A Guide to Finding the Right Speech Language Therapy for Kids with Developmental Challenges, Autism and Other Special Needs
What is Speech-language Therapy and How Can It Help Kids with Developmental Challenges, Autism and Other Special Needs?
Speech-language intervention is a form of therapy that helps facilitate/support communication for children with developmental challenges, autism, and other special needs. Typically, speech language intervention is recommended when children are not meeting language developmental milestones and/or are producing speech sound errors, making their speech difficult for others to understand.
Important Considerations When Selecting a Speech- Language Pathologist (SLP)
Selecting the right Speech-Language Pathologist for your child is a crucial decision (and a little scary for some!) It is important to research and find a therapist who has the right qualifications, experience, and knowledge to provide the best care for your child. There are many factors to consider when selecting an SLP for your child, such as their qualifications, experience in treating specific conditions, and their ability to work with children of different ages. At minimum an SLP should have a masters degree in Communicative Sciences and Disorders, a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC), and state licensure to practice. Once you find an SLP with these qualifications, the search can be narrowed down even further. For example, if you have an autistic child, you might be looking for an SLP with some experience in Gestalt Language Processing. If you have a child under two, you are maybe looking for an SLP experienced in early intervention and parent coaching, and the list goes on! Do not be afraid to set up a consultation and get an idea of who this therapist is and his/her experience. I will tell you this- our scope of practice is so big, we do not have the answers for everything, but some of us have spent maybe more time in one area vs. another. Also, if your options are limited, give a therapist a chance, you’ll be surprised how eager they are to learn, gain experience, and be part of your child’s journey- we all have to start and learn somewhere!
REMEMBER- the most powerful learning moments occur when children feel safe, happy, and are doing something FUN!!
The Benefits of Speech-Language Therapy for Kids with Autism and Other Special/Unique Needs
Speech-language therapy can help children with unique abilities communicate with confidence. The end goal is for children to have the tools to feel empowered to communicate. This could be a 2 year old asking for “more cookie,” a 4 year old answering questions, or a 6 year old saying his/her “r” with confidence at school, home, or with peers.
With young autistic individuals, the benefits of speech-language intervention is to support their communication while respecting/honoring their needs (e.g., regulation) and how/what they play with (e.g., lining up letters, etc.,). We are not here to change them, but to support them so they can communicate while embracing who they are!
Skilled intervention is also beneficial to parents/caregivers. Caregivers learn strategies through parents coaching (e.g., modeling, sabotaging, giving choices, expanding on utterances, etc.,!). This in turn allows for the creation and maintenance of rich language environments at home.
Types of Speech Language Therapy
Speech-Language Pathologists use a variety of research-based methodology to help children develop their language skills and communication abilities. I find many caregivers get confused with speech and language when it comes to treatment.
Here is a brief breakdown:
Language intervention can help children by giving them the support and tools they need to communicate with others around them. Depending on the level of communication, several language facilitation strategies and parent education are incorporated into the sessions. For example, some of these include manual signs, verbal routines, visuals, manipulating the environment to create more communication opportunities, providing rich language models, etc. All of these are incorporated while following the child’s lead and interests. Children who are not combining two words together at the age of two will get language intervention. Older children who have difficulties with vocabulary, answering questions, grammatical/morphological markers will also receive language intervention and the list goes on!
Speech intervention focuses on teaching children how to correctly produce speech sounds and/or a group of sounds so that others around them can understand what they are saying. This type of therapy could range from teaching where to put tongue and lips to accurately produce a sound to teaching the rules for producing a group of sounds (phonological). These are two of the most common conditions we see (or at least my current caseload), however speech therapy is also designed to treat other sound disorders, including oral motor planning difficulties such as Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS).
Let’s not forget fluency-although not common, SLP’s also help children who stutter, whether that is giving them tools to stutter less or supporting them in desensitizing (targeting emotional response to stuttering to help them stutter with less fear).
I hope you find this information valuable and feel more confident in your journey towards finding the right SLP to work with your child!! Have any questions? I am here to help!
