Sharon Said:

Does Speech Therapy Work?

We Answered:

I'm 16 and I stutter. I took speech therapy for about 2 years when I was 11-12 then I stopped, and it did kind of help. The therapist gave me technics, but I don't use them very often, only when my stuttering gets really bad. Personally, I think speech therapy is a long process and you need a lot of patience and you should just accept your flaws. Hope your new therapist will help you! :) Don't give up

Joshua Said:

Does speech therapy really work?

We Answered:

The answer is yes and no...depending on what your child's issues are.

My daughter took speech therapy for six years, with very little result. We found out that she had speech dyspraxia---which does not respond to the usual therapy. She speaks quite well now (at 18) but I wish the therapists had recognized her condition before they treated her incorrectly.

I took some as a child, and worked out a lisp I had in grade school.

You might try a different specialist, and have a more complete work up done on him, since there are reasons beyond the norm that kids can have speech issues!

Good luck!

(BTW...once they figured out what she really needed, my daughter went from 18 months of not talking in middle school, to performing stand up comedy!)

Melissa Said:

does speech therapy work?

We Answered:

Definitely, if you find a speech therapist trained to work with people who stutter. The Stuttering Foundation has a list of these under "referrals" on their web site, or you can call or e-mail them.

Arnold Said:

How does speech therapy for a 4 yr old work?

We Answered:

Generally speaking, early intervention for speech and language disorders is very effective.

You would begin with an interview with an SLP. They should take into consideration your concerns and their observations of the child and develop an evaluation. The evaluation will likely target articulation, expressive and receptive language, or both. There are other areas that the SLP may evaluate. These might include oral-motor functioning, fluency, and/or pragmatics.

If the SLP determines that your child can benefit from speech therapy, your child would likely be seen 1-2 times/week for half hour or 1 hour sessions. How often and how long varies depending on what your child needs, what kind of practice it is, and clinician preference.

What happens in therapy will depend on what your child needs help in. Most clinicians who work with young children do try to make therapy exciting and fun so the children don't feel like they are working.

If your child is enrolled in preschool, you may be eligible to receive therapy through the school system. You should speak with his/her teacher about your concerns. If your child is not in school, you can be referred to an SLP by their doctor, or contact a private practice. If you are close to a university that offers a speech-language program (sometimes also called communication disorders program), you can contact them also. A lot of them have clinics that are run by graduate students and that are very inexpensive.

Hope that is helpful!