, thereby getting the required speech and language therapy UK for your child. Their therapists are experienced in a wide array of communication impairments. 

How can speech therapy improve speaking skills?

While most people consider appearance as the most impactful impression on someone, speech is nonetheless far more powerful. To connect with anyone, you need to have good communicational skills. These skills become stronger when you have a good command over your language and speaking. Talking plays a very important role in creating an impression on someone you are talking to for the first time. The way you speak, putting your thoughts into words, and presenting them in front of someone is very important in making connections.

If enhancing your speaking skills is what you are after, you could undertake speech therapy. Speech and language therapy in Cardiff is an intervention method that focuses on helping people with impaired speaking or swallowing capabilities. This process could be a great help for children that do not speak a lot and could help them greatly. It could also be very advantageous for transgender during the process of transition. Of course, talking play a very important role in building an identity for a person. The therapists or language pathologists from London Speech Therapy are highly educated, trained, and experienced professionals. They provide their services to children and adults and often work as a team to help the patients overcome a wide range of difficulties.

The children or adults having difficulties in communicating might be suffering from mental health issues or behavioural issues, poor confidence levels, or find social interactions to be as difficult and hard. The role of the speech therapist is very crucial here. They can help people to overcome and learn ways to speak properly and communicate. Here are a few benefits of this therapy.

-Better Articulation

Articulation refers to speaking or talking. Therapy patients often suffer from the inability to speak to other people. They might have a fear of speaking, lack of confidence or some other issue. For such patients, it becomes essential to take this form of therapy. It allows them to improve their speaking skills under the guidance of a professional.

-Improve Swallowing

People with the disorder in speaking often face difficulties in swallowing as well. Dysphagia, the disorder of swallowing could result in stroke, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease or another form of neurological diseases. The specialists help them in preventing these diseases by teaching the patient how to swallow.

- Reduce stuttering

Stuttering refers to a situation where there is inefficiency in the fluency or flow of speech. If you face such problems, therapy is the best solution for you as it allows you to reduce the frequency of stuttering with the help and guidance of London Speech Therapy professionals.

-Generates confidence

When you have a good command over your speech, you are able to present your thoughts more appropriately and strongly. Therapy helps you in building that confidence in your speech.

Since speaking is the bridge between listener and speaker, it must be impactful. Those who suffer from a talking or speaking disorder could get speech and language therapy in Cardiff which would allow them to undergo a process of rectifying all these problems.

Correct your Wards Speech Disabilities with Speech Therapists in Essex

A speech therapist can heighten the confidence level of your child by helping him/ her to speak clearly. These speech therapist have years of experience and are highly skilled in treating communication disabilities caused by complex issues like cerebral palsy, intellectual disability as well as autism.

Are you concerned about the stammering speech of your child? If yes, then you consult a speech therapist in Essex before it is too late and this disorder starts hindering the overall development of the young ones. Most of the experts working in this field in this area are qualified Speech as well as language therapists. They have completed their course in clinical language sciences. They work within mainstream schools, special schools and resource bases. They always advocate an integrated approach to school speech therapy. These professionals are very well aware of the budgetary constraints of various schools and design flexible as well as highly cost-effective packages for them.  Moreover, they provide discrete services to international clients such as specialist speech, language and communication visits, besides clear recommendations. They use a wide range of formal as well as techniques to treat your loved ones.

Not only this, these specialists work in a wide range of areas in order to help children struggle with either communication or swallowing difficulties. Most of them provide a flexible approach to speech and language assessment by using a mix of formal and informal assessment.