Three-year-old Leo wasn’t a big talker. His parents, Mike and Hannah, had joked that the poor kid couldn’t probably get a word in due to his chatterbox big sister. And maybe boys talked less anyway…it didn’t seem fair to compare their two kids who each had their own unique personality.
As time went on, though, Leo seemed to be struggling. Mike and Hannah could just about understand him but other people rarely could. Communication was becoming immensely frustrating for Leo, triggering emotional outbursts that were draining for both him and his parents.
These factors made Leo a great candidate for speech pathology. After regular sessions, Mike and Hannah noticed improvements, not only in Leo’s general verbal communication skills, but in his ability to regulate his emotions, his social interactions with others, and he finally felt comfortable speaking up despite his chatterbox sister.
That’s why paediatric speech pathology feels like more than therapy. It can be a transformative journey that empowers children, parents and caregivers, simplifies family life and enables kids to flourish in a world that relies heavily on communication.
What is speech pathology?
Speech pathologists support your child build communication skills key to meaningful social interactions and relationships.
Relationships are often deepened through communication, yet learning to communicate is quite complex. Communication is also more than just speaking and involves many other skills like empathy, listening, and non-verbal gestures or body language.
Despite what the name may suggest, speech pathologists work on supporting communication as a whole and address all of the elements that work together to form effective communication.
Developing these skills organically is not an easy task and it’s no wonder that some children need additional support or alternative ways to communicate.
Which children benefit from speech pathology?
At Inner West Paediatrics, our speech pathologists have a special interest in supporting children who face challenges relating to:
- Speaking or communicating clearly
- Understanding what is being said to them or around them
- Reading and writing
- Eating and drinking
- Playing
- Joining in with others
- Speaking up for themselves.
We provide NDIS registered speech pathology services to children with autism, cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities, ADHD or social and emotional difficulties. We also support countless other children whose communication difficulties may stem from trauma, behavioural disorders or developmental delay.
How do you know if your child needs a speech pathology assessment?
A speech pathology assessment might be helpful if your child:
- Struggles to understand or be understood by other people
- Gets frustrated because they can’t express themselves clearly
- Stutters
- Has a husky voice
- Finds it surprisingly hard to read, write or spell
- Was born with a cleft lip or palate
- Has hearing loss
- Has social, emotional or behavioural difficulties
- Is neurodivergent.
If any of that sounds familiar, then your child may benefit from a speech pathology assessment to identify their strengths and areas we can support. This may involve:
- Reviewing your child’s medical history
- Asking you about your child’s development
- Finding out if anyone else in your family has speech or language difficulties
- Using standardised tests, or dynamic observation to see how your child responds to instructions and questions and expresses themselves
- Engaging with your child through games or other activities so they can listen to your child talk or observe how they communicate.
Our speech pathologists can then help your child develop their communication skills so they can build satisfying relationships.
What does speech pathology treatment involve?
Speech pathology treatment aims to help your child access a form of communication that works for them. For some children, that will mean helping them to develop their speech, comprehension or literacy. For others, it may mean using augmentive and alternative communication devices, which help them communicate without speech.
We try to make therapy fun and engaging for your child. Often, it’s wrapped up in games or other enjoyable activities that we can use to stimulate your child’s language development. We also believe in functional activities, based in real life. We may work on certain sounds or words that your child finds difficult, helping them master the pronunciation and gain confidence.
We also work with parents to help you help your child. We’ll give you ideas for how to weave therapy exercises into daily activities such as bathtime.
As time goes on, your child will hopefully begin to find it easier to express themselves, which can strengthen their friendships and family relationships.
How can we help?
If you think paediatric speech pathology could help your child, then please contact us.
We combine your insights about your child with evidence-based therapy to help your child improve their communication skills and gain confidence.
Disclaimer
All information is general and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice.
References
Speech Pathology Australia, What is a speech pathologist? https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/Public/Public/services/About-speech-pathologists/What-speech-pathologists-do.aspx, [Accessed 17 July 2024]
Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Speech problems – articulation and phonological disorders, https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/articulation_and_phonological_disorders/#, [Accessed 17 July 2024]
Raising Children’s Network, Speech pathologist, https://raisingchildren.net.au/guides/a-z-health-reference/speech-pathologist#, [Accessed 17 July 2024]
