Children’s Speech Therapy Has An Impact On Education
Most of the time people think of speech therapy as learning to talk more clearly, to solve stuttering issues or lisps. Speech therapy is involved in treating these issues, but it is also involved in other areas that can directly impact how well a child does during school. Effective children’s speech therapy can have a very positive impact on education. Read on to learn why this is.
Receptive Language Skills
When a person understands what is being said to him or to her that is receptive language. The person receives or understands language. Many times receptive language is more advanced that expressive language, which will be discussed momentarily.
It is very important that a child have good receptive language skills to succeed in school. Poor receptive language skills will lead to gaps in understanding and frustration. Speech therapy will work on the child’s ability to understand language through a variety of techniques, including games, role playing and the use of computer programs.
The Expressive Language Of A Child
Expressive language is the language that a person uses to express themselves, to tell how they feel, to answer a question or to generally participate in classroom discussions. Expressive language deficits are common in children with intellectual disabilities, autism and other disabilities.
Imagine the frustration of knowing an answer but not being able to tell the teacher what the answer actually is. This happens over and over again for a child with expressive language issues. Therapy helps the child compensate for expressive language problems by teaching him or her strategies to use in the classroom and daily life.
Vocabulary
Poor vocabulary can negatively impact expressive and receptive language abilities. Children living in poverty or near poverty often have not been exposed to the same kinds of things by the time they enter school as children from more well-off families. The children’s vocabulary suffers as a result.
Therapists working in schools coordinate speech services with the child’s classroom teacher and often spend therapy time working on vocabulary concepts.
Articulation
Articulation is the ability to speak so that others understand what you are saying. Lisps, the inability to say specific letter sounds, speaking too fast or too slowly all can be helped with speech therapy.
If articulation issues are not addressed early on, they can create a child who is very self-conscious, who may be teased or worse.
When a child has articulation problems, speech therapy focuses on such things are proper positioning of the lips (open versus closed), tongue flexibility or thrust and others. Blowing a ping pong ball across a table, drinking thick liquids through a coffee stir straw all work to improve articulation errors.
Children’s speech therapy provided by qualified speech therapists or speech pathologists are a vital part of the educational team and play a significant part in helping students succeed in school. The earlier problems are addressed, the more successful the child.
There is absolutely no doubting the fact that Florida speech therapy can make an immense difference in any child’s life and any adults career. We’ve got the ultimate inside info on the best Florida speech therapy jobs available.