Helping To Improve Your Child's Communication Skills
Speech is fundamental to all of human life. It's how we communicate with each other, which enables a lot of our life functions to take place. If you think about all of the people you speak to on a daily basis, from teachers and servers to doctors, lawyers, and your family, life would be a lot more challenging without effective communication skills.
ACES offers autism treatments, including speech therapy. Our mission is to help those who have been impacted by autism and other special needs. Our team of Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA's) have doctoral or master's degrees in Behavior Analysis, Education, Psychology, and more and have extensive training and experience in implementing customized speech therapy programs for your child. We are passionate about helping your child experience the full joy of life through the art of communication. Contact our team to get started today!
What Does A Speech Therapist Offer?
- Visual strategies and support
- Help with language issues, such as dyslexia and dyspraxia
- Help with articulation therapy
- Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
- Help with oral exercises to strengthen facial muscles
- Kaufman Speech Praxis Program
- Help with exercises of the tongue, lip, and jaw
- Help build language skills
- PROMPT
- Manual signing and gestures
- Parent Education Programs
- Occupational therapy co-treatments with OTs
What Is Speech Therapy?
Speech therapy is using techniques to assess and treat problems individuals are having with communication and speech disorders, as well as developmental disorders. There are many forms of speech therapies, which allow for maximum customization of a speech therapy program. From language intervention activities to articulation therapy, specially-trained therapists (known as speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can help. These therapists are educated in how language works, how your body produces language, and how to treat language disorder conditions. Speech therapy for children with autism aims to improve communication skills in order to enhance children's quality of life and their prospects for the future.
What Are Speech And Language Disorders?
Many people are born with disorders that interfere with speech. A speech disorder specifically refers to those people who have problems making the sounds of words. These include articulation disorders, fluency disorders, such as stuttering, and resonance or voice disorders, which has to do with the tone and pitch of your voice.
A language disorder refers to the problem many people have of putting words together in speech to make sense when talking to others. These include receptive disorders, which refer to problems of understanding or processing language, expressive disorders, which are problems putting words together coherently, and cognitive-communication disorders, which involve memory, perception, focus, organization, and problem solving when communicating.
As you can see, these problems are often common with those impacted with autism. ACES offers skilled therapists who are trained to help your child communicate more effectively with the world. Reach out to learn more today.
Reasons For Speech Therapy For Children With Autism
Articulation disorders. This disorder is characterized by children who have a hard time making individual sounds distinctly. This leads to frequent misunderstandings when communicating with others. Examples of this would be dropped sounds or added word sounds.
Fluency disorders. The most common sign of fluency disorders is stuttering. With stuttering, children have a hard time saying the entire word, and they may repeat parts of words as well. Cluttering is another fluency disorder when children merge words together because they speak too quickly.
Receptive disorders. Receptive disorders are where the child cannot process or understand what is being told to them. This is often seen as a child not listening or not following along in school because of it. Receptive disorders are common language disorders seen in children with autism and that our speech therapists work hard to improve.
Expressive disorders. This type of disorder is where a child has difficulty putting their thoughts into words and thus has a hard time expressing themselves. Sentences may be confusing, and incorrect words may be used
Using Speech Therapy For Children With Autism
Helping improve non-verbal communication. Many children are visual learners, which is why using pictures can help children communicate with others. Picture Exchange Communication System, or PECs, is a favored form of autism therapy for children who need help with communication skills and is a technique our speech therapists employ here at ACES. Electronic talking devices are used as well.
Helping children understand body language. It is estimated that 55% of what we communicate to others is through body language. Thus, teaching children with autism how to read body language in others can be a quite effective tool.
Using signs to communicate. Many children naturally speak with their hands, so teaching children sign language can be an effective way to communicate with children with autism. Plus, many children can speak sooner with sign language rather than with sound, so teaching children sign language can help children with autism begin speaking orally sooner as well.
Helping with conversations and concepts. Many children on the autism spectrum have a hard time with the back-and-forth of communication that most of us take for granted. It's hard for these children to stay focused on the conversation. In addition, abstract skills are hard for these children. The concept of a few or democracy is extremely hard for them to understand since it's not concrete.
Helping children have inflection and tone. Many children with autism struggle to speak in any voice but a monotone. This leads others to believe that they have no emotions when they are not expressive. Known as prosody, our speech therapists work with children with autism to help improve these skills. Contact ACES to learn about all of the ways we can use speech therapy for children with autism.
Choose Aces For Your Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy Today
Autism is a developmental disability that looks different for every child. From impaired communication skills to problems with social interaction and learning deficiencies, autism requires individual treatment plans in order to have the best chance for success and improved lives.
Speech therapy has amazing benefits for children on the autism spectrum. It helps them articulate words better, develop conversational skills, understand ideas and concepts, help understand non-verbal communication, and help with initiating conversations with others. While these are skills learned as children from watching adults interact, children with autism don't pick these up as readily and help can be extremely valuable.
ACES is an organization dedicated to helping improve the quality of life for those impacted by autism and other special needs and their families. We offer a comprehensive range of autism services, as well as support, so that your child has the best chance to have a great future. We offer in-home therapies, as well as telehealth, support at schools, and support in communities. We have over a dozen locations throughout the West to better serve you and your needs. We understand the difficulties of raising a child with autism, and we want to be your helping hand. With over 25 years of experience, our trained and licensed therapists offer customized plans for each of our clients, as well as a whole range of autism treatments for your child. Partner with us, and contact a location near you today!
