1 The broad scope of speech and language therapy
Spoken and written communication is the primary vehicle of thought, social connection and academic success. Speech and language therapists address a wide range of disorders: delayed speech and language in young children; specific written language disorders such as dyslexia and spelling disorder; orofacial myofunctional disorders and atypical swallowing; stammering; voice disorders; and language loss in adults, including post-stroke aphasia.
2 Speech and language assessment: normed and individualised evaluation
Conducted on medical prescription, assessment uses normed psycholinguistic tests, including ELO, L2MA and TLO, to explore receptive abilities, such as lexical and syntactic comprehension, and expressive abilities, including articulation, phonology, fluency and vocabulary. The practitioner also assesses the metaphonological skills and visual-attentional analysis needed for reading and writing.
3 Active, playful rehabilitation methods
The rehabilitation plan adapts exercises to the patient’s profile: handling sensory materials, educational board games, interactive phonological processing software, and coordination of breathing and phonation, including the Lax Vox method for voice. For children, sessions emphasise the pleasure of playing with language sounds to ease fear of failure.
4 Parental guidance and collaboration with school
The therapist advises parents on integrating natural language stimulation at home, through shared reading and positive recasting. They write recommendations for educational adjustments for teachers, ensuring the overall consistency essential to the child’s lasting progress.
5 Regular sessions and application to school activities
The effectiveness of spoken and written language rehabilitation depends on attendance at weekly sessions and active family involvement. Progress made in the practice quickly carries over into the classroom, restoring children’s pleasure in raising a hand, reading and sharing ideas without apprehension.