Why Early Intervention in Speech Therapy is Important

What Is Early Intervention?
Children grow and develop at their own rate. Although some children walk and talk early, others may be delayed in learning certain skills. If one has any concerns about child’s development, the earlier one seek help, the better.

Early intervention is critically important in speech therapy because infants, toddlers and preschools have developing brains that are designed to learn communication skills. If there is problem with that development, therapy should be started as soon as possible to take advantage of this period of normal brain development.

Early intervention is for children ages birth to 3 and their families. early intervention programs may continue until a child is age 5.Therapy during these years is highly effective because therapists can identify and address developmental delays before they grow into more serious difficulties later in life. In short, early intervention will enable your child to thrive. A child’s brain is like plaster

Families and professionals, including audiologists and speech-language pathologists, are part of an early intervention team. They help children develop skills such as

Also read: Role of Speech Therapist

Communication skills (gesturing, talking, listening, understanding);
Cognitive skills (thinking, learning, problem-solving);
Physical and sensory skills (crawling, walking, climbing, seeing, hearing);
Social–emotional skills (playing, understanding feelings, making friends); and
Adaptive or self-help skills (eating, bathing, dressing).
Early intervention in Speech Therapy is different for each child and family depending on the child’s needs and the family’s priorities. The most important step is to start early.

Early intervention does not just involve “treatment” for the child, but also it provides education, support and guidance for parents. Early intervention can have a significant impact on your child’s development. It can help to improve their ability to communicate, interact with others, and improve their social skills and emotional development. There are many reasons to intervene early in Speech therapy. Five reasons are summarized below:

1.BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

Young children develop the majority of their speech and language skills in the first three years of life. During this time, this learning influences how the brain develops. Early intervention in Speech therapy is critically important because infants, toddlers and preschools have developing brains that are designed to learn communication skills. If there is problem with that development, therapy should be started as soon as possible to take advantage of this period of normal brain development.

2.ELIMINTATION

A child may be able to develop normal speech or language, although this is difficult to predict for most young children. We often don’t know the cause of “late talking” and can’t predict the course of development, however with early intervention many children will develop language and catch up to their peers prior to starting school. With regards to an articulation delay, an SLP can assess and provide treatment for these speech sound disorders which can be quickly eliminated with early intervention.

3.REMEDIATION

This involves improving communication skills during play and daily routines with your child. It is the most common outcome expected from speech and language intervention for young children with communication delays. Becoming a more effective communicator helps a child to communicate with adults and peers and can also decrease frustration and negative behaviours.

4.COMPENSATORY STRATEGIES

These are strategies used to develop a functional means of communication for a child who is not using any verbal language. Compensatory strategies can be taught to help reduce a child’s frustration with communication difficulties. For example, teaching a child to use “pictures” or “basic signs” to help them communicate things such as, what they want to eat or what toy they would like to play with. These strategies can help to give the child an immediate way to communicate while also working on more long-term strategies to develop other speech and language skills.

5.PARENTS PLAY A CRUCIAL ROLE

During early intervention parents are provided with the tools that they need to facilitate speech and language development. Parents and/or caregivers are at the centre of early intervention because they provide the necessary language models on a daily basis that children need to develop language and communicate more effectively. Through early intervention, parents can be taught valuable early language strategies so that they can help facilitate their child’s speech and language development during play, reading books and during daily routines such as mealtime and bath time. They can also be taught specific cueing and/or feedback strategies for specific speech sounds.

NO AGE IS “TOO EARLY”
Is the child a late talker? Does child have difficulty following directions or answering questions? Does child have difficulty pronouncing certain speech sounds? Do you wonder whether child might have delayed speech or language skills compared to other children his age? If l answered “yes” to any of the above questions, it is best to contact a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) for an assessment of your child’s speech and language skills. No age is too early to meet with an SLP for an assessment to decide if treatment is needed.

Where to find best Speech therapy & speech therapist in bangalore:
2nd Floor, 2983, 12th Main,
Indira Nagar, HAL, 2nd stage,
Bengaluru - 560 008.
+91-9702803210
info.bengaluru@abet.co.in