2. Synopsis

3. How A Speech Therapist Can Help Muscle weakness Speech production requires the use of various muscles and sometimes the inability to control these muscles may cause unclear speech. For instance, your child may find it difficult to lift the tip of their tongue to produce the ‘L’ sound. Difficulties in coordination Another cause of unclear speech could be that the child has difficulties coordinating the movement to produce sounds. The same can be said of those who lack basic dancing skills. In this case, your child may be able to pronounce ‘L’ in ‘Leaf' but find it difficult to produce ‘L’ in ‘Caterpillar’. With the help of a speech therapist who is specifically trained to evaluate and proffer solutions to speech difficulties in both young and old, you can experience peace of mind. Unclear speech can cause an individual to become socially isolated from other children resulting in less peer interaction. Speech therapy can bring a feeling of ease to your daily life by improving speech, communication, language and learning skills.

4. Proven Speech Therapy Tips for Your Child Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) Research reveals when children have frequent one-on one therapy (three to five times weekly), the best results are realized. Group therapy may be implemented after initial successes. Stuttering When a child avoids talking, changes words and/or uses extra sounds to get started, stutters with considerable tension and effort, or stutters on more than 10% of their speech, they would benefit greatly from having sessions with a speech therapist. Dysarthria The only treatment for dysarthria is speech-language therapy. These treatments may include exercises to strengthen jaw and mouth muscles, learning ways to speak slower, and learning to control breath to make the voice louder. Phonemic Disorder Phonemic disorders are frequently treated using minimal pairs (two words which differ by one sound) to draw the child's attention to the difference and its effect on communication.

5. Speech and Language Activities for the Holidays Speech Activities  Tongue twisters  Practice proper speech during mealtimes  During a walk or drive, look for objects that start with the sound your child is targeting. Whoever finds the most – wins!  Daily word – choose a word for your child to use as much as possible for one day, every day  Make a collage with pictures of things containing the sound  Tape a word on your back and have your child guess what it is  Hide pictures of words containing the sound and find them  Tape pictures of words on bowling pins and say them as you knock them down  Take a pole and a line with a magnet at the end, fish for pictures with paper clips on them. When they catch the picture, they must say the word

6. Speech and Language Activities for the Holidays Language Activities  20 Questions: Attention, listening, making associations, word retrieval  Hangman: Word finding, spelling  Twister: Listening  Telephone game: Listening, attention  Password: Vocabulary, metalinguistic skills  Taboo: Vocabulary, expressive language  Whoonu: social language, forming opinions, making decisions  Headbanz: Critical thinking, deductive reasoning  A Bit of Banter Jr.: Conversation skills  Apples to Apples: Vocabulary, abstract thinking  Scattegories: Verbal organization, word finding  Outburst Junior: Vocabulary, word finding  Zing: Written organization, syntax, punctuation  Rory’s Story Cubes Actions: Vocabulary, word finding  Rory’s Story Cubes: narrative development, verbal organization, and sequencing

7. Concussion Therapy and Brain Injury  Symptoms of a concussion  Cognitive signs: confusion, fogginess, slowed thinking, lack of concentration, memory loss  Physical signs: headache, dizziness, difficulty with balance, blurred vision, fatigue, sensitivity to light and sound, insomnia Emotional signs: depression, restlessness, anxiety, irritability, aggression, mood swings, decreased tolerance of stress  Concussion therapy can help those who suffer from brain trauma, but this has to be handled by a professional. This team of health care experts will assess and treat patients who have sustained a brain injury and are experiencing many associated symptoms of a concussion. In the event that you or your loved one suffers from a concussion, the first thing to do is to visit a physician to diagnose and evaluate the extent of the brain injury.

8. Why Seeing a Speech Therapist After a Concussion May Be Beneficial Speech therapists are trained and have experience in evaluating and treating cognitive and communicative symptoms associated with a concussion. First, the speech therapist will complete an evaluation of language and speech, communication and cognitive skills, and social communications skills. Next, the speech therapist will design a treatment regimen and provide strategies to focus on individual deficits. Individualized, one on one therapy is the most effective treatment approach to attain best results. Treatment plans may include:  Metacognitive approaches  Process-specific training  Skill training  Behavioural approaches The stage of recovery and the severity of symptoms determine which treatment approaches will be most appropriate. But the person’s ability to perform regular life functions independently is the primary focus of all treatment.

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