Help! My Child Is Being Teased For Her Speech Impediment

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Teased for Speech Disorder

My Child is Being Teased for Her Speech Impediment. What can I do to help?

“People tease me because of the way I talk.” “The other kids at school don’t like my words.” Do these statements sound familiar in your home? The unfortunate fact is that children who have a speech impediment are often subjected to teasing from their peers. According to a study by Professor Gordon W. Blood, Ph.D., CCC-SLP:

children who stutter are 61% more likely to be targeted by a bully.

Teasing and bullying at school can be a frightening experience.

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7 Inexpensive Resources: Speech Therapy for Kids

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Inexpensive Speech Therapy Resources

7 Inexpensive Resources: Speech Therapy for Kids

This week, on Speech Therapy for Kids, we offer you a “Top Seven” list of inexpensive speech therapy resources for your kids. There are many reasons why having a handful of speech therapy resources are valuable for parents. Often, parents are unsure if their child needs to see a speech therapist and would like to try some exercises with them at home first. Also, sometimes it’s not possible to schedule a visit to a speech therapist because of financial reasons or because there are no therapists nearby. Or, parents with kids in speech therapy want to supplement the lessons with activities at home. The following list provides supplemental and alternative resources for parents and kids.

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Speech Therapy for Kids: 4 Topics to Discuss With Your Speech Therapist

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Speech Therapy for Kids

Speech Therapy for Kids: 4 Crucial Topics to Cover After Your First Visit

Our series this week talks about your child’s first visit to a speech therapist. Once your child has been diagnosed with a speech impediment or a speech disorder and your appointment is set, you want to make sure to be as knowledgeable and organized as possible in order to get the best out of the first visit. We have given you a handful of tips on what to expect from your first visit to the speech therapist. After the visit is complete, you can expect your SLP to review the results of your child’s evaluation and recommend a treatment plan. But there should be more to it. The results aren’t always cut and dry. You will want to make sure to cover the following topics so you are well informed about your child’s treatment going forward.

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What to Expect: First Speech Therapy Lesson

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Speech Therapy for Speech Impediment

What to Expect: First Speech Therapy Visit for a Speech Impediment

Your child has been diagnosed with a speech impediment or speech disorder.  Whether she suffers from the common types of speech impediments such as stuttering, apraxia of speech, a speech sound disorder, cluttering or a lisp, early speech therapy intervention is crucial to successful treatment. But what happens in your first speech therapy visit? What can you expect? Here is a brief run-down of your first visit with a speech-language pathologist (SLP). Planning ahead and being prepared will help you make the most out of your first visit with a speech pathologist and set you on a successful course of speech therapy treatment.

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Will My Child Outgrow Her Speech Impediment?

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Speech Impediment?

Will My Child Outgrow Her Speech Impediment?

Your child hasn’t reached the speech and language milestones as quickly as her buddies. And, she says “thoup” instead of “soup”. Does this mean she has a speech impediment? Does she need speech therapy? Will she outgrow it on her own? Parents whose children are at the beginning stages of speech and language development ask these questions and more as their children’s speech patterns emerge. There are no real clinical “tests” to determine whether or not your child is a late talker, has a real speech impediment, or if it will indeed resolve itself on its own. Many children with early speech impairments do eventually outgrow them by the time they are ready for kindergarten. It  is important to discuss your concerns with your child’s healthcare provider for any developmental challenges as there are also many other causes and types of speech disorders.
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Four Questions To Help Identify a Speech Impediment

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Speech Impediment

How Important Are Communication Milestones in Diagnosing Speech Impediment?

Are you concerned that there may be something wrong with your toddler’s communication and language skills? Is it possible that your child may have a speech impediment or disorder? Of course you don’t expect him to speak clearly in the first few months or even years of life, but are you seeing signs that perhaps something is just not quite right? Has your child’s daycare or preschool teacher mentioned that he isn’t reaching typical communication milestones? How important are these milestones? Maybe you’ve heard that it is “just a phase” or that your child will “catch up” with the other kids her age. While every child learns at his or her own pace, it’s important to ask for help if you feel like her language development skills may not be normal. Communication Milestones are actually crucial stages during the first three years of life when the brain is developing and maturing, and is the most intensive period for acquiring speech and language skills. If the critical periods or milestones are are not met in a timely manner, it will be more difficult for your child to learn to properly communicate in the future.

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4 Easy Tricks for Speech Therapy at Home

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Speech therapy at homeThis week we’ve been discussing ways to tell if your child has a speech disorder, and evaluating if the recommended Communication Milestones are a good indicator of a possible speech impediment. Whether or not your child has been diagnosed with any speech challenges, there are many tips and tricks for speech therapy at home that you can do to help build your child’s communication skills, especially as a toddler. Language building is essential during the first years of a child’s life, as this is when most of the pathways for developing speech, language and cognitive skills are formed.

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Understanding Speech Impediments in Children

Understanding Speech Impediments in Children

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How do you know if your child has a speech impediment? Speech impediments in children are more common than you might think. They are a type of communication disorder where “normal” speech is disrupted. The disruption can include a lisp, stuttering, stammering, mis-articulation of certain sounds and more. Another commonly used phrase for speech impediments in children is speech disorder. Often, the causes of a speech impediment are unknown. However, sometimes there are physical impairments such as cleft palate or neurological disorders such as traumatic brain injury that may be the cause of the speech impairment. We have listed below five of the most common types of speech impediments in children and a general description of each. Of course, if you suspect your child may have a speech impairment of any kind, we encourage you to visit your pediatrician or hire a Speech Therapist for more information.

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Three Valentine’s Day Activities For Your Kids

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Valentine's Day Crafts

Valentine’s Day Activities           for Your Kids!

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we want to share with you three fun ideas to celebrate Valentine’s Day with your students and kids! Of course, you can pull out some arts and crafts, stickers and colored paper to make homemade cards, but we’ve gone a bit further with some crafty and creative ways to get your involved with your kids, and provide an opportunity for language building and speech therapy techniques. We gathered these activities from some of our favorite Speech Therapy websites, so, grab your scissors, paper and tape and get ready for some Valentine’s Day fun!

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Speech Therapy Exercises For Children

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Speech Therapy Exercises

Fun, At-Home Speech Therapy Exercises for Children

This week, in the spirit of the Olympics, we thought we’d offer some of our favorite speech therapy exercises and activities to do at home. That’s right, exercises! While there will not be a half-pipe, blob-sledding track or a gold medal at the end of your session, the reward will be an opportunity to spend quality time with your child and help him or her with increasing speech and language skills.

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