What do I do if I am worried about my child's talking?

Sometimes you just know that your little one isn't developing their spoken language as they should. Other times you compare them to their little friends and see a difference. Sometimes it's a grandparent or friend who mentions something.  However  you come to the tentative or definite conclusion, you need to know what to do about it.


If your child is pre-school, then the health visitor is a good source of information and she can refer to the NHS speech therapy department for you with your permission. In some areas (it used to be all ) you can make a call to the department yourself. If your child is at school, talk to the classteacher about referring your child to speech therapy.


If you want to make  referral to a private therapist, you can contact them yourself. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists recommend a website called www.helpwithtalking.com. On this you can put in your postcode and the age of your child and it will come up with a list of therapists in your local area. These are all members of the Association speech and language therapists in independent practice (ASLTIP). You can be sure that they are fully qualified and experienced, members of the Health professionals Council and members of the Royal College of Speech and language therapists. If you google private speech therapy, then make sure they are members of the HPC. Prices are usually pretty similiar from therapist to therapist. You can ring up and talk to the therapist before you make a decision as to who you choose.


You can have an NHS Speech and language therapist (SLT) as well as an NHS one. There is a protocol which they follow to work together.  


What happens then?
The therapist will need to see your child to assess the level he is at and what he needs to achieve more. This is usually in a clinic but independent ones will more than likely do a home visit. We prefer to do a home visit at Small Talk as they are more comfortable there and more likely to give a true representative of what they can do. In the sterile atmosphere of a health clinic, none of us is at out best! If not at home, we will visit nursery or playgroup.


What is the assessment?
This may be informal observation, play and by talking to you. They will ask about such things as pregnancy and birth and family background in order to complete a case history. Therapists use formal assessments too which will involve looking at pictures or books. It should be stress-free and fun for the child. The SLT will look for the child's level of attention, listening, play, understanding and how they express themselves. They will also listen to speech sounds but this might not be a priority.


The SLT might decide to review progress in a short while or offer therapy.


What is therapy?
A lot of the time we will be working through the parent or nursery staff as it is important for generalising skills. It is a bit like a music lesson, you wouldn't expect that the only time you do it to be the lesson. The lesson is to show you what to do and then you would need to practise all week before the next lesson. We try to make sure that any suggested 'work' fits into your daily routine wherever possible.



Questions?
1. Is my child too young for therapy?
No child is too young if you work with the parents. Parents are the most important part of the Speech therapy process. Small Talk are licensed Hanen practitioners and offer 'It takes two to talk' for parents.


2. How long will therapy take?
That is impossible to say but the SLT will set targets/aims and discuss these before they start. 


3. I am worried but nursery aren't, should I still see a SLT?
Yes because you can discuss your concerns. She will be able to allay your fears or suggest a course of action.  There might be problems at home that haven't shown themselves at nursery or vice versa.


4. I can't get time off to have therapy, what can I do?
Depending on the problem, many private SLTs offer saturday sessions or via skype.


Have a look at www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk for more information.  You can see stages and ages at http://smarttalkers.org.uk/stages_of_language_development.php

Don't worry in silence, get help!

Related articles

• Great sites for therapy ideas for kids with special needs (lovethatmax.com)
• Parents as Therapist! (downsyndromenwfl.wordpress.com)

Advertise to Speech and Language professionals across the globe

We have kept our advertising rates the same this year so if you have a product or service you would like speech and language therapists/pathologists to be aware of let me know. Our prices are very competitive based on £850 for a full page. We anticipate 12,000 copies of the February issue will be downloaded.


Readership breakdown is: 

United Kingdom			30%
United States			29%
France			16%
Russia			15%
Ukraine			1%
Slovenia			1%
India			1%
Germany			1%

Artwork specifications
Size: Adverts submitted must be full size at a minimum of 72dpi.
Format: PDF or jpg format.
Delivery: All artwork to be emailed to: advertising@slworldbulletin.com
All new advertisements must be approved by the editor before they can be included in S&L World
In-house artwork service
If you would like S & L World to create your advert for you, costs are as follows:
Display from £250 each,
Recruitment at £200 each.
Please allow 5 days for artwork production.


You can download the first issue for free at www.slworldbulletin.com

Email to: advertising@slworldbulletin.com or call  Advertising Sales 07792 906741

Increasing motivation:putting the fun into therapy!

Guest post by Tina Babajanians, from Los Angeles 


I recently started working in the school setting with elementary students and although it has been a lot of fun, there has not been a whole lot of therapy happening. The majority of my minimal 30 minutes is spent convincing my students as to why they should participate in therapy. As I searched for different ways to motivate my students and tried different techniques and approaches nothing was working. Therapy was still not as effective as it could be. What was it that I was doing differently in graduate school that I was not doing in my professional, everyday experience that was hindering me from motivating my students?

It was during the holiday season that I was out shopping for friends and family when I stumbled upon the toys/game section and it suddenly occurred to me! I was missing the “game turn”! Even though I had been using the games that were available via the school district, those games were not on the same level as these new games were! These games were colorful, interactive and fun! These were the games that children see on television and beg their parents to buy for them! So I bought about ten games, all on sale by the way, and I went back into therapy with my new tools!

I can honestly say therapy has completely changed! The kids come into therapy and there is no need to “prep” them for what is about to happen. They sit and they know, when they see the game, that if they take their speech turn they will get the game turn!

Now I have to say, that I was using games before but it was the look and nature of these new games that really motivates the kids. They come in saying, “Oh, I saw that on T.V.” as opposed to the games that I was previously using, which were not as exciting. It is as simple as the “old Candyland board” vs. the “new Candyland board”. And  I can happily report that my therapy sessions are now effective and time efficient!

Tina Babajanians

--
www.losangelesvoicetherapy.com | Voice Therapy & Accent Modification

All Services Available via Skype Upon Request

My child isn't talking, why is this?

Written by the Admin team at YGOY

Most parents eagerly wait for their children’s first words. Hence, it can be worrisome and disappointing if they are slow and don’t utter those precious words. There are several reasons behind speech delays. However, the good news is that many children who seem to talk “late” catch up on their speech without any problems by the time they turn two years old. About one in four children is usually a late talker. Also, most of them don’t need any special help to get them back on the right track. Read on to know about the reasons behind speech delays.

Reasons Behind Speech Delays
Temperament and heredity can hinder in speech delivery, as can a eager parent’s anticipation of their child’s every single need rather than letting them speak for themselves. Here are a few reasons for speech delays in children:

• Boys – They mostly develop speech later than girls, even though there is generally 1-2 month lag. By 16 months, boys use only 30 words on an average whereas girls use around 50 words.
• Premature babies – Babies who are born early usually take longer to reach speech development milestones than others. However, by the time they turn two years-old, they catch up with other children’s speech development. According to pediatricians, parents should start counting from the child’s due date rather than his or her birth date, when they are analysing a preemie’sdevelopment. A premature baby born 3 months early than his or her due date might seem like a late talker but in reality it might be progressing fine.
• Multiples – According to speech-language pathologists, it is estimated that nearly 50% of all multiples have some form of speech delays. Medical intervention during delivery, low birth weight and prematurity can occur more frequently among multiples. This can lead to speech and language delays.
• Kids with chronic ear infections – If a child has fluid in the ear for months – more importantly in the first year when he or she is beginning to process language – it can lead to poor hearing. Thus, this may lead to delayed speech.

Of course there are other reasons why, such as they don't need to talk, an overall developmental delay, specific language impairment or even ASD. A Speech & Language Therapist would be able to assess and give advice. If you are worried contact your local NHS therapist or www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk


Our Teeny Talkers classes help 2 - 3 year olds who might need a little help www.smarttalkers.org.uk

There are some great articles at http://speechtherapy.ygoy.com

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Speech & Language Therapists? What do they do again?

This article has been reprinted in many different places including Russia and India in the last 12 months. I thought I'd share it here:

In order for professionals from any field to work together well, it is vitally important that each one has at least a working knowledge of the other's role and ideally a little about their background. They need to understand what each can bring to the situation to help whatever task is on the table. There have been many studies and many projects on this topic. I wrote ‘Exactly what do they do’ for Special Children Magazine in 1994 which focussed on the results of a questionnaire. This really pointed to the fact that teachers didn’t really know what to expect from the Speech & Language Therapist. Having been out of the profession and working in industry for ten years, I assumed that the situation would have changed radically and improved beyond belief. However, in my day to day clinical work in schools and nurseries, I found the opposite to be true. The general opinion, I gathered, was that teachers do not realise what speech & language therapists do and how they can work together I decided, therefore, to look at the current situation in more depth.

The survey results revealed that we have been seen as very nice ladies who rush into nursery or school with folders, leave reams of paperwork and dash off, only to return weeks later to repeat the procedure. You can read the rest of the article at:

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/childhood-education-articles/speech-amp-language-therapists-exactly-what-do-they-do-1887035.html  I'd welcome your comments!

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Giving Voice

Part 2 of the video viral. Please share

Giving Voice Campaign

Speech and language therapists have  quietly gone about their business of helping clients with all sorts of speech, language and communication difficulty for many, many years. It's time now to celebrate this. The RCSLT giving Voice Campaign is launched!!

S & L World: up-date

We've been working hard on the first edition of the on-line, global Bulletin. I've had the easier task of co-ordinating the articles, while Ray has had all the technical stuff to do for the layout and for the web-site. 


It will be quarterly with subscription payable via PayPal. It won't matter when you start the subscription as the programme always counts a year from the start date. To contribute to the magazine will require subscription after the first edition.


So far, its been a tremendously enjoyable job. I've been liaising with so many intelligent, passionate, proactive professionals in my own field. It's renewed my enthusiasm and reminded me what a fantastic job we have.


The great news is, we have all the contributions now apart from one, which is on its way. There is a high paediatric bias in the first issue but we'll make sure that this is addressed for the second one. We've got some great articles, news features, an interview with a therapist from UAE and a couple of letters already for the launch.


There are a couple of advertising spaces free so if you know a company who would like to take advantage of the extra special offers please ask them to get in touch.


We're giving away the first issue as advertising so watch this space!

A sign of things to come?

Speech & Language Therapy has always been the 'Cinderella' of the services within the NHS, historically, whenever there have been cut-backs to be made, the NHS bosses have known that it's an easy option. This is in, part due to the fact that the departments are mostly staffed by very nice ladies who wouldn't complain (or of they did, it would be 'ever so politely' and not very loudly). They know there would be little chance of strike action or industrial dispute. And who else would moan? Our clients have problems communicating their everyday needs, thoughts and wants, never mind be able to make a statement in support of the shortage of therapists. 

Yet, any communication difficulty, however small, can be devastating to the individual and have a major impact on the whole of that person's life. As I've put at the top of the blog, and can't say any better,‘The ability to communicate is central to all that we do, to who we are, how we learn and how we relate to others’ (Ross, Leeds Metropolitan University, 2007). Communication problems of any kind, however mild, will certainly lead to isolation, frustration and an inability to fully integrate into society. Children will have a harder time making friends and fitting into nursery or school while adults will have inummerable social, emotional and day to day difficulties.


Whether it's an adult who has suffered a stroke or a young child who is not developing language as they should, it is vital that they receive the help they need from suitably qualified, experienced professionals...I.E. SPEECH & LANGUAGE THERAPISTS. The Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists' Giving Voice Campaign is an excellent attempt to bring home the issues from the clients point of view. Unfortunately, this might have little impact in today's climate of cut-backs see http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/news/news-dhssps/news-dhssps-20102010-lack-of-funding.htm for what's happening in one area.


Am I falling into 'nimby-ism' (i.e. not in my back yard')? No, as I'm an independent therapist, who is likely to benefit from any NHS cutbacks. I am, however, a sad observer of what is happening to an essential service. I know speech, language and communication problems are not life threatening but they are thoroughly life impacting.

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