Speech Therapy Can Help With Speech and Language Problems
Elmer Fudd may get a laugh every time he hunts for that “wascally wabbit”, Bugs Bunny, but speech-language disorders are not laughing matters. It can be painful to not be understood or to be ridiculed for voice problems. It is estimated that 5% of school-age children have some type of language disorder. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association breaks disorders into two types, speech disorders and language disorders.
Information To Help You Understand Speech Disorders
There are a number of struggles and areas of concern that fall under the speech disorder category. They include the following: slurred speech, pitch problems, articulation, vocal quality, and stuttering.
Language Disorders - What Are They?
Language Disorders are broken down further into two categories: expressive and reception. Expressive people have trouble saying what they desire. This is difficult because expressive language disorders are based on a struggle of putting words together, using their language skills appropriately, and building vocabulary. Whereas the receptive language disorder is more of a struggle in comprehension or understanding what is said (language).
Help Is Available If You Seek It Out
Speech and language disorders may require treatment by a professional speech-language therapist. These therapists are trained to identify communication problems by using specialized testing methods.
Therapist Can Help…But How?
Often the therapist will work with the individual on a one-to-one basis, using techniques that have been proven to improve the person’s speech, language, voice and cognitive abilities. Some of the treatments a therapist may use are teaching correct pronunciation through modeling, repetition, and exercise. It’s best to start treatment early and continue until the therapist and patient feel that maximum results have been achieved.
Who Can Be Helped?
A speech therapist can help with speech and language problems caused by many things. Areas that typically are treated by speech therapist are as follows: cleft palate, hearing impairments, weak oral muscles, brain injuries, and autism.
If you want to get started, Karen Barta is a Speech Therapist in Denver, Colorado. She provides services to help with slurred speech and so much more!