Autism is a developmental disorder that manifests differently in each child. Autism demands personalized treatment programs to have the best opportunity for success and improved lifestyles, from impaired communication abilities to social interaction issues and learning inadequacies.
Children on the autism spectrum benefit greatly from speech therapy. It improves their ability to express words, develop conversational skills, comprehend ideas and concepts, comprehend nonverbal communication, and initiate discussions with others. While these are abilities that children learn by seeing adults interact, children with autism do not pick up on them as easily, and assistance can be incredibly beneficial.
Speech therapy employs approaches to examine and treat difficulties associated with communication and speech abnormalities, as well as developmental disorders. There are numerous types of speech therapies, allowing for maximum personalization of a speech therapy program. Speech therapy for children with ASD seeks to develop communication skills in order to improve children’s quality of life and future possibilities.
The American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), identifies the following disorders that fall within the scope of speech-language pathology:
Regular speech therapy benefits children with speech, learning, and/or language difficulties. Speech therapy is often provided as part of special education or individualized education programs (IEP).
Here’s what to expect from sessions with an SLP or speech therapist for your special needs child:
Oral motor exercises help strengthen muscles that move the lips, mouth, tongue, and jaws. It is particularly beneficial for children who have Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, or dysarthria.
Learning sign languages and gestures to communicate benefits children who has severe cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, nonverbal autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or dysarthria
It can be as simple as pointing and nodding. To communicate their needs, they may also gradually learn parts of a sign language (such as ASL or American Sign Language).
It can also serve as a temporary communication method before a child with special needs learns to speak.
VOCAs are speech-generating electronic devices. It enables children to “speak” through pre-recorded snippets, computer-generated speech, or both. They can also communicate by using a switch system, a touch screen, or keypads.
Children can communicate using simple picture cards (physical or digital).
Children with special needs can learn to use simple icons and pictures with the assistance of a trained SLP. They can, however, rapidly progress to build sentence structures and generate functional communication systems.
The SLP will teach you and your child articulation and phonation therapy exercises. Depending on the severity of your child’s symptoms, improvements in spoken language can take anywhere from a month to a year.
Children with special needs who has dysphagia, may require some assistance in learning how to swallow without choking. It occurs frequently in children with cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy. However, it can also be caused by a traumatic brain injury (TBI), a cerebral stroke, or a brain tumor.
A speech therapist can teach your child exercises to help them with their chewing and swallowing. Swallowing maneuvers, improving jaw and tongue strength, and head positioning techniques are common among these techniques for children with special needs.
An SLP can teach your child, who exhibits stuttering symptoms, To improve speech fluency, an SLP can teach your child stuttering modification and fluency shaping techniques.
Furthermore, the speech therapist will teach your child simple techniques for controlling the volume of their speech. Especially if they have hearing impairments or voice disorders, thus they have difficulty controlling the volume of their voice.
If you suspect your child has a speech, language, or communication disorder, you should seek treatment as soon as possible. Early intervention can help prevent lifelong learning disabilities.
About Nurture Pods
Nurture Pods is an intervention centre that works with children with special needs from the age of 3 to 12 years. Our focus is on providing individualized intervention programs catering to different needs of the children at home and in school. The objective of Nurture Pods is to utilize evidence-based best practices to provide special needs children with holistic, comprehensive and effective intervention programs so that they can achieve development to their best ability.
If your child requires our services, we will work closely with you to select the best therapies for them, developing a customized program that is tailored to your child’s needs and the goals of your family. Contact us today to learn more and start your child’s journey.
Written by: Alex Liau
Published on 2 February 2023
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