Effective Speech and Language Therapy Children

Pragmatic (Social) Language

Pragmatic language refers to the social language skills that we use in our daily interactions with others. This includes what we say, how we say it, our non-verbal communication (eye contact, facial expressions, body language etc.) and how appropriate our interactions are in a given situation.

Pragmatic skills are vital for communicating our personal thoughts, ideas and feelings. Children with difficulties in this area often misinterpret other peoples’ communicative intent and therefore will have difficulty responding appropriately either verbally or non-verbally. (https://www.sensationalkids.ie/what-are-pragmatic-language-skills/)

Examples of pragmatic skills:

• Conversational skills
• Asking for, giving and responding to information
• Turn taking
• Eye contact
• Introducing and maintaining topics
• Making relevant contributions to a topic
• Asking questions
• Avoiding repetition or irrelevant information
• Asking for clarification
• Adjusting language based on the situation or person
• Using language of a given peer group
• Using humor
• Using appropriate strategies for gaining attention and interrupting
• Asking for help or offering help appropriately
• Offering/responding to expressions of affection appropriately
• Facial expression
• Body language
• Intonation of voice
• Body distance and personal space

Auditory Processing

Children with APD have trouble hearing and interpreting the message. It is different from hearing loss or deafness. Children with APD:

- May have normal hearing

- Do not correctly process or interpret what they hear

- Have trouble hearing the differences between sounds in words. This can happen even when the sounds are clear and loud enough to be heard.

- May have more trouble when in a noisy area

An audiologist evaluates APD. (cincinnatichildrens.org)

Auditory processing disorder (APD), also known as central auditory processing disorder (CAPD), is a hearing problem that affects about 5% of school-aged children.

Kids with this condition can't process what they hear in the same way other kids do because their ears and brain don't fully coordinate. Something interferes with the way the brain recognizes and interprets sounds, especially speech.

With the right therapy, kids with APD can be successful in school and life. Early diagnosis is important, because when the condition isn't caught and treated early, a child can have speech and language delays or problems learning in school.

Reading (Decoding and Comprehension)

Many children who struggle with speech and language difficulties also have trouble with the acquisition of literacy skills. Articulation deficits, for example, may impact a child’s phonemic awareness (the ability to recognize and analyze the sounds in words), which is a vital component of learning to read. Children who have difficulty recognizing different syllables and sounds may have trouble sounding out words as they read. Delayed language development may also contribute to a limited vocabulary which can cause difficulty with reading comprehension. In school, these students often have difficulty with reading and demonstrating their understanding of material to teachers, both verbally and in writing.

Since spoken language provides the foundation for the development of reading and writing, it makes sense that instruction in spoken language, or speech-language therapy, may result in the growth of a child’s reading and writing skills. The early support of a speech language therapist can impact a child’s development of basic literacy skills in areas such as phonemic awareness, reading fluency, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension.

On-going reading and writing problems may contribute to an older student’s difficulties in using language strategically to communicate, think, and learn. Speech therapists have specialized knowledge and the experience needed to identify communication problems and to provide the help that children need to build critical language skills so that they can be successful in school. (http://exlcentre.com/how-speech-and-language-affects-your-childs-reading/)

Written Expression / Spelling

Learning to spell helps a child to develop a strong connection between the letters and their sounds and learning high-frequency ‘sight words’ (i.e. words that can not easily be sounded out) will assist a child in both their reading and writing. The more thoroughly a child knows a word, the more likely it is that they will be able to recognize it in unfamiliar texts, spell it and use it appropriately in their own speech and writing.

What are the building blocks necessary to develop spelling?

Articulation: Clarity of speech sounds and spoken language. A child needs to be able to say a word correctly in order to be able to write it. If a child cannot articulate a particular sound they may end up writing the word the way in which they say it (e.g. if a child says a ‘w’ instead of an ‘r’ they might write ‘ring’ as ‘wing’ which creates a totally different word and affects the meaning of what the child is trying to write).

Phonological awareness (sound awareness): In order to be able to spell words, a child first needs to be able to hear how sounds go together to make words (e.g. c_a_t = cat), the individual sounds in the word (i.e. initial, final and middle sounds) and to be able to break words into their individual sounds (e.g. cat = c_a_t). Being able to hear the syllables (i.e. beats) of a word will help a child spell longer words with more than one syllable (e.g. he_li_cop_ter). Rhyming helps a child to recognize word families (e.g. cat, hat, bat all have an ‘at’ sound in them) which will make spelling easier.

Understanding spelling rules: Understanding spelling rules (e.g. vowel teams: 2 vowels together, silent ‘e’, double consonants) will help a child have greater success at attempting words. There are some rules that are easy to apply and others that just need to be rote learnt.

Recognition of ‘sight words’ (tricky words): There are some words that frequently appear in a child’s vocabulary that are unable to be spelt out (e.g. where, friend). If a child is able to read these words, they will be more successful at spelling them. (https://childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/literacy/spelling/)

"CSLC has been so terrific for our daughter. I am truly amazed at the change I have seen, especially over the past month, in terms of her ability to generalize what she has learned with regard to the "s" sound to situations when she is talking spontaneously. It is so encouraging. We're so glad our friend told us about CSLC!"

Ariel, Parent

"My daughter has only been working with Karen for a couple of months and the improvement in her speech already is unbelievable! She really tries hard to use in her everyday life what Karen teaches her in class and she has fun doing it. She can't wait to practice her homework for the week!"

Becky, Parent

"My daughter came to Central Speech and Language Clinic with difficult to diagnosis issues. Karen and Jen were able to identify the issues and develop a holistic approach to address them. They are extremely caring and knowledgeable people. They genuinely cared about my daughter’s success and went above and beyond to support her in both treatment and with the integration skills in school and in everyday activities. They provided a foundation and support which allowed my daughter to master previously difficult learning areas and do much better in school. I highly recommend their services."

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