Important Reasons Why You Should Visit a Speech Pathologist for Child at an Early Age

02:11
By Jack Louis
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Some children find it a challenge to speak out words and sentences properly. This at times can lead to frustration as understanding these kids become a real problem. However there is good news. Speech pathologist for children can help you out in such cases. Speech language pathology means the science of speech and language. It is a special communication science and relates to such disorders. The parents can consult with these specialists and evaluate the problem and go for suggested treatment as well.

Speech Pathologist

What is Speech Pathology?

Speech Pathology is a field that specializes in the diagnosis of communication disorders, voice disorders and swallowing disorders. It also has a significant role in the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Some of the aspects that are covered in the broad spectrum of Speech Pathology are:

Specific Language Impairment such as language delay.
Difficulties in forming sentences that are grammatically correct also known as Structural Language Impairment.
Difficulties involving social communication.
Voice difficulties like raspy voice or a very faint voice that can affect the child's social performance.

The speech pathologist is trained and certified clinicians who can help your child in mending the gap between their understanding, perception and fluent communication.

Reasons to Visit a Speech Pathologist:

It is suggested to consult at an early age in order to be aware of their problems regarding communication and help in eradicating those problems. You can also visit the specialist if you want to help the kid with any of the following:-

Articulation Skills:

They can help your child with an articulation disorder where he or she might have trouble in uttering particular sounds or words correctly like 'say' may be heard as 'thay'. The Speech pathologist works with your child, teaching them various sound patterns and thus improving their speech intelligibility.

Stuttering:

If the child is heard repeating certain sounds and has difficulties in pronouncing words completely, he/she may be suffering from fluency disorder which is resolved by the experts by following some developed programs aimed to improve the fluency while speaking.

Receptive Language:

Most often, you may find your child's receptive skills (what they understand) to be stronger than their expressive skills (or what they can say). A speech pathologist teaches your child a whole new set of vocabulary and ways to implement them in a simple conversation or to answer questions etc.

Voice and Resonance :

Does your child have a voice that's too soft or a voice that sounds coarse? It is caused due to vocal abuse that is a result of too much strain on the vocal folds due to yelling, coughing, throat clearing etc. The speech pathologist-for Child focuses on minimizing these behaviors and on rebuilding a strong and firm vocal fold through various exercises and vocal training.

Social/Pragmatic Language:

This involves the way your child puts together the words to express their thoughts and to communicate with others. It has three major communication skills which it requires:

Abiding by the rules of conversation- Where your child will be taught to take turns in conversation, to understand the verbal and non-verbal cues etc.
Changing the use of language according to the change in place or even people- It's important for your child to know the difference between the way they talk to elders and the way they communicate with other kids of the same age.
Using language in different ways- Here the child is exposed to the correct usage of language while requesting, greeting, protesting, asking questions etc.

The speech pathologist performs different test and examinations to evaluate and document your child's progress and educating them with different techniques and strategies for coping with speech barriers.

Speech Pathologist

The importance of communication in today's world cannot be denied. Every child needs to learn to be able to express his or her own thoughts, opinions. They must also be made competent to understand perspectives of other people through understanding and communication. A speech pathologist enhances this learning experience and helps children feel confident by helping them strengthen their communication skills. So, being a parent and being actively involved in their growing process by consulting a Speech Pathologist that too at an early age can do wonders for your loving and precious child.

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