Speech Therapy
In Speech Therapy with pre-school and primary-school children, the focus lies in two main areas:
Speech
Speech problems involve only HOW the child says what they have to say, and NOT what is actually said.
A child may know all the words needed to say the sentence, but tends to say the words wrong e.g. leaving off the end of the word (li: for light), substituting one sound for another (fum for thumb), deleting sounds from words (nana for banana) and saying sounds in a ‘slushy’ manner (lisp).
Generally speech problems are a common part of developing speech in the early years. Problems occur when the child’s ability to say a sound correctly does not improve as they grow up. Sounds have different ages at which they must be developed by, according to complexity of the sound. As a general rule all sounds should be correctly developed before entering Grade one, although there are exceptions. If a child’s speech is extremely difficult to understand he should be referred for therapy as early as 3 years of age. Speech problems may also be related to low tone and coordination of the oral muscles, which would then require exercises to strengthen them and improve coordination.
Stuttering is also a common speech problem. This is characterized by words getting stuck or by repetitions of words and parts of words. It is best if this is addressed as early as possible, as often the stuttering will decreased substantially if a few environmental changes are made at a young age. Strategies to help the child control the stuttering are introduced to older children and adults.
Language
Language involves the CONTENT of what the child is saying, and NOT HOW the words are said. There are three areas of language that are important for development:
What the child understands: This includes the child’s ability to understand vocabulary and grammar. This will influence their ability to understand language in their environment and their ability to understand basic instructions.
How the child uses language verbally: The development of expressive language hinges on the development of receptive language. This includes the child’s ability to use the correct words and sentence structure in order to express their needs and wants.
How the child processes sounds within the brain to give them meaning: This includes the ability to differentiate between similar sounds, the ability to fill in the missing parts of words in noisy situations and the ability f the child to break down and build up words with regards to their component sounds. These skills are vital for reading and writing development at school.
Language develops sequentially in a specific order. Generally children start with single words and then move onto combining two words and later three words to create short phrases. This process continues until the child can use well-constructed sentences. If a child is felt to be lagging in any or all of these areas Speech Therapy is recommended. Receptive and Expressive Language issues are usually addressed as early as a problem is seen. Auditory Processing is generally first assessed and addressed in Grade 0 when reading and writing skills are first formally introduced.