Friday, November 4, 2016

Changing Young Lives Through Pediatric Speech Therapy


By Cornelia White


When children encounter problems expressing themselves verbally, parents naturally become concerned. Parents and caregivers are well aware of the importance of fluent oral communication in the social professional and emotional growth of the individual. This is why they do not hesitate at the first sign of trouble:they promptly seek the assistance of expert pediatric speech therapy professionals.

The first step in the treatment process is discovering the root cause of the impediment. This is the first step that a trained and experienced juvenile therapist will take in addressing the child's speech-related issues. The therapist may do this by interviewing the parents or guardians and the child being treated.The factors that cause reticence in children are usually either physical or psychological.

Language use is essentially the result of communication between the brain and the body parts responsible for speaking, namely, the mouth, throat and nose. Speech sounds in essence have their genesis in the mind since they must first be conceived before they can be articulated. It is not hard to see then, how problems in the brain can lead to language deficiencies.

Psychological barriers to verbal communication are often associated with traumatic experiences. To identify the specific trauma, the therapist may investigate the child's history to single out incidents such as violent accidents that may mark the beginning of the change. Once the situation is identified the process of restoration and therapeutic care can begin.

For some children, a learning or mental disability is the cause of the language barrier being experienced. Some of these conditions include, Autism and Verbal Apraxia. Experts agree that therapeutic care can work wonders for such children by helping them to bridge the gap between their thoughts and their utterances.

The surgeons who carry out corrective work in the oral cavities of children often report that these 'barriers' to speaking are the result of developmental problems that occur while the baby is still in the womb. Sometimes though, they emerge as a result of physical trauma to the mouth, sustained through accidents or other violent force.

Often, in cases where it is suspected that physical conditions hinder speech performance, the therapist will refer the patient to a facility that offers the surgical correction for evaluation. After the physical issue has been addressed, therapy may begin. This is why it is so important for surgeons and therapists to work closely together.

Language acquisition and use is not as simple as most people perceive it to be.If you are a caregiver for a child who shows signs of slow or impaired adjustment to language use, you are no doubt well aware of this fact. There is, however, one additional piece of information that you must consider. That piece of information is the fact that pediatric speech therapy is a crucial aspect of the recovery process for any child who faces a speech impediment.




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