When a child falls behind in reading and writing at school, a Speech Pathologist can assess the child’s language and literacy to find any underlying problems. A therapy program may include activities to improve the child’s ability to analyse the sounds in words, to understand the meanings of words and how they relate together in sentences and to understand how sentences relate to each other in a story.

Many children with intellectual disability have difficulty developing speech and language skills. A Speech Pathologist can monitor the child and provide advice to families about how they can help their child to reach their full communication potential. The child may need speech therapy for articulation or language learning difficulties or may benefit from alternative communication such as signing, a communication board or a communication device.

Children with ASD are usually slow to develop language. They may have very few words and may not use these words for communication. When they do have language they may have a restricted range of interests and not use their language to communicate with others. Their language might be repetitive and not have an obvious context. Children with ASD usually have difficulty understanding the verbal and non-verbal communication of others so they might not be able to understand simple instructions or social norms.

Speech Pathologists can contribute to the assessment and diagnosis of ASD and provide intervention to address the core features of ASD. This may include activities to develop understanding of nonverbal communicative behaviours such as facial expression, gesture and body language; promoting the use of verbal and non verbal communication to initiate and take part in social interactions and using communication to help regulate behaviour and emotions.

Swallowing

Speech Pathologists can help people who develop swallowing difficulties due to stroke or tumours, oral surgery or radiation, progressive neurological disorders like Parkinson’s or Motor Neurone Disease or congenital problems like cerebral palsy.

Speech Pathologists can assess whether a person is safe to swallow and can recommend modifications to the texture of food and fluids and safe swallowing strategies for individuals. We can also assist with strategies to manage excessive or reduced amounts of saliva.

The first sign of stuttering is usually repetitions of sounds and syllables. The onset may be sudden or gradual. It is quite common for young children to start to stutter between the ages of 2 and 4 years of age when language is developing rapidly. The symptoms of stuttering can change over time.

Many children recover naturally from stuttering but we are unable to tell from the type or severity of stuttering which children will recover and which will require therapy. We do know that a child is unlikely to recover naturally when they have been stuttering for more than 12 months and that we should intervene prior to school age to have the best chance to eliminate stuttering.

After assessment, the parents and Speech Pathologist will agree on whether to monitor the child’s stuttering or commence therapy depending on the length of time the child has been stuttering and the impact it is having on the child and family.

The Lidcombe Program of Early Stuttering Intervention is treatment of choice for young children who stutter. The Speech Pathologist teaches the parent to provide therapy in a natural setting where the parent gives lots of praise for fluent (or ‘smooth’) speech and gently corrects stuttered (or ‘bumpy’) speech. The parent measures the severity of the child’s stuttering each day and this forms the basis for discussion with the Speech Pathologist at the weekly clinical session.

Many children say their first words between 12 and 18 months of age. At the age of two years, we usually expect children to be able to say about 50 words and start combining words together. If a child has no words or very few words by the age of two years they are considered to be ‘late talkers’ and may benefit from a Speech Pathology assessment.

Some ‘late talkers’ will catch up to their peers but for others there may be an underlying problem with language development. We know that by identifying children with language problems as early as possible that we can give them the best opportunities to progress.

After assessment of a child’s language development the parents and Speech Pathologist will agree about any action that needs to be taken. This could be a plan to monitor the child’s progress together or to start some language therapy. Language therapy uses toys, books and games to show parents the best ways to interact with their child and to use ‘everyday’ activities and routines to promote language development.

The Speech Pathologist makes an assessment of the child’s errors and provides motivating activities to teach the child how to say the sounds in isolation and in words. The parent has an opportunity to participate and learn how to help between therapy sessions.

The timing of therapy is a decision made by parents in consultation with their Speech Pathologist and depends on factors like the severity of the problem, the child’s ability to participate in motivating activities and the parents’ preparedness to follow up with regular practice between sessions. We need to consider that it may take a while to improve a child’s articulation and we need to allow enough time for therapy before they start school; but we also know that the child will learn more quickly as they get older and we don’t want to start them in therapy when they are too young to get a benefit from treatment.