The Speech Therapy Strategies among Children with Special Needs. Dr Nadeem Ghayas

August 6, 2024

The importance of the speech therapy strategies which can be used when working with the children with special needs is critical in order to enhance communication, language development, social interaction and academic success. The speech therapy of children with special needs is aimed at the enhancement of the speech clarity, understanding of the language, expressive language use, fluency, and alternative methods of communication. Meta description: The use of effective speech therapy programs in work with children with special needs enhances the clarity of speech, language abilities, social communication, and fluency. Study evidence based practices, early intervention advantages and pragmatic therapy interventions with references on CDC, NIH, and peer reviewed studies.

The number of children with speech and language disorders is high across the world. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2023) indicate that out of every six children, developmental disabilities such as speech and language disorders occur in one. Timely and regular speech therapy solutions enhance long term communication, literacy, social, and independence. This is a comprehensive guide to evidence based speech therapy techniques, practical applications, research results, and long term outcomes of the children with special needs.

Speech and Language Disorders amongst Children with Special needs.

Speech therapy helps those children who have articulation difficulties, language understanding, expressive language, social communication, fluency, and voice production. Autistic children with cerebral palsy, hearing impairments, intellectual disorders, Down syndrome, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can be helped through special interventions of speech therapy.

According to the report published by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders 2022, the percentage of children in preschool age with speech and language delays ranges between 5 and 10 percent. In the absence of early intervention, these challenges can affect academic achievements, reading abilities and social interactions.

The Significance of Early Intervention in Speech Therapy.

One of the best measures to enhance speech and language outcomes consists of early intervention. The brain plasticity in early childhood enables the children to learn the communication skills more effectively (when the treatment is started at the age below 5).

Investigations have shown that children exposed to early speech and language therapy develop their expressive and-receptive language skills more than those exposed to delayed therapy Roberts and Kaiser 2011. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2023 insists that the early screening and intervention can help to decrease the long term effects of developmental communication disorders.

Areas of core that are targeted during speech therapy of special children.

Speech Sound Disorder and Articulation Disorder.

Articulation therapy aims at correcting the speech sound errors. Children can replace, omit or alter sounds, and this results in speech that is difficult to comprehend.

 Receptive Language Skills

Receptive language is the interpretation of verbal language. Children can have a problem in following instructions, questioning or comprehending long sentences.

 Expressive Language Skills.

Expressive language entails the application of words, phrases and sentences to express thoughts and needs.

 Social Communication Skills.

Social communication involves turn taking, maintaining eye contact, social cues and conversations.

 Fluency Disorders

Fluency therapy corrects the speech flow disruptions in fluency.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication.

The augmentative and alternative communication assists those children who are unable to use verbal speech only.

Evidence Based Strategies of Speech Therapy.

 Techniques of Articulation Therapy.

Articulation therapy enhances soundness in speech.

Sound practice is a practice that entails ordered repetition of definite sounds in isolation, words and sentences. As an example, a child that has problems with s sound works with words like sun, sock, and soup.

Phonetic placement educates the child on proper use of tongue and lips. Incidentally, when making the t sound, the tongue is positioned behind the upper teeth ridge and then air is released.

Structured articulation practice has been found to be helpful in enhancing intelligibility Williams et al 2010.

Intervention Strategies of Language.

Language intervention improves sentence structure, grammar and vocabulary.

Expansion of sentences consists of an extension of a speech of a kid. When the child says dog run, the therapist demonstrates the running of the dog.

Through modeling, the correct structure of the sentence is given, but not explicitly corrected. When the child says I want toy, the therapist replies I want to play with the toy.

There is also the use of focused stimulation and interactive reading that promote language development. The systematic reviews demonstrate that language interventions provided at a system level by parents lead to a significant enhancement of expressive language production Roberts and Kaiser 2011.

Social Skills Training

Autistic children with social communication disorder have benefited through social communication training.

Role plays are used to make children practice real life conversation like a greeting or requesting assistance.

Social stories describe how things are supposed to be in social contexts. Gray 2010 discovered that social stories enhance social comprehension and lessen anxiety of children with autism.

During peer mediated interventions within school, conversational skills and social participation are also improved.

Auditory Processing Therapy.

Listening discrimination and memory are enhanced by auditory processing therapy.

Sound discrimination tasks assist the children in distinguishing between similar sounds as bat and hat.

Auditory memory games enhance the memorization through repetition of words or numbers sequences.

Despite the inconsistency in research of auditory processing intervention research, structured listening activities help language comprehension in children with auditory processing deficiency.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication Strategies.

Picture boards, communication books, speech generating devices, and tablet based communication applications are some of the examples of augmentative and alternative communication systems.

Picture exchange systems enable children to indicate pictures that depict needs or emotions.

SGA devices change symbols that are selected into verbal speech.

The studies show that augmentative communication does not impair the development of speech and usually improves the verbal efforts Ganz et al 2012.

Play Based Speech Therapy

Play based therapy is also a way of incorporating speech practice within the normal play activities.

Interactive games will promote turn taking and requesting.

Creative tasks like drawing and pretending encourage the growth of vocabulary and narrative.

Play therapy facilitates interaction and interest which are key to learning.

Techniques of Fluency Therapy.

Fluency therapy treats stuttering through enhancing the quality of the speech rhythm and breathing.

The slow speech techniques make children speak comfortably.

Breathing exercises teach to speak with the diaphragmatic breathing.

Evidence based fluency intervention will minimize the occurrence of stuttering and enhance the confidence of communication Yairi and Ambrose 2013.

The role of Parents and Caregivers in Speech Therapy.

The presence of parents in the therapy is very beneficial. Home practice strengthens the therapy objectives and facilitates the development of skills.

Parental strategies are:

• Interactive questioning by reading everyday.
• Promoting conversation turn taking.
• Giving positive reinforcement.
• Restricting excessive screen time.
• Defining simple and straight forward language.

Family centered models of intervention focus on the collaboration that takes place between therapists and care givers King et al 2004.

 Speech Therapy at Schools.

Speech therapy in schools helps in school success and school involvement. Individualized education programs can incorporate speech objectives of articulation, language understanding or social interaction.

The interaction of speech language pathologists, teachers and parents also ensures a consistency in the environments.

Long term results of speech therapy.

A successful speech therapy results in:

• Greater speech intelligibility.
• Enhanced literacy skills
• Improved school performance.
• More social participation.
• Higher self esteem
• Better working opportunities as adults.

Early and intensive intervention in children demonstrates longer-term communication benefits in adolescence and adulthood.

Problems with Obtaining Speech Therapy.

The obstacles are the shortage of qualified professionals, financial resources, and ignorance and cultural stigma.

Teletherapy has increased access, particularly to underserved communities.

Frequently Asked Questions.

What is the appropriate age of a child at which to initiate speech therapy?

Infants can enter speech therapy at a very young age in case delays are detected. This is best achieved through early intervention at the age of less than five years.

 What is the duration of speech therapy before improvement is realized.

The severity of the disorder, the number of sessions and consistency of practice at home are some of the factors that determine progress. Other children develop in months and others have to be supported long term.

Does speech therapy work with children with autism?

Yes. Speech therapy enhances communication, socialization and useful language among children with autism spectrum disorder.

Does speech development get postponed with the use of augmentative communication?

No. There is research that augmentative communication facilitates language development, and can spur verbal communication.

Does speech therapy work in stuttering?

Yes. Evidence based fluency therapy lessens the rate of stuttering and enhances confidence.

Conclusion

Communication competence and social participation building of children with special needs are impossible without effective speech therapy strategies. Some of the evidence based interventions such as articulation therapy, language expansion, social skills training, auditory processing exercises, augmentative communication, play based learning, and fluency therapy play a critical role in improving speech and language outcomes. The success factors include early identification, individual planning, parental involvement, and practice. Children with speech and language complications can record positive gains and better living with proper intervention and aid.

References

1. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. 2023. Developmental disabilities. Accessed on the 28th of February, 2019.

2. Ganz, J. B., Rispoli, M. J., Mason, R. A. and Hong, E. R. 2012. Augmentative and alternative communication intervention of speech production effects moderation. American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 117, 179 to 196.

3. Gray, C. 2010. The new social story book. Future Horizons.

4. King, G., Law, M., King, S., and Rosenbaum, P. 2004. Family centered care in rehabilitation among children. Paediatrics Physical and Occupational Therapy, 24, 75 to 99.

5. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. 2022. Developmental milestones of speech and language. Accessed on June 24, 2019.

6. Roberts, M. Y., and Kaiser, A. P. 2011. The efficiency of language interventions introduced by parents. American Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 20, 180 to 199.

7. Williams, A. L., McLeod, S., and McCauley, R. J. 2010. Speech sound disorder treatment in children. Brookes Publishing.

8. Yairi, E., and Ambrose, N. 2013. Epidemiology of stuttering. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 38, 66 to 87.