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Education Station 
Speech Therapy
What Speech Therapy "Looks" Like
The exact format and content of your typical speech therapy session will, of course, depend on the age of your child, whether they are in private or group sessions, and what level of functioning they are at. Usually, a therapy session is 45 minutes, with the last 15 minutes reserved for the clinician to discuss progress and "homework" with the parent or caregiver. Therapy is conducted in a room with a door that is closed while the session is in progress. The parent may or may not be in the room during the session. If the parent is not in the room, they may be seated in an adjacent room with a one-way mirror, wired for sound, so that they can observe and hear all that is going on in the session and can discuss any concerns with the clinician after the session. If this type of observation room is not available, the session may also be videotaped for review by the clinician and/or parent afterwards. The therapy room usually has a small, child sized-table, with small chairs around the table. The clinician will sit at the table with the child. For younger children, there might be a mat on the floor, with toys stacked nearby. The clinician and child will sit on the mat. If therapy is conducted in your home, you will need to clear a space where the child and clinician can "work". The therapist will usually tell you in advance what activities s/he will be doing and what sort of space requirements they have. They may work at your kitchen table or on the floor of your Family Room. The clinician will use many techniques to elicit sounds and words from your child: the use of toys and games, books, colouring, painting or crafts, blowing bubbles, preparing and eating a snack, etc. Often, if the child has an oral-motor based speech disorders (such as apraxia of speech), the session will begin with a snack and drink. The choice of food and drink will be made so as to "wake up" the oral motor musculature. Some examples of oral motor work: chewing bubble gum, sipping a drink through a thin straw, or licking peanut butter off one's lips. The clinician will focus on teaching about three sounds that are similar in nature for a period of about two months. After assessing the child's repertoire of sounds, s/he will select sounds to work on that the child has some ability to produce but is not confidently able to produce. The clinician will give some consideration to the typical developmental progression of the learning of speech sounds and will generally avoid teaching a sound that is not expected, given the child's age. The speech therapist will often model the speech sounds for the child and will sometimes help the child to form the proper oral motor movement to elicit the sound. Books, toys, and activities will be selected so as to elicit the target sound multiple times throughout the session. After the session has ended, the clinician will discuss the target sounds with the parent and might show the parent ways in which s/he can work with the child on making the sounds at home. Parents will quickly learn quite a lot if they are able to observe the therapy sessions. One benefit is that you will learn what your child is capable of when conversing with a communication expert. Often parents are surprised at how fluently the child can speak in this setting. A second benefit is that you will learn how to communicate better with your child so as to encourage speech and language. In addition to enhancing your conversations with your child, you may also learn how to positively help your child to self-correct speech/language errors As the child-clinician relationship becomes established, the clinician may schedule therapy sessions in small groups of from two to three children. The other children will be at a similar "place" in their speech-language development and will be peers (ie not a great deal older or younger than your child). Duration of the speech therapy sessions might be increased in either duration or frequency, at this point, so as to insure that the child receives a comparable amount of one-to-one therapy time. The addition of a buddy in the speech therapy sessions is often very productive and inspiring for both of the children. |
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Speechville Express is a resource for families, educators, and medical professionals, offering information about language development in children, helping those who care for toddlers and young children who are late talkers, and connecting you with others who have been down this road. Language disorders and communication impairments included are apraxia, stuttering, pervasive developmental disorder, dysarthria, and aphasia, among others.
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Last updated: Thursday, May 15th 2008
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