Language Therapy

Language is what we use every day to communicate with our loved ones. This isn't only limited to the words we use - our gestures, body postures and tone of voice all contribute to the message we are trying to convey. 

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Sometimes, young children are slow to develop language. We call this a language delay. Language delays may affect understanding of language (how we understand what the other person is trying to say), expression of language (speaking, or showing the message in some way) - or, more commonly, it affects both. Some people may tell you that delays are common, however if you have concerns it is always best to consult a speech therapist. 

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Language therapy focuses on developing a child's language system in both terms of understanding and expressing. With young children, activities are geared towards play, with a variety of techniques used to stimulate, expand and elicit utterances from the child. With certain children, verbal expression (speaking) is not always possible. In these cases, an augmentative device or communication board may be provided to aid the child. These are forms of language, too.

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Occasionally, older children might require language therapy, also. They may have trouble stringing longer sentences together, or putting the words in the correct order. They may have trouble understanding or following directions in school, or performing some of the more complex language tasks like telling a story or predicting an ending. These are all parts of language, and a speech therapist can help.