Mildred Said:

Speech Language Therapist out there can you please give me some ideas on how to get my 22 month old son 2 talk

We Answered:

First off, I totally understand your frustration. If your son is trying to communicate, his frustration is 10 fold.

Here's a good website with information on working with your son. a
http://www.geocities.com/speppera/Speech…

Stanley Greenspan has some great books on the subject like "Floortime" and "The Child with Special Needs." These will give you great ideas on how to work with your son at home.

I started out using signs with both my speech/language delayed son, and my daughter who has autism. Sign language really helps work the language connections in the brain. As children learn to use spoken language, the signs will drop away. If your child never gets spoken language, you'll have a head start on learning communication skills. http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/…
I would start with something simple like "More"

Get your son's favorite snack. Give him a little bit. When he starts indicating he wants more, do the sign for "more" while saying "more" and give him a little peice. Repeat several times. Then, hold your son's hands and guide him to the "more" sign while saying the word. Then reward him with some snack. Be extremly over the top animated while doing this to really capture his attention and make him want to continue. Keep repeating this lesson until the sign "more" comes spontaniously from your son. Then add on something like "drink" "milk" "Juice" "Cracker" or "Cookie" depending on your son's preferences. Once you open the door to communication, you'll see how to expand on this. My son doesn't have autism, but did have severe speech/language issues. He made up his own signs for his favorite moves at the time, Bugs Life (antenna from his head) and Star Wars (opening and closing his hands rapidly like explosions)

If you have a digital camera, take pictures of your son's favorite acitivities, the park, swing, slide, pool....his favorite foods, drinks, etc.... Print them up and start slowly. Just drinks for instance. When he's thirsty, show him the drink pictures. See if he'll choose one. If not, show him the choices as you normally do. Once you find out what he wants, show him the picture, say the word, and present the drink. Lots of animation on your part. Eventually he'll make the connection and be able to use the picture to show you what he wants/ needs. Sometimes actually pictures of items familiar are easier than "pecs" pictures.

Please feel free to e-mail me if you want more ideas, need to talk, etc...

Having gone through two children who had speech language issues, I understand the frustration that you're feeling right now!

Louis Said:

Who's role? What can a Speech and Language Therapist do?

We Answered:

1. If the child is coded in school, it generally depends on what treatment they have in the child's IEP. SPED usually handles this, typically a Speech and Language Pathologist is assigned to the child because of their skills in effective communication.

2. Usually a neurologist, or an education psychologist

3. A SLT address people's speech production, vocal production, swallowing difficulties and language. Basically, their main role is help the child learn to communicate and process information in a useful way.

4. Typical treatment is based off of Orton-Gillingham, a tutoring approach. It is a very systematic, multi-sensory treatment to help build their phoenetic decoding skills. This way is more effective than other methods, and eventually a child could no longer be considered dyslexic. They will still process information the same way as they have always, but they won't have the dyslexia diagnosis. Phonological awareness is another, but is more effective when it's started early on in the child's life.

Hope that helps!

Helen Said:

What is the difference between a speech therapist and a speech language pathologist?

We Answered:

they're pretty much the same thing i think.

have a look at this website....

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos099.htm

Freddie Said:

how do i become a speech and language therapist?

We Answered:

brilliant.. work experience is essential!
you have a degree in psychology which is one of a select few they look for when doing a post graduate degree in speech and language therapy. places to do it, but not that many. it's quite competitive, but your experience will help you get a step ahead. maybe look into shadowing a speech therapist for a while. this will look good on your ucas/interview.
it's a little late to apply for 2010 entry. but you can apply for next year entry. your degree would need to be quite high.. 2:1 or maybe 2:2..
i'm looking to do the same for undergraduate...
good luck

oh.. and there might be places that do part time but you'll have to stay with the program for longer

Tony Said:

Speech and Language therapist sign my passport photograph?

We Answered:

it should be fine ... they're "professionals"