How Do Speech Language Pathologists (SLP) Help with Language Challenges?

Phonological awareness: These skills are important for reading and allow kids to recognize sounds in words. SLPs target this skill by working on rhyming and identification of beginning sounds in words.

Expressing complex ideas: SLPs work with kids on expanding their sentence length and including more detail in their sentences and conversations.

Building Vocabulary: Increasing vocabulary can help kids with reading, listening and speaking. SLPs work on building vocabulary including working on ways to remember new vocabulary, use new vocabulary when telling a story, and using new vocabulary in interactive ways.

Improving reading comprehension: SLPs can help kids in this area by introducing and practicing various recall strategies, looking for key elements within a story

Understanding inferences: inferences are ideas that are not directly stated in a story/text. SLPs can help kids use the “clues” given in the story to understand the meaning of what they read.

Improving Social Communication Skills: Kids may need support when engaged in “back and forth” conversation. SLPs can help in this area by working on staying on topic, appropriate responses, beginning and ending a conversation appropriately, learning to identify another person’s tone of voice, recognizing body language and emotions.

Blog written by: Mazal Karan, MS, SLP-CF