Speech therapy for kids- What do Speech and Language Therapists do?
As a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) I often get asked ‘what do you do?’. I tend to reply with the question ‘what do you think I do?’ . The responses I get range from helping children with their reading to teaching elocution and etiquette lessons.
I think one of the reasons for the range in responses and a times confusion, is the name. SLT is an ambiguous term and unless you have some experience working with one it is not always necessarily clear what we do.
I prefer the term Communication Therapist for many reasons. Communication as a term captures the range of skills therapists’ target during assessment and therapy. Not only focusing on speech and language but also vital related skills such as attention, play, turn taking and social interaction.
As an SLT my overall goal is to maximise a child’s communication skills. To increase their independence and confidence to convey their message as effectively as possible. This may mean working with a toddler with delayed speech, helping a child to start a conversation with a friend or facilitating a child with complex needs so their voice is heard.
Thinking about my profession using this tittle shows the scope and diversity of my role and the ways I can help children. To demonstrate this, I have included some examples of therapy goals used with children I have worked with over the years.
For X to ask a friend to play with them in the playground and classroom with the support of photos with 80% accuracy.
For X to demonstrate functional play skills with three different toys (e.g. car, bricks and dolly).
For X to say the sound ‘k’ at start and end of short words (e.g. cat and lick) with 80% accuracy during the hippo word game.
For X to describe a picture of their family including who is in the picture and what they are doing with the help of colourful semantics.
I hope you have found this post helpful. In my next blog I am going to be discussing the different areas of children’s communication using the communication pyramid as a guide.
If you have you any concerns about your child’s communication skills, please do not hesitate to contact me. Please click on the link below to arrange a free 15-minute consultation.