You're handed a referral for a speech-language pathologist. Your pediatrician says your child needs one. The school mentions it in passing. A specialist writes it on a form. Nobody explains what happens next, what the SLP will do, or whether this is the right kind of help for your child. Most families assume speech therapy means fixing how a child says words. That's part of it. But speech-language pathologists work on a far broader range of skills than pronunciation. They evaluate and treat language comprehension, social communication, feeding and swallowing, voice disorders, stuttering, and alternative communication systems for children who don't use speech at all. Understanding that scope helps you find a provider whose experience matches your child's actual needs. What Speech-Language Pathologists Treat. SLPs are licensed clinicians trained to assess and treat communication and swallowing disorders. The scope includes:  Speech sound production. This is what most people think of when they hear "speech therapy." Articulation disorders (difficulty producing specific sounds like /r/ or /s/), phonological disorders (patterns of sound errors), and childhood apraxia of speech (motor planning difficulty that affects speech sequencing) all fall here.  Language. Receptive language is understanding what others say. Expressive language is using words to communicate ideas. A child who struggles to follow multi-step directions, doesn't understand question forms, or can't organize their thoughts into sentences may have a language disorder even if their pronunciation is perfect.  Social communication (pragmatics). This includes turn-taking in conversation, reading social cues, staying on topic, understanding...

SLPs treat far more than pronunciation. This guide covers what they evaluate, what conditions they treat, and how to find the right fit.

What Speech-Language Pathologists Actually Do: A Guide for Special Needs Families

When children at an early age experience disappointment in communicating over and over again it significantly affects their confidence. We learn through patterns and repetition. When a child can't effectively engage in either, it becomes frustrating for the child and the parent. The consequences usually end in the child avoiding social interaction, throwing tantrums, and losing self-confidence. By using baby sign language I was able to bypass some major developmental issues that my son was having. Ben, my third child, has been my most shy and slowest to want to verbalize. He always had a hard time pronouncing things. He struggled to get his mouth to produce the "R" sound, and he frequently omitted the "S", "Th", and "Ch" sounds in many words. The poor little guy was getting so frustrated when people couldn't understand him. He would either avoid talking and interacting or he'd start screaming and throwing a tantrum. I've worked with many parents who have dealt with similar problems. They tend to feel overwhelmed and confused because they don't know how to help their child. With Ben I decided that anytime I found out what he was trying to say I would teach him the sign language for that word. It was like a miracle! He knew that I could understand him if he used the sign, and then I was able to help him learn how to pronounce the words he was verbally struggling to say.  For instance, Ben would say "Ga" for multiple things....

Teaching baby sign language can boost a child's confidence, reduce tantrums, and improve communication and social skills.

Building Baby&#8217;s Confidence Through Sign Language

Have you ever said anything to someone close and been completely misunderstood? Have you ever tried to use another language in a foreign city and been frustrated when you could not access your wants or needs? If you needed the bathroom urgently or you had a pain you needed help with, would that frustrate you and cause you to act in an unfamiliar and possibly inappropriate way? There are as many questions as possible answers for why a child or young adult with limited or no functional communication shows behaviors which may not fit the situation. Although the causes, the degree, and sustaining factors for communication limitations are highly varied, the outcome is often the same. Frustration, anger, or even despondence to communicate and connect with others is frequently seen with limited communicators. Therapists wonder at times about whether it is the 'horse before the cart' syndrome. Are the behavioral responses or outbursts caused by limitation or inability to communicate our most primal and desirable needs? Or, are the behaviors limiting the ability to patiently find and use the communication tools given to the child by the parents and the clinical team? It is certainly a puzzle we try to solve each time a limited or non-verbal communicator enters our classroom or our clinical situation. We do know that most of us eventually turn away from activities we are not good at. If we cannot ski after trying multiple times, we stop. If we are not good dancers we refrain...

Explore and reinforce pleasures that connect with a child's potential to overcome communication challenges and behavioral outbursts.

Limited Communicators: How to Open the Door to your Child's Potential

 Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) leads many children to success in school and life. It is generally associated with electronic speech-generating devices resembling laptop or hand-held computers, which young people may adopt as a primary voice when they are significantly affected by speech deficits related to conditions like cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorders and traumatic brain injuries. These "high-tech" devices work in unison with low-tech tools under the AAC umbrella—picture symbols, photographs, and alphabet or word boards accessed by pointing, for example—as well as body language, eye contact, written notes and other universal communication methods. AAC (sometimes called assistive communication, or AT) devices feature realistic-sounding synthesized speech with a digitized (pre-recorded) speech option and dynamic display technology controlled by the user. Vocabulary presented in images, words or phrases changes according to his or her selections in a logical sequence. Some devices have onscreen keyboards for typing text-based messages. Ready-to-use vocabulary reduces programming demands. Device content may be organized by age and intellectual appropriateness, and personalized so the technology can grow with the child, encouraging smooth life transitions. Access methods are flexible, accommodating a range of physical abilities. Children may touch the device screen directly. Those with limited use of their hands may scan and select vocabulary by activating switches with their head, foot, or another body part they can control reliably, or use eye-gaze techniques. Using AAC does not preclude speech development–and may actually encourage it. It may be introduced at any age, and typically begins with...

AAC devices enhance communication for kids with speech deficits, supporting school success, speech development, and social interaction.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication: The Voice of Success for Your Child

Chances are you know someone who has a child that’s been diagnosed as autistic, or you may have that child yourself. What exactly is autism, what is the autism spectrum, and why have diagnoses exploded so recently? Approximately one out of every one hundred and fifty children qualifies as autistic–and that doesn’t include ADHD, or another, less common, diagnosis of selective mutism. My now nine-year-old son was diagnosed with selective mutism in the first grade. Selective mutism is a psychological anxiety disorder that most people have never heard of and is characterized by the sufferer’s inability to speak in certain situations, even though they are perfectly capable of it otherwise. It has no clear treatment, and like autism, has it a widely varying spectrum of impact in children. We had our son evaluated by the school district because he was a very late talker; by age four he only spoke a few words and some gibberish (I like to point out that Albert Einstein didn’t speak until age four, either). Although he was assigned a speech therapist, he wouldn’t speak to her, or to anyone else at school. By the first grade, he’d begun speaking “normally” at home, but during school would not utter a word, and would stiffen up and avoid eye contact if someone addressed him. Once my son had been diagnosed with selective mutism, I was somewhat relieved, because at least I had a label. He doesn’t talk at school? Well, he has Selective Mutism. Won’t talk...

A parent shares their child's struggle with selective mutism, an anxiety disorder making them unable to speak in certain settings.

Suffering in Silence: Could Your Child Have Selective Mutism?

Every child is a special needs child. Most of those special needs fall within our expectations, and that’s the reason why we don’t really consider them "special." But other needs are completely unexpected and require a lot of effort on our part to fulfill. The only first hand experience I’ve had with a special needs child was with my first born. He was born after only 28 weeks of gestation and my wife and I had to wait almost one month before we could hold him in our arms. After we took him home, we had to feed him roughly a tablespoon of milk every two hours, and we nervously had to wait almost another full month until he was heavy enough (five pounds) to have hernia surgery. His first year or so, we closely followed his development, and fortunately everything turned out as well as it could. I don’t pretend to compare my personal experience to the one that some parents of special needs children have to endure for years, but I have no doubt that Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) can help. NLP is a relatively new field that focuses on studying the structure of our subjective experiences. All of our experiences are subjective, and figuring out what happens internally (how we manage to get from point A to point B), gives us the power to choose our destinations and make sure point B is a positive state for us and for the person with whom we are communicating. The...

Use patience, curiosity, and flexibility when communicating with special needs children; focus on positives and celebrate small victories.

Communicating with Your Special Needs Child

 Many parents appreciate books and resources from people who "have been there." Finally, there is a book dedicated to the diagnosis of apraxia just for parents, written by R.N. and B.S.N. Leslie A. Lindsay, who also happens to be a parent of a child with apraxia.    Speaking of Apraxia, published by Woodbine House , is meant for the "non-academic" audience, and it is over 380 pages filled with information for parents and caregivers. The book covers diagnosis, treatment, coping as a family, fun activities to do at home, and it provides insights from therapists and parents.    Childhood apraxia of speech, or CAS, is a motor speech disorder in which children have difficulty saying sounds, syllables, and words. It is a brain disorder, which means certain areas of the brain do not function properly — this condition affects areas of the brain dedicated to motor planning for the lips, jaw, and tongue and necessary movements for speech. While the child knows what he wants to say, the brain has difficulty coordinating the movements necessary to make words.   Lindsay's book covers how to recognize CAS and distinguish it from other diagnoses, and she reveals how to work with speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and how to get appropriate early intervention, treatment, and support. Speaking of Apraxia is the first-ever book dedicated to apraxia of speech written for parents.   The book begins with an overview of CAS, where to get help, and which questions...

Leslie A. Lindsay's book 'Speaking of Apraxia' is a parent-focused guide on childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).

Book Review: Speaking of Apraxia

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Special Needs
Articles

What Speech-Language Pathologists Actually Do: A Guide for Special Needs Families

Building Baby’s Confidence Through Sign Language

Limited Communicators: How to Open the Door to your Child's Potential

Augmentative and Alternative Communication: The Voice of Success for Your Child

Suffering in Silence: Could Your Child Have Selective Mutism?

Communicating with Your Special Needs Child

Book Review: Speaking of Apraxia

Find Providers Near You

Special Needs Articles

What Speech-Language Pathologists Actually Do: A Guide for Special Needs Families

Building Baby&#8217;s Confidence Through Sign Language

Limited Communicators: How to Open the Door to your Child's Potential

Augmentative and Alternative Communication: The Voice of Success for Your Child

Suffering in Silence: Could Your Child Have Selective Mutism?

Communicating with Your Special Needs Child

Book Review: Speaking of Apraxia

Find Providers Near You

Special Needs
Articles

Building Baby’s Confidence Through Sign Language