Christina Burnham, CCC-SLP

Parents sometimes worry that their child’s speech and language is not developing at the same rate of other children their age.  It is important to remember that children are unique and develop at their own rate. However, all children will pass through certain developmental milestones that typically happen around certain ages.  We encourage parents to explore the facts about typical speech, language and hearing development at ASHA (American Speech Language and Hearing Association) to learn more about when it is a good idea to reach out to a speech-language pathologist.

Teletherapy is very similar to traditional therapy, in fact, it technically is face-to-face interaction. A therapist can work with a client seated at a desk computer, or on the floor of their living room from a tablet or laptop device. At CloudSpeech we make the same effort to engage our clients with creative therapy materials and activities across the screen that we did across the table before. Our clients are often surprised with the dynamic experience we are able to provide through teletherapy.

Our goal is to work towards YOUR goals, and we want to know what your greatest hopes are concerning your child’s communication as we develop a therapy plan. Parent coaching may be offered for younger children. We offer home practice recommendations so families can continue to help their child grow in between direct therapy sessions.

Speech therapy is almost always recommended for autistic children since many people with autism have difficulty with social communication. Even if a child is very verbal and says a lot of words, they might need to work on communication skills like: 

• responding to questions
• starting or ending conversation
• changing conversation topics
• using gestures like pointing
• understanding other people's body language 

Speech therapy is a big focus in early intervention for autistic children and is usually the starting place for recently diagnosed kids. There is a critical period in the brain for language development and so, it's really important to teach language and communication skills as early as possible, especially if there are any delays in that area. Your child will learn effective ways to communicate which will help them grow into more independent and confident individuals.

It might be obvious when a child struggles with speaking —they are very quiet, say only a few words, or don't speak at all.

Spot speech and language delays like a doctor here.

The goal of speech therapy is to help your child communicate effectively with other people across all environments. This may take the form of using gestures, simple signs, verbal speech, and Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).

Some other common things speech therapists can help with:

• Nonverbal skills, such as signs or gestures
• Forming speech in a clearer way
• Communicating thoughts and feelings clearly
• Understanding and responding to questions
• Discerning facial expressions and their corresponding emotions
• Noticing and understanding body language
• Feeding and swallowing
• Stuttering