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What Is Speech Therapy?

1/31/2013

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When most people think of speech therapy, they immediately think of articulation.  However, speech therapy involves more than just pronunciation.  Speech therapy also helps people overcome communication problems in the areas of language, voice, fluency, and oral motor/swallowing.  Speech therapy allows a person to communicate who could not previously express his wants or needs.   

Articulation therapy helps a person learn how to pronounce sounds and improve speech intelligibility.  Articulation therapy is very structured and follows a specific process.  The first step involves auditory training or being able to hear the sound.  The next step is to be able to correctly say the sound in isolation, then syllables, words, sentences and conversation. 

Language therapy treats receptive language (what a person understands), expressive language (what a person expresses or says) or a combination of both.  Receptive language can include skills such as following directions and identifying pictures.  Expressive language activities include making requests and naming objects.   

Voice therapy treats disorders associated with the speaking voice.  As a result of a voice disorder, the voice can sound hoarse, raspy, rough, or there may be no voice at all.  Voice disorders can be caused by abuse to the speaking voice, trauma, or illness.  Some of these disorders include vocal nodules, vocal polyps, vocal cord paralysis, and laryngitis. 

Fluency therapy helps a person learn to speak more fluently and easily.  It is also called stuttering therapy.  Getting speech therapy for fluency helps a person become more confident when speaking to others and when speaking in public. 

Oral motor and swallowing therapy teaches a person to use and strengthen the muscles in the mouth that help with speech production and swallowing food and drink.  Illness and injury are some of the reasons why the muscles used for speech and swallowing become weak.  

A speech-language pathologist (SLP) provides speech therapy for their clients and patients, and this includes both adults and children.  The overall goal for those who are getting speech therapy is to develop and/or regain speech and communication skills to the best possible level.  The length of therapy mostly depends on the severity of the communication disorder and the motivation of the client or patient.


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Welcome to My Blog About Toddler Speech Therapy Tips

1/29/2013

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Welcome to my blog!  I am so excited you are here, and I can't wait to share with you everything I know about toddlers and speech, language, and communication development.  The contents come from my years of experience in providing speech therapy to toddlers and young children.  You will get some of the best techniques I use personally with my speech therapy clients.  In addition to speech and language tips, I will also share parenting articles, toddler arts and craft ideas, toy recommendations, recipes to make with your children, and other toddler friendly information. 

Starting a blog as a resource for parents has been a dream of mine for a few years.  Although I help parents locally learn to help their young children talk and communicate, I have always wanted to extend my reach to parents everywhere. Thank goodness for the internet!   

A little about myself:
I am a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist (SLP).  I have been working with children since 2001.  I began my career as an SLP in the public school system for children from pre-k to fifth grade.  Shortly after in 2005 I started contracting with Georgia's early intervention program, Babies Can't Wait, which serves children ages birth to 3.  I found my calling and started treating private clients in addition to children enrolled in the BCW program.     

How did I become an SLP?
When I was five years old my mother often took my sister, our friends (a set of twins), and me to preschool and kindergarten each morning.  Our friends who were twins had a hard time correctly pronouncing their /r/ sound.  My mom, sister, and I worked with them each day on the way to school, and they were eventually able to say the /r/ sound perfectly by the end of the school year!      As a child and teenager I always knew that I wanted to become a professional who could help other people.  I often thought I would become a physical or occupational therapist.  While in high school and some of college I worked at a mental health clinic in the business office.  Once I entered college I wanted to become a psychologist.  After talking with a friend my sophomore year about her major in communicative disorders, I felt that would be an interesting field to look into.  I was currently taking the prerequisites for communicative disorders since they were the same for psychology, so I didn’t have to start from scratch.  I enrolled in some communicative disorders classes that next semester and fell in love with the major.  The rest is history!     

I look forward to connecting with you.  I hope you enjoy this information and know you and your toddler will benefit for years to come!


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    Author

    Welcome!  I'm Rebecca Haas, toddler speech-language pathologist and mother to identical twin baby girls.  On this blog you'll find articles, resources, and lots of information about early childhood and speech and language development.  I hope you find this helpful!   

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