Speech Therapy is a ‘relieving service’ to those who measure their capability with their fluency in speech and also to others who judge a person on speaking articulacy. Slurry speech to stammering; there are different kinds of speaking hindrance that can happen in children and remain till they grow up to be adults. 

Talking more about Speech Therapy

Do you think this therapy is simply limited to speaking issues only? No. Rather it supports children and adults who have trouble with communication, eating, drinking or swallowing. Language and speech therapy is the process with which now children and adults can get over this problem and feel confident.

Why do people suffer from speech problem?

Also, if someone suffers from chronic ailment or disease, it is quite likely that 42% of the time, people might suffer from speech issue which is temporary. In case there is a lag in proper speech therapy treatment, it can get permanent too.

What are the effects of speech problem?

Let’s put some light on the effects of speaking troubles and how people fail to cope up with it.

Speech problem in children: As per the given list above, there can be one-to-many reasons for children to be victims of this. Though it is not a chronic ailment, the effects can be quite long lasting as well as heart-wrenching. As per school survey in the Middle East, children fall under the unreasonable bullying trap by a classmate (after all, even they are not matured enough to handle situations properly), and this can be a huge blow to their confidence.

With this, they try to avoid speaking and mostly don’t take part in any of the verbal communicative activities. It can be a drawback to their personality development if they continue living in fear of how others react. This is when it calls for a professional speech and hearing therapy.

# Tip: If your child is suffering from a similar issue, you can contact us for the best Indian speech therapy services in Dubai. We have consultants  who have years of experience in autism ,speech problems etc and therapists with special training to deal with this situation.

Few more tips to handle speech problem in children:

• Parents should encourage children to overcome this issue
• Never demean them and be patient
• Appreciate their progress
• Make them feel that they are just as good as any other child.
• Consult an experienced speech and language therapy expert in Dubai.

Speech problem in adults: It generally does not occur in adults all of a sudden. It can only happen due to two reasons –

1. It was there since childhood
2. The cause of this condition is some accident.

Whatever be the reason, there are one solution to it – professional speech therapy services.

In the following section, you will get to know in details about the several healing and treating procedure of the therapy that you must look forward to.

What is speech and language therapy?

Before knowing about or starting the procedure, you need to know about the connection between speech therapy and language therapy. Though both are different, they are certainly interrelated.

1. Speech – It is a way of communication where speaking the words, sounds, pronunciation and other parts of linguistic are in consideration. In short – Speech therapy treatment is ‘what we say.’
2. Language – The manner in which we present a speech and tonality of speaking those words fall under language. Though children have the biological possession to commute language, it requires active learning and support as well from others. A child suffering from language deficit can have a serious effect on their social life. In short – Language therapy treatment is ‘how we say.’

Now, let’s discuss some of the activities to perform that will help to improve this speech issue.

**This is mostly for children, as they require maximum help.

How SPEECH THERAPY treatment helps?

Speech therapy helps children with a variety delays and disorders to develop and improve their speech, language and communication. Speech therapists mainly work on the following:

• To improve attention span and eye contact
• Develop sitting behavior
• To improve receptive and expressive vocabulary, follow commands, answer questions, participate in conversation with others
• To develop gestural communication or other modes of communication, communicate in different ways by using language (calling, labeling, requesting, greeting, protesting, asking etc.)
• To follow the rules of conversation (topic initiation, topic maintenance, turn taking), improve oral motor movements and speech intelligibility, etc.

By providing speech therapy, the following skills are build and expand in young children.

• Receptive language skills
• Expressive language skills
• Social skills or  pragmatic skills
• Cognitive – communication skills
• Articulation skills or  speech intelligibility
• Speech fluency
• Voice and resonance
• Swallowing and feeding issues

• Augmentative and alternative communication

What are the different types of Speech therapy activities and exercises?

To start with, you need to have patience and make sure that you don’t give up. Though it is best to consult therapies, there is also no harm in helping your child at home. Here goes the list of exercises and activities for you to do –

1. Professional Activities

These following activities resemble therapeutic exercises and are very helpful –

         2. Is it ‘yes’ or ‘no’?

It is a simple way of initiating a conversation where your child will feel safe to answer. Make a list of 10 to 15 questions which are easy like –

‘Can birds fly?’ Or ‘do you think Australia is a bigger continent than Asia?’

Once you see your child is taking interest and increasing the speed of answering, move on to the next stage where you will ask a question where they have to answer in two to three words.

‘Which is a bigger water body – sea or ocean?’ – Simple but interactive.

        3. Meaning and opposite

Give them few simple words and ask your child to say the meaning or opposite of it. This is also known as the ‘warm-up’ or ‘receptive’ exercise. With this communicative idea, you can simply have a better communicative relation.

**Don’t forget to praise their efforts.

       4. Audio processing

Here, you will read a piece to your child clearly and slowly. Once you are done; then ask few questions that will further encourage, having a better understanding and grasping on their self-confidence.  This is a great way to do speech and hearing therapy.

        5. War of words

Let your child say a word, and you will write the spelling, and then you will say a word for your child to write the spelling. Breaking a task in small and different steps is also a great way to deal with autism in children which is again a reason for a speech problem.

In this section, learn how to carry on a speech therapy for children with autism. There are few amazing practitioners for speech therapy in Dubai. You can consult them via mail or through different clinics which have international acclamation.

Different speech therapy for autism activities–

1. ABA or Applied Behavior Analysis

As mentioned above, it is a process of breaking one task into different steps to make it easier and more receptive by the child.

        2. Visual learning

The more they see, the better they interact. Show them animated videos and point out the characters in it. For example: Suppose there are several animals and you keep on telling which one is what. Then, make your child repeat after you, and later you will point where your child will say which is what. It is certainly a time taking one but very effective!

       3. Speech language pathology

Most of the children who have autism have some of the other forms of delay in learning. These pathology centers have pathologists who have years of experience and can help you to improve in the communication process.

       4. Social stories

Carol Gray, in 1976 first came up with social stories that will motivate and encourage children with autism. Once they start reacting to the stories, you can ask to add few of their thoughts and lines to the stories. This is also a great way to enhance speech therapy for autism.

Some other fun speech activities for children –

• Flashcards: These help children to focus on sounds that they find difficult to pronounce.
• Be the mirror: Speak slowly in front of your child and exhibit the different ways of moving your mouth and tongue.
• Repeat after me: You say a word and ask your child to repeat it for 2-3 times. Then increase the difficulty level and ask them to say that while dancing or jumping! It will make the process more fun, and they will get more interest to learn.
• Apps: There are several apps that will also help children to hear, learn, listen and say.

Take part in your child’s life and encourage for a better tomorrow where they will be more confident to communicate.

How long will it take to improve?

In the process of speech and language therapy for children, people can get quite impatient. The point is if parents lose cool; then it gets more emotionally overwhelming for children. This is why; you must be patient.

Depending on your child’s age and will, there can be progress within 2 months, and at times, it can also take up a year. But whatever be the time, be sure that your child will have a more confident personality and enhanced communicative skill.

When it comes to adults, though the process of teaching is easier, they will take much more time to show improvement and fix their speech as well as a language problem.

Speech Therapy cards for children

Flashcards are the best way to speech and language therapy for children. Here are some advantages of using flash cards that will make the entire learning process easier for children.

• Pretty pictures!

There are large pictures to reinforce what you are teaching and saying. It also helps them to remember it better. Moreover, children get easily attracted to visual pictures, and it remains in their subconscious mind.

As per many research, over the years, children who have treated their problems with visual therapy have shown better improvement than others.

• Better parent-child communication

It gives way to parents and teachers to phrase back what the child said and correct it if necessary. This way, children will have more faith in their parents and seeing them trying to help, children feel more enthusiastic.

• More they see, better they learn!

Flash cards are great to different label areas in the house. With this, they can always stay in the ‘learning vicinity.’ Moreover, these cards have easy to follow programs and are perfect for speech treatment at home.

As it gives way to hearing – visualizing – speaking facility; flash cards act like in home speech language pathology. Moreover, you can use this for children of different ages. There are several categories of flashcards depending on the age of children. Example: for toddlers, for Speech therapy for 2 year old, for 4 years and above, etc.

Speech Therapy Apps

The next thing that you can do to improve speech and language therapy is by helping them with speech apps. You can get them online and is simply great for children. As these apps are user-friendly and very catchy, children love to spend time in these apps.

Some of the mentionable applications which suffice speech language pathology are –

• Articulation Station:

Here, children can hear sounds and the perfect way to conduct speech. This app also records the progress of the child and encourages them to learn more. This app is designed based on most effective articulation and Techniques and Strategies.

• Conversation Therapy:

This is for a bit older children who are above 9 years of age. There are several answers and reciprocates if they are correct or not.

• Let’s be Social

When it comes to speech as well as video learning, this app suffices the best. This app is also great for children with autism. It is perfect for age group 8 to 12 years.

• Keyword Understanding

It is best to treat language disorder and helps to encourage children to practice more.

** These apps are chargeable and are available on both Android as well as Apple stores.

With these several bits of help, children can now fight back their speech problem. And when it comes to adults, they can also seek professional help and treatment for speech delay. Whatever be the scenario, have the will to overcome this problem and be more confident. Rest, the professional and people around you will help to overcome.

• Receptive language skills
• Expressive language skills
• Social skills or  pragmatic skills
• Cognitive – communication skills
• Articulation skills or  speech intelligibility
• Speech fluency
• Voice and resonance
• Swallowing and feeding issues