Speech and language disorders encompass the difficulty or inability to use the language of a society. This includes a wide range of disorders such as difficulty with articulation of specific speech sounds, apraxia, stuttering, aphasia, and delayed language. Speech and language disorders may be genetic or acquired and occur at any age.
When it comes to speech disorders, speech therapy intervention is often recommended to begin as early as possible. According to research, the earlier speech therapy takes place, the less money you are likely to spend on speech therapy education as your child grows up.
When children and adults undergo speech therapy, treatment can manifest in many different ways. Public schools offer speech therapy programs that allow children to work with therapists one-on-one, or, more often, in small groups. Children may qualify for these speech services after the age of three. Early intervention programs provide speech therapy to children from birth to three. Many families find private speech therapy services to be the most convenient and efficient manner of treatment.
In speech therapy sessions, a licensed speech-language pathologist will target your loved one’s goals in a variety of ways and provide additional speech activities for home practice. Speech activities may include games, specific words and language to use during play, flashcards or worksheets.
Of course, many speech activities can happen at home, as well. Parents can engage in speech activities with children anywhere, at any time. For example, parents can use signs in grocery stores, shopping malls, and in transit to practice articulation. Reading time before bed and at the library are also excellent times to focus on a variety of language goals such as building vocabulary, understanding a variety of concepts and sequencing. Parents can keep their children engaged in speech activities by incorporating them into activities their child already likes to do or tying them to seasonal/holiday events.
Activity Tailor offers a breadth of resources for educators and parents alike to engage children in fun and stimulating speech activities. With board games, card games, flash cards, reading materials, and audio resources, there are many ways for children to have fun while targeting articulation and language.