SPEECH THERAPY RESOURCES
Speech Therapy involves much more than simply teaching a child to correctly pronounce words. A speech therapist working with an individual on the autism spectrum may focus on the following areas:Locate a service provider
Questions To Ask Your Provider:
Speech Therapy involves much more than simply teaching a child to correctly pronounce words. A speech therapist working with an individual on the autism spectrum may focus on the following areas:
- Non-verbal Communication – Including gestural communication, electronic talking devices, and other non-verbal communication tools.
- Speech Pragmatics – An individual may say words clearly and use long, complex sentences with correct grammar, but still have communication problems – if he or she does not understand the rules for social language.1 For example, It’s good to know how to say, “good morning,” but it’s just as important to know when, how, and to whom you should say it.
- Concept Skills – A person’s ability to state abstract concepts doesn’t always reflect their ability to understand them. People on the autism spectrum often have a tough time with ideas like “few,” ”justice,” and “many.” 2
Questions To Ask Your Provider:
- Are you licensed in the state?
- What experience do you have working with individuals on the autism spectrum?
- Consider behavior issues that you have with your child (i.e. tantrums, hitting, etc.) ask the provider how he/she would handle such situations.
- Do you have references that I can contact?
- How do you determine that my child is a good candidate for speech therapy? What assessments are given?
- Do you have payment plan options?
- How much does a session cost?
- How often and how long are the sessions?
- Will therapy be done in a group or individually?
- Will I be present during the therapy? Can I observe?
- Describe a typical session.
- How will the results be measured? Will we receive written reports or updates?
- What is our family’s role in this process? What activities/exercises might we be expected to do at home?
1 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, “Social Language Use (Pragmatics), n.d. http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/Pragmatics.htm (24 November 2008)
2 About.com:Autism, “Speech Therapy for Autism: The Basics,” (22 May 2008) http://autism.about.com/od/whatisautism/a/SLP.htm (24 November 2008)