Alpha and Omega
Speech Therapy
For Parents
For good speech, language and hearing......
Talk naturally to your child. Talk about what you are doing, what you see, what your child is doing, and what your child sees.
Take time to listen to your child. Respond to what is said so your child knows you have been listening.
Don’t push your child to learn to talk. Accept some speech mistakes as your child develops. Don't ask your child to slow down and repeat.
Have your child's hearing tested if you find you have to repeat a lot or have to talk loudly to get your child's attention.
Don’t delay… the most critical time period for
speech development is between one and three
years of age. Never wait to get help for your child
if you suspect a problem.
Your child may benefit from Speech Therapy if...
* Your child has difficulty coordinating and planning oral motor movements (tongue, lips) to formulate sounds/syllables or have weak oral motor movements (i.e., weak jaw and/or tongue strength).
* Your child has articulation difficulties where his/her speech consists of substitutions ( i.e., “f” for “th,” “w” for “l”), distortions (i.e., the “s” sound may be a lisp or sounds messy), omissions (i.e., the word “cat” is produced “ca.”).
* Your child has weaknesses in receptive language skills or the ability to understand language. These difficulties may include the following: identifying spatial relations , following simple directions and temporal concepts, understanding prepositions, identifying antonyms, synonyms, multiple meaning words, etc.
* Your child has weaknesses in expressive language skills or the ability to communicate through words, facial expressions, gestures, or other nonverbal forms. These difficulties may include the following: formulating grammatically correct sentences, expressing relationships between word meaning, vocabulary development/word finding, answering –”wh” questions, sequencing, etc.
* Your child has difficulties in social situations, such as appropriate turn-taking skills, eye-contact, understanding a communication partner’s feelings, introducing and maintaining a topic, etc.
* Your child has numerous dysfluencies where they may repeat a sound, word, or phrase before completing a sentence.
* Your child is not meeting the expected developmental milestones during the first 15-24 months of life (i.e., cooing, babbling, producing first word(s), putting two words together to produce phrases and short sentences.