Everything you need to know about speech pathologists

The first words from the lips of our children are an event that any parent looks forward to. And even if they sound clumsy and barely distinguishable from the recent babble, they are perceived with tenderness and delight. However, the joy comes to an end if, over the years, the child’s speech still resembles infantile babble, and the vocabulary remains at the same level. After all, this is a big cause for concern: if the child is not taught to speak in time, he may have problems communicating with peers. It is naive to think that speech can correct itself or that the child is simply too lazy to pronounce sounds. Without the help of a specialist, he simply can not cope.

What is a speech pathologist?

It is a mistake to believe that this is a doctor. This is a pedagogical specialist, but his place of work may well be a clinic or hospital. It relies on medical indications, but its main task is to teach the correct pronunciation, i.e. eliminate the symptom, not cure. The massages and exercises that he uses in his work are not medical procedures, and he does not prescribe medicines. But the methods that he uses are built on basic pedagogical principles.

When Should You See a Speech Pathologist?

1. By the age of 2, your child has not spoken.

It is worth noting that, for medical reasons, not talking until the age of 4 is the norm. However, this rule applies only if the child reacts to your words, makes it clear with facial expressions and gestures that he hears you. If you understand that there is no response to your actions, then this is a serious cause for concern, since he may have serious hearing problems or developmental delays, and the sooner you start correcting them, the better.

2. At 4 years old, your child's vocabulary remains the same.

Your child builds sentences from 3-4 words, prefers to express half of the meaning of what was said with gestures, and answers questions in monosyllables “yes” or “no”. Perhaps the reason for this was that you yourself spoiled your child: you finish the thought for him yourself, “liss” with him - in other words, you stop any opportunity to start talking like an adult. It is never too late to change communication tactics, but you should not neglect the help of a specialist, since such a picture may indicate mental problems.

3. Stuttering

If your child has started stuttering, the help of a speech therapist is needed. The cause of this disease lies, as a rule, in strong emotional stress, and often requires intervention from a pediatrician and a neurologist. However, do not despair - thanks to modern techniques and breathing exercises, you can get rid of stuttering even in the most severe cases. Moreover, speech therapists also successfully correct adult stuttering.

Speech therapists mean the incorrect pronunciation of sounds by tongue-tied tongue. For example, instead of “r”, your child pronounces “l” (“kolova” instead of “cow”), burrs, skips “l” at the beginning of a word (“uk” instead of “bow), instead of the sound “sh” uses “s” or "f". Of course, at a certain stage of growing up, all children make mistakes in pronunciation - the alarm should be sounded when the problem remains at the age of 5 years and above. You should not hope that everything will go away on its own - this is how you doom your child to difficulties in communicating with peers, and this is fraught with other, more deplorable consequences.

5. Problems with reading and writing

If there is nothing left before entering school, and your child still confuses letters and syllables while reading, you should not sin on restlessness and inattention. This may be a sign of a more serious problem - dyslexia. Moreover, incorrect reading in the future will also affect writing, and can lead to dysgraphia - a phenomenon in which a child makes grammatical errors, confuses letters that are similar in spelling. Why are these two violations inextricably linked? It's all about auditory perception - your child may simply hear sounds poorly, and expressing them in writing, respectively, is difficult for him. The situation is corrected by training speech hearing and letter vision. This will take months of hard work, but the first results will not be long in coming.

How does a speech pathologist work?

Speech therapist classes are held in a playful way that is accessible to every child. The specialist selects a game depending on the problem that should be corrected: games for the development of coherent speech, for correct pronunciation, auditory perception, for the development of motor skills, correcting errors in reading and writing, eliminating stuttering, etc. Games alternate with special gymnastics for the articulatory apparatus, exercises and speech therapy massage. The duration of the lesson varies from the age of the child: up to 3 years no more than 15 minutes, up to 7 years no more than 30 minutes, for older children - 45 minutes. Lessons of longer duration are not recommended - the most effective segment is half an hour.

What is a speech pathology opinion?

Since a speech therapist is not a doctor, he cannot make a diagnosis. To understand this issue, let's say that a diagnosis means a conclusion about the disease and the patient's condition at the current time. For this, the doctor conducts a special diagnosis. The speech therapist, in turn, manages only with a conversation and tests, and fixes only the symptoms. This is how a speech therapy conclusion is drawn up, based on which an individual program of corrective classes is drawn up.

When is the best time to see a speech therapist?

As soon as you begin to notice that your child's speech is somehow different from the speech of his peers. We indicated the main reasons why you need to contact a speech therapist above, but mainly every loving parent should be aware of the possible consequences of speech problems: communication difficulties, complexes, unrealized talents and desires, loneliness. With this in mind, be vigilant and do not neglect the opportunity to get checked out by a specialist. Special care is required a year before entering school - correcting speech defects requires months of work, and you should not waste time.

Where can you find a speech pathologist?

• at the children's clinic
• in kindergarten
• at school
• on our website.

How to choose a speech therapist?

It is not difficult to get the profession of a speech therapist in our time: defectological education offers a huge number of universities, not all of which meet modern quality standards. Therefore, when choosing a speech therapist, the main criterion for professionalism is his experience - it is he who is a reliable guarantee of assistance. After all, it is impossible to check the work of a speech therapist right away, and you can talk about the results only after months. During this time, you will already have time to spend a considerable amount, so the question of the honesty and integrity of a speech therapist arises in the first place. For this reason, we advise you not to bypass students and young professionals - their services are much cheaper, but the quality can be no worse than those who have been engaged in correction for many years. Our site contains a large selection of profiles of speech therapists with real professionalism.