7 Ways to Build Confidence in Kids with Speech Disorders

by Chris O Speech Disorders

Help Your Child Develop Self-Esteem in the Face of Communication Challenges

What self confidence and esteem looks like

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Speech disorders and delays can not only effect how children are able to communicate, but also their confidence and self-esteem. When this happens, their behavior, learning, and relationships can be affected to various degrees. In fact, some researchers propose that kids with speech delays can be more at risk for things such as bullying because they can seem more reclusive. There are ways, however, that parents, teachers, and caregivers can help build confidence and ease frustrations.

1. Help them meet other kids with speech disorders.

If your child is the only one in his class with a speech delay, he might already feel the pressure of being different. Introduce him to other kids who face some of the same challenges. When our kids feel like they are not the only ones experiencing a challenge, they feel a sense of belonging. Belonging – having comrades – not only helps to provide comfort, but can be a great resource for support and possible tools for speech therapy techniques. Continue reading →

Reaching Through the Autism Barrier with Music and Speech Therapy

by Chris O Language Development Speech Disorders Speech Therapist Speech Therapy Techniques

How Speech Therapy and Music Can Work Together to Help Those with ASD

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If your child has been diagnosed with ASD – Autism Spectrum Disorder – you already know about some of the hurdles they face. While Autism doesn’t have characteristic physical features, like other brain abnormalities and injuries it is often marked by depressed or delayed communication skills, making interacting with the world so much harder. It sometimes feels as if there is an invisible barrier between your child and the people and experiences that make up your community. New approaches with music in speech therapy have been showing great promise for kids with Autism – from high functioning Autistic children to nonverbal Autistic children. Music therapy in general has been used for decades to treat anything from cognitive to behavioral to social disorders. Now speech-language therapists are finding the benefits of this therapy method to help their Autistic patients. Continue reading →

Facing the Frustrations of a Speech Disorder Misdiagnosis

by Chris O Language Development Speech Disorders

Becoming an Advocate and Working with SLPs for Accurate Diagnoses

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Imagine if you went to the dentist office and they told you that you had a cavity in your front tooth. They scheduled the appointment to repair it, you go in and have the Novocain injected, and the dentist begins to drill. Then he stops and scratches his head. No matter how far he drills, he can’t find the cavity he thought was there – he can’t find anything to repair because the cavity is not even in that tooth – it was a dental misdiagnosis. We don’t hear of this situation happening because cavities are usually concrete problems that can easily be seen on x-rays, if not just by the human eye. Speech disorders, however, can be complicated to diagnose, especially when there are other health, behavior, and environmental factors to consider. Continue reading →

The Role of Culture in Articulation Disorders

by Chris O Language Development Speech Disorders Speech Therapist

When is Articulation Disorder More than an Accent or Dialect?

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If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then sometimes the speech disorder is in the ear of the listener. If you’ve done any travelling, live in a large city with cultural depth, or have moved from one state to another, you have probably noticed various accents and dialects within the same language. When it comes to articulation disorders, sometimes it is actually more dialectal difference than actual disorder.

Articulation Disorders

Typical articulation disorders that emerge in childhood might include any of the four following:

Adding – new sounds are added to words, such as a child saying /incredibubble/ instead of /incredible/
Deleting – a sound is deleted from the word, such as a child saying /do/ instead of /dog/
Distorting – the sounds are altered, such as a child saying /grampa/ instead of /grandpa/
Substituting – a new sound is substituted for an original, such as a child saying /free/ instead of /three/

In fact, many times very young children are just experimenting with language and these signs of disorders are outgrown by the time the first day of kindergarten has arrived. For some kids, however, these articulation disorders persist and speech therapy is used to help them overcome these communication hurdles. Continue reading →

Disfluency Challenges: Word-Final Disfluency vs. Non-Stuttering Like Disfluency

by Chris O Speech Disorders Speech Therapy Techniques

Speech Therapy Help for These Similar Disfluencies in Children

When you think of stuttering you might envision a scene from The King’s Speech or someone you know who struggles with the beginning sounds of words. But what about when you hear those repeated sounds at the end of words – is it stuttering or something else?

Speech disorders can sound similar but have very different origins

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Sometimes the difference between typical disfluency and stuttering seems to only be as insignificant as a syllable. But when it comes to speech disorders, syllables take on significant roles. A recently recognized disfluency known as word-final or word-end disfluency usually falls under the general category of non-typical stuttering and can be challenging for pediatricians and caregivers to recognize as a stuttering speech disorder. Making the challenge even greater, SLPs are often charged with discriminating between word-final disfluency and non-stuttering like disfluency.

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