Yes. Speech therapy for toddlers can be effective.
How do I know? I’ve provided it. See testimonial below. And university researchers have demonstrated that speech therapy works with toddlers through research studies.
Key Components to Successful Speech Therapy for Toddlers
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Correct Diagnosis.
Children can demonstrate delayed speech for a number of reasons. Including acquired disorders such as cerebral palsy, genetic disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, motor speech disorders such as Childhood Apraxia of Speech and muscle weakness such as Down Syndrome. . Seeing the difference between the diagnosis can be more difficult with toddlers than with older children.
2. Correct Treatment.
A method grounded in “evidence based practice” with an appropriate number of sessions per week is necessary.
What is Evidence Based Practice
What is Therapy Frequency
What is Therapy Intensity
3. Generalization
Parent Coaching to promote generalization of speech skills. appropriate for your individual child at their stage of communication development and then using them a number of times each day.
Each child is at a different level of development, so the key strategies vary as progress through 5 key stages- nonverbal, single words, short phrases, sentences, conversation. Key principals that don’t vary included, following your child’s lead, enlisting their interest and giving the opportunities to initiate communication- either nonverbally at first and then verbally later on.
Speech Therapy for Toddlers at Home – Where to start
We also know that the 3 key reasons a toddler may not be talking require 3 very different intervention approaches. And if you are not seeing progress, your child may have been misdiagnosised and is not recieving the correct intervention therapy.
Speech Therapy for Toddler with Speech Delay-
Diagnosis: In the absence of any other diagnosis.
Speech pathologist Clinical Decision Making: Selecting target words to be taught each week primarily through auditory bombardment. Teaching parents strategies to increase communication opportunities.
How Often to treat: High Frequency. Either through frequent sessions with an SLP or parent implemented therapy each day, Multiple times a day 3-4 , 5 days a week.
Speech Therapy for Toddlers with Autism-
speech therapy must take into account the child’s sensory preferences and typically includes adding visual supports in the home, encouraging preverbal communication milestones such as increased attention and increased turn-taking. Parents must also work these strategies daily, thought out the day to see improvement.
Diagnosis: Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Description: Significant impairment of communication and social skills.
SLP Clinical Decision Making: Select strategies to improve child’s communication based on current level and select strategies to improve social skills based on child’s individual level of social skills. Teacher parents strategies.
Recommended Treatment Frequency: High frequency with strategies executed 4 times a day, at least 5 days a week.
Speech Therapy for Toddlers with Apraxia
speech therapy must target early developing speech sounds, included tactile, visual and auditory cues and be completed 4-5 times a day. Therapy Job is to
Diagnosis: Childhood Apraxia of Speech, (CAS)
Description: Groping, inconsistent errors, limited speech sound repetioire, many times they have very few consonants.
SLP Clinical Decision Making: Selecting 5-20 appropriate target words based on child’s available speech sounds and type of syllables they can produce (vowels, vowel-consonant, consonant-vowel, consonant-vowel-consonant).
Treatment Frequency: High frequency with speech drills 4 times a day, at least 5 days a week.
Speech Therapy for Toddlers Who Stutter
