Speech Therapy 

The first step in therapy is the speech and language or swallowing assessment. During the assessment, the Speech-Language Pathologist observes and measures the client’s speech and language abilities or swallowing abilities. The S-LP uses these observations and measurements to develop a plan for care that is tailored specifically to that client. During the therapy process, the S-LP continues to measure progress with selected goals. The S-LP will also revise goals or set new goals as appropriate.

A plan of care consists of a series of goals and a set of activities to meet each goal. Only rarely can a goal be reached within one therapy session. Meeting goals is a slow process that takes place over time.

The length of time that a client will need therapy is individual and cannot be predicted. Generally the more serious the speech, language or swallowing problem, the longer the process. Clients may improve steadily over the course of therapy or they might show sudden spurts of growth toward goals. The rate and pattern of improvement varies for each client.

There are many successful ways to treat speech and language disorders. Communication skills are taught by teaching the client to produce a goal behaviour (e.g. saying the “s” sound), then gradually increasing the difficulty of the behaviour over time. A child learning articulation may be required to say “s” by itself for a period of time, then to say in a syllable (e.g. “saw”), then in a word, then in a phrase, then sentence, and then connected sentences, then in conversation within the therapy session, and finally in everyday speech. The therapist gives the client the specific directions on how to accomplish the goal, provides feedback on how successful the client was in accomplishing the goal, and encourages the client to move on to the next level of difficulty. When therapists are working with children, the S-LP will use games and rewards to motivate the child. Adults are generally motivated by progressing toward the goal in itself.

A client who has a swallowing impairment is usually provided with a set of recommendations to make swallowing easier. These recommendations may include: information on how to prepare food (e.g. puree solids or thicken liquids) to make them easier and safer to swallow, information on normal swallowing and the client’s specific swallowing disorder, how to sit to make swallowing easier, special swallowing techniques, etc. These recommendations will help the client compensate for a swallowing disorder. Some clients may be appropriate for therapy to improve their swallowing ability.

The frequency of the therapy sessions will depend upon the client’s age, ability to pay attention and focus without getting tired, nature and severity of the communication disorder, and practical considerations such as the cost and availability of therapy.

The support the client receives from their family is essential to success in speech-language therapy. The client will learn activities and techniques during therapy sessions that must be reinforced between therapy sessions in order to maximize the benefits of the therapy visit; as well as to encourage the client to carryover skills learned in the therapy session to their everyday conversation.