What Is Speech-Language Therapy?
Speech language therapy is the therapy to assess, diagnose and treat adults and children having various types of communication disorders.
Speech language therapy in children is play-based and focussed on improving various difficulties like clarity of speech (misarticulations), language delay, social communication difficulties, stuttering and voice disorders. Speech language therapy in children also focuses on improving parent-child interaction, play development and cognitive skills.
It is recommended in children having Autism Spectrum disorders, Cerebral palsy, Cognitive delays, Hearing impairment, Down ’s syndrome or general Speech-language delay.
Speech language therapy in adults is required for the following disorders: Aphasia, Dysarthria, Stuttering, Dysphagia and Voice disorders. It is provided by an RCI certified speech-language pathologist/therapist having either a bachelor’s or master’s degree in Speech-Language pathology.
What is the procedure?
The first step is a Speech-language consultation or assessment where the therapist will assess the child’s strengths and difficulties. Based on this, a therapy programme suiting the child’s needs will be made.
Assessments may take more than one session to be completed, and sometimes can be an ongoing part of the therapy process. Considering children take some time to build rapport with the therapist.
Speech language therapists work closely with the child’s caregivers to ensure the activities and strategies given as part of the home program are being implemented at home.
The rate of progress will depend on the child’s level of difficulties, the type of difficulties he is having (unclear speech or language delay), and the caregivers inputs in terms of carrying over the home programme.