There are several explanations why families choose to receive speech therapy. Some get speech therapy referrals from their doctors or pediatrician. Others proactively seek professional help after noticing their child struggle to communicate or display irregular speech patterns.
Picking the right speech therapist is not an easy decision. Several factors are required to be taken into account, including the nature of the disorder, your budget, selection of certified speech therapists, availability, and more. However, once you have decided, it’s time to choose a speech and language therapist for you or your child.
Let’s find some of the most crucial factors that help you make the right decision when picking a speech therapist.
Dive in!
Nature Of Your Diagnosis
Speech therapy covers an inclusive scope of practice, including speech and language syndromes, social communication, oral motor, and swallowing issues. In contrast, speech therapists can evaluate and treat a wide range of ages and diagnoses; it’s crucial to find one who has experience in your area of need. For example, if a speech therapist is an expert on early language acquisition among young children, he may not be comfortable working with an older post-stroke survivor.
When looking for a speech therapist, make sure to ask for their credentials, clinical specialty, and experience in treating clients.
The Ideal Setting
There are two primary settings where children receive speech therapy, i.e., in their school or private practice. Each location has its pros and cons.
Speech therapy in a school is usually the most reasonable option, and therapists benefit from collaborating with the child’s teacher. But, many schools are understaffed and resources for speech therapy. This could mean extensive paperwork, irregular schedules, length of waiting time, and most importantly, the lack of personalized, one-on-one instruction.
The rewards of going to a private clinic are ample. The main benefit is that your child will receive personalized attention and support from your speech therapist. Second, while it can be challenging to find quality time with your speech therapist in a school setting, you can more effortlessly develop strong parent-therapist relationships and stay in close communication regarding your child’s progress. Lastly, you have more choice to work with the speech therapist.
Indeed, speech therapy at a private clinic is generally more expensive. If you are blessed enough to have insurance, there is a chance your coverage could help negate these costs.
Online Or In-Person Therapy Session
Not long ago, speech therapy obligated that clients and therapists were physically located within the same room. Today, telehealth has transformed therapy classes and other health-related services, including speech therapy.
Online speech therapy works equally to traditional, in-person care from evaluation to diagnosis to treatment. The only dissimilarity is that you sit face-to-face through a virtual connection instead of sitting face-to-face in the same room.
The trend of online speech therapy has grown rapidly in the last several years, especially after COVID-19. Moreover, clients realize that they can receive the same effective and high-quality therapy service from the comfort of their home with safety.
Where To Find The Certified Speech Therapist?
This selection criterion will help you narrow down your search for the best speech therapist.
If you are looking for a certified speech therapist to get high-quality therapy sessions online, you may contact The Therapy Place.
Speech Therapy – Techniques & Activities
The amazing wonders that therapy offers and the long-lasting outcomes have made it quite popular with time. It is impressive to see people realize its countless benefits and accept it as a beneficial solution for their health.
When it comes to Speech And Language Therapy, it provides substantial results for people suffering from speech disorders. The speech therapists or speech-language pathologists (SLPs) use different techniques or activities to improve communication. They can be effective for children with speech disorders since childhood or adults suffering from speech impairments due to any brain injury or illness.
Applications Of Speech Therapy
Speech therapy can bring positive outcomes for several speech ailments. Some of them are as follows:
Articulation Disorders: It is when a person cannot produce sounds of certain words. Anyone going through it may say few words by distorting it. For example, they would pronounce ‘this’ as ‘thith”.
Resonance Disorders: It is when an obstruction is present in the airflow of the oral or nasal cavities. It, therefore, affects the vibrations that create voice quality. Another issue can be with the improper closing of the velopharyngeal valve. Some other reasons involve neurological disorders, swollen tonsils, or cleft palate.
Fluency Disorders: A person struggles with following the correct rhythm and speed of speech that results in cluttering or stuttering during speaking. They have problems making certain sounds, interruptions during talking, or repeating parts of words. They also tend to merge words or speak swiftly.
Expressive Disorders: When an individual finds it challenging to convey their message. Such individuals also face difficulty making sentences and using the correct verb tense. It may arise due to a medical condition, Down syndrome, or some head trauma.
Receptive Disorders: A person finds it difficult to understand and process what the other person is saying. The person suffering may seem disinterested or cannot completely understand someone else’s directions. Few disorders such as head injury or autism can cause a receptive language disorder.
Cognitive-communication Disorders: It is when there is some injury to the part of the brain that is responsible for the thinking process. Other issues involve problem-solving, listening, speaking, and even memory decline. Its cause can be at times, be a neurological condition, a stroke, brain injury, or some abnormality in brain development.
Speech Therapy – Techniques & Activities
Language Intervention Therapy
This technique assists patients in developing and improving their speech abilities considerably. The therapy is quite familiar with treating children who face speech delays. It helps adults who require improvement in terms of language abilities. The core focus of the treatment is to help the patient improve their pronunciation of words.
Articulation Therapy
The therapy helps the patients improve their ability to make certain sounds that they find hard to make. The treatment resolves several issues that occur due to any illnesses or injuries.
Oral Motor Therapy
The therapy resolves any ailment or physical injury that may have resulted in speaking difficulty. It consists of several routine exercises that help strengthen the muscles around the mouth. It significantly aids in improving the manner of speech.
I Spy
The activity involves a player selecting any item present in the room that every player can see. The player gives clues to let others think of the object. The player who guesses it correctly has to use the word in a sentence. It helps in improving speaking power and sentence fluency.
Bury Objects
The players find the objects hidden and, upon seeing them, have to pronounce that object’s name. You can even use cards instead of items. It helps in improving pronunciation.
Conclusion
Speech therapy exercises and activities are efficient and show significant results. With The Therapy Place, you can look forward to positive outcomes as we have some of the best therapists looking out for every patient. Speech Therapy has immense benefits apart from improving speech abilities. It can resolve problems linked to facial expression, swallowing, and even articulation concerns.
