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There are different stages or methods for developing vocal abilities in young children, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. When you look at other young children of similar ages, you can see the differences between them. Although this is not the best way to conclude your child’s vocal development because all children develop at their own pace, there are clear milestones you should keep in mind and monitor.

Even if the teacher has warned you about stuttering, letter inversion, or distorted words, don’t panic. Consider meeting with a speech-language therapist who can assist your child with specific difficulties.

My child struggles to communicate:

All of these bad reflexes, such as zoning, stammering, difficulty pronouncing certain letters (the R, for example) or sounds (the ch becomes s or j), and distorted words (the roar of “r” for a car), can be corrected in a few sessions. Often, it is the fact that he is still sucking his thumb or using a pacifier that is in question: the speech therapist will primarily recommend tongue positioning work in the form of games. If there is a language delay (limited vocabulary, difficulty constructing a sentence, etc.), the follow-up will take longer: the sooner you intervene, the better.

Their voice is hoarse:

Dysphonia, or persistent voice disorder, means your child may shout excessively or breathe incorrectly, straining their vocal cords. Speech therapy sessions can improve the child’s vocal quality and help improve their breath control and use of voice.

He has reading difficulties:

In kindergarten, we can see that he does not associate a letter with a sound. In first grade, he stumbles on the syllables, jumps or confuses the letters, mixes up similar words, deciphers with difficulty, and does not understand what he reads? The child may be experiencing dyslexia. There are techniques for treating this reading disorder and assisting the child in developing compensatory strategies. Many of them connect letters and sounds to shapes and images. Books and software can also help with learning. If other problems are present, a comprehensive follow-up with a psychomotor therapist and an occupational therapist is scheduled to avoid school failure.

Here are some indicators to help you see a little more clearly and identify if a visit to the speech therapist would benefit your little one. Consider your child’s age and whether the signs of difficulty listed below describe your child. If this is the case, it is strongly advised that you begin the process of meeting with a speech therapist.

At the age of 1:

• Your child does not or only occasionally babbles
• He does not express his needs through sounds or gestures
• He doesn’t smile or pay attention to his parents when they interact with him
• He does not respond to his name

At the age of 1½:

Your child does not use simple words

At the age of 2:

• Your child does not mimic your words or games
• Your child’s vocabulary is limited to a few simple words
• He does not form a sentence.
• Your child does not ask questions.
• Does not comprehend basic instructions.

At the age of 3:

• Your child creates sentences out of only two words
• Your child is having difficulty naming pictures or making requests
• He does not communicate with any adults other than his parents.
• Your child is unable to tell a familiar story or hold a brief conversation
• He struggles to answer the questions “who,” “what,” and “where.”

At the age of 4:

• Your child only speaks in short sentences of 2-3 words
• He struggles to answer “why” and “when” questions
• Your child has difficulty understanding long instructions without assistance
• He has trouble grasping spatial concepts (for example, on, up, down, in)
• Strangers find it difficult to understand him

At the age of 5:

• Your child has trouble pronouncing sounds
• Your child’s sentences lack determinants or pronouns
• Your child has difficulty matching words in sentences
• When your child speaks, he stutters
• Your child struggles to tell a story
• He has difficulty responding to your questions

When your child exhibits some or all of the above symptoms at the specified age, you should consider booking an appointment with a speech-language therapist near you. If you stay somewhere near Baltimore or Houston, Total Speech Therapy can help you in a great way to improve the speech capabilities of your child through their professional speech therapy.

Bringing speech therapy to the home via teletherapy for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an excellent option to help the children develop their communication skills since most of their communication development occurs at home. Parents and caregivers are the primary facilitators of speech development for children, and their collaboration with a speech therapist produces optimal results because the child spends most of their time with the family and the training continues on an as-needed basis.

Speech-language pathologists can better guide parents with the appropriate activities to develop their children’s communication skills at home from early childhood to young adulthood.

The Role of a Speech Therapist at Home:

Parents are usually very busy, and getting to and from the center can be challenging. Total Speech Therapy, on the other hand, brings the necessary therapy to the patient’s home via teletherapy. Second, the child feels more comfortable at home and accepts treatment more easily. Finally, the parents become involved in the training process and carry on with the activities between therapy sessions. Using speech strategies at home during caregiving, playing, and other regular activities helps generalize what the child is learning in treatment.

Speech therapy does not require you to force your child to sit and learn; however, it requires a lot of time and patience on the part of the parents. When children perform activities such as playing, eating, walking, and bathing, it is an excellent opportunity to work on their communication, learning, and memory. Eventually, parents or caregivers can incorporate the therapy into more challenging tasks as the child progresses.

Speech Therapy Activities for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders:

The more you communicate with the child, the better the outcome. Begin with short communication sessions with the child and gradually increase their length, which can be accomplished by slowly introducing new routines and activities for the child throughout the day.

Each child’s speech therapy needs are unique. So, a speech-language therapist can develop a personalized training strategy and activities based on a family’s priorities and a child’s functional requirements.

Training at home allows parents and caregivers to learn how to best use daily activities as learning opportunities. However, communication strategies differ for children of different ages. Here are some tips to help you understand other methods:

#1. Speech Therapy for Children Aged 0 to 3 Years (Infants and Toddlers) 

The first thing parents can do for their children with autism is to encourage engagement and interaction rather than speech.

Parents should focus as much as possible on engagement, meaningful play, gestures, and interaction for infants and toddlers. Parents should be more animated while performing household tasks such as dressing, bathing, feeding, and playing with their children. Use animal noises and toys to attract their attention.

#2. Speech Therapy for Children Ages 3-5 (Preschoolers) 

Parents and caregivers of preschoolers with autism should start focusing on interactions with their children in places such as the playground, daycare, or preschool.

Use games and role-playing activities to help the child begin meaningful interactions.  Make picture cards for example, and encourage the child to match the pictures to the words.

#3. Speech Therapy for Children Age 6 to 12 (School Age) 

School-age children can continue interacting with their parents and improve nonverbal communication skills, such as understanding body language and facial expressions.

Use cartoons and drawings to help children express their emotions. During regular home activities, parents should act like their children’s friends and help them understand social skills and behaviors.

The speech-language specialists at Total Speech Therapy can significantly assist families and teachers in implementing various classroom strategies that increase students’ access to the curriculum and minimize the gap between their learning styles, abilities, and academic demands.

#4. Speech Therapy for Children Aged 12 and Up (Adolescents and Young Adults)

Transition planning requires extra effort from parents of adolescents and young adults with ASD. Work with a speech therapist to help them prepare for advanced academic, workplace, and community settings.

Training at home with an experienced speech therapist can result in better results for children of any age group. Total Speech Therapy is an excellent choice if you need a speech therapist in Baltimore or Houston to help improve your child’s communication and social skills. The practice has a team of dedicated, and compassionate professional speech and language therapists who provide therapy in schools, daycare centers, and home daycare centers. Contact Total Speech Therapy to assist you with your speech therapy needs!

Living healthy has always been a priority for mankind. This is the reason why the health industry is consistently working to bring wonderful solutions to face all kinds of health challenges. Though the research and innovation process has never been stopped, it still has a long way to go to crack the mysteries of many diseases and develop potential solutions. Disorders like Autism still need mountains of research to improve the health of children and adults around the world living with the diagnosis. The exact reason why a child exhibits ASD is unknown but some of the research suggests that it is a combination of genetic, non-genetic, and environmental factors. It is a kind of neurological developmental disorder prevalent in children of 18 months or younger.

What are the symptoms of ASD?

When a baby grows its response to different things in the environment improves. But in the case of a child with autism spectrum disorder, it doesn’t happen in the way it should. ASD limits the ability of a child to communicate well with the world outside. A variety of symptoms can be seen in an autistic child. Here are some of the easily noticeable symptoms which indicate the parent to seek the help of a professional speech therapist:

• Delayed speech, and communication skills
• Avoid eye contact
• Can’t respond to name even after 9 months
• Getting upset about minor changes
• Unusual response to sound, test, and smell
• Making strange noises
• Unusual mood swing, or reaction
• Strange eating, and sleeping behavior
• Hyperactive
• Restricted movement skills

How is autism spectrum disorder treated?

To be very frank it is a challenge still to be addressed. So, as of now there is no such proven cure available to remedy ASD. However, some therapists such as speech and language therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, occupational therapy, nutritional therapy, and even daily exercises do a lot to dissipate the symptoms of ASD. Routines including the multiple therapy suggestions listed above along with developing a routine, daily exercise, and curating positive habits as children grow into adulthood may help those diagnosed with ASD lead a fairly normal life, depending on the severity. No two cases are alike so some may need individualized care more than others. Parents, getting advice and consultation from medical professionals will always be our advice to you because some unconventional methods, if not done correctly for your child’s needs, may create trauma for your child and hinder their overall potential growth and development.

Very often it is difficult to identify ASD only from the appearance but may have a significant impact on a person’s speech, and activity. This makes speech and language therapy an important treatment option. Please do some research to make sure you get an experienced speech therapist for your child to see effective results. Total Speech Therapy with a team of professional autism therapists in Baltimore providing the best care to people suffering from ASD. The one-on-one therapy sessions in conjunction Awith a multi-disciplinary approach to treatment plans have brought a lot of honors, and awards for them. Total Speech Therapy is an autism therapy center in Maryland that strives to provide children help with their speech and language development in their very own educational (childcare centers, special programs, etc) and home environments (depending on COVID-19 company restrictions). Call 410-696-3301 or email yasminah@totalspeechtherapy.com to talk to a Speech-Language Therapist and book a free consultation.

Total Speech Therapy is proud to announce and reveal to the whole world its new office at Houston, Texas. A Speech and Language Therapy practice has been relentlessly devoted to providing the best possible care and results for people who suffer from speech, language, cognitive or swallowing disorders.

Communication is the process by which people exchange information. Language is the process by which thoughts, feelings, and emotions are generated using a recognizable verbal or written system. It includes both receptive and expressive skills. During the rehabilitation process, the SLP, along with other members of the multidisciplinary team, provide quality care to help the patient reach his or her fullest physical, psychological, social, vocational, and educational potential.

Our expertise & unique approach to address a variety of causes that contribute to difficulties with speech, language, swallowing or cognition, makes us highly effective. Whether you’re at home, in adult living centers, the hospital or at schools/daycare facilities, we ensure the best possible care & results to help you reconnect with the world and with this we are proud to announce the opening of the new office in Houston to make accessibility easier. We offer individualized, comprehensive, high quality outpatient speech therapy services in Baltimore and Houston and nearby areas.

Our goal of speech, language, and cognitive-based therapy is to improve communicative effectiveness, efficiency, and naturalness. We make use of a few verified therapeutic approaches; which can be used to achieve these goals. The first is to restore lost function. This effort aims to reduce impairment and targets deficits directly. Achieving success with this approach depends on the etiology and course of the disease, as well as the type and severity of the disorder. The second approach is to promote compensatory abilities and the use of residual function. Compensation can take many forms; for example, a patient might be instructed in speech-enhancing strategies or the use of augmentative devices or alternative means of communication (gestures, functional communication board, etc). A third approach encompasses strategies to reduce a patient’s need for lost function by modifying the environment and facilitating more effective speaker–listener interactions. Through education and counseling, SLPs also help patients and their families adjust and cope.

If your child or loved one is having difficulty with communication or needs speech therapy please do not hesitate to talk to a speech-language therapist in the nearby areas.

To find a high quality speech-language pathologist, select Total Speech Therapy in Baltimore, or Total Speech Therapy in Houston, where you can better diagnose the condition of your child, yourself or an adult loved one to get better speech therapy solutions. You can either drop an email at yasminah@totalspeechtherapy.com or even call us at 410-696-3301 for personalized suggestions.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is one of the pervasive developmental disorders that may appear at an early age of approximately 3 years old in children. It is a kind of neurological disorder that affects the communication, behavioral, and social interaction skills of a child. Autism proliferates a wide range of problems such as:

• Communication impairment
• Unusual sensitivity
• Repeated behaviors 
• Stubbornness
• Social interaction difficulties

Sometimes by look, it might be difficult to point out a person with ASD but when it comes to speech and activity, they may face a lot of difficulties. They seldom socially interact well. That is why speech therapy is the core part of the treatment of autism. Because it improves the communication skill of people with autism.

Here it is important to understand the most common speech and communication impairments of autism. It may affect an individual in many ways, such as speech, language, social interaction skills, etc.

Speech problems may include some or all of the following:

1. Unable to talk
2. Makes unusual harsh sound
3. Talks in an unpredictable way
4. Makes robotic sounds or speaks unrecognizable words
5. Speaks in an inexpressive tone

Normally, 33% of people with autism have difficulties producing sounds effectively to communicate. Even if the person has the language, it is very hard to understand.

Communication challenges a person with autism may include:

• Lack of eye contact and gesture
• Difficulties with understanding  the words they have learned
• Using expressive language in a functional manner
• Remembering words
• Understanding the meaning of words
• No creative language

Because of these issues, it is helpful for a person with autism to do plenty of speech and language exercises to increase communication and social interaction skills. The person has to be imparted with intensive training to communicate with the use of appropriate and/or functional speech and language. Speech therapy includes learning skills to be able to answer questions and participate in a conversation and to understand both verbal and nonverbal communication such as facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice, etc.

Speech therapists are professionally trained on how to treat language problems and any kind of speech disorder. They play an important role in an autism treatment team. After a proper screening and detection of the issue, a speech therapist helps to treat it or often refers to other specialists.

If autism is confirmed, speech therapists plan the best possible ways to enhance communication skills and thereby improve the quality of life of the person with autism. As speech therapy is not confined to only within the speech laboratory or office, he/she has to work with the family, educators, caregivers, friends, and other specialists involved in the treatment process.

There is a bounty of techniques used in speech therapy which might include the following:

• Electronic speech devices
• Picture exchange communication system that uses pictures instead of words
• Finding and using specific techniques to fine-tune speech sounds to increase speech clarity (articulation of speech)
• Carrying out regular exercises of lips and/or other facial muscles to improve articulation of speech
• Composing personalized songs to improve the rhythm and sentence flow

Most of the above-mentioned techniques are unique as per the individual needs of the person. Therefore, it is advised to thoroughly discuss the plan of care with your speech therapist to get the best out of the treatment.

Benefits of speech therapy for ASD?

Speech therapy can treat varieties of communication issues however, in many cases, progression shows over time, and patience is key. Long-term therapy typically will improve the ability to communicate better and increase the quality of life of people with ASD.

The primary goal of speech therapy is to help the individual with the following areas:

• Express words in a better way
• Improve both verbal and nonverbal communication
• Understanding the tone of the voice of others
• Starting the communication on his/her own without prompting
• Understanding the time and place to communicate something
• Conversational skill development
• Exchange of thoughts or ideas
• Improving social language skills

What is the ideal time to start speech therapy for autism?

Considering that Autism can be one of the more challenging groups of symptoms in one’s life, it is always better to start the therapy as early as possible to get the best results. ASD should be diagnosed before age 3 and language delay can be noticed as early as 18 months of age. In some cases, autism can be identified within 10 to 12 months of age. This is evident that early exposure to speech therapy gives better outcomes. Many types of research have shown that speech therapy started at an early age leaves the greatest impact. Furthermore, the intense individualized procedure improves the condition to a much better extent.

To find a high-quality speech-language pathologist, select Total Speech Therapy in Baltimore, where you can better diagnose the condition of your child and get better speech therapy solutions. You can either drop an email at yasminah@totalspeechtherapy.com or even call us at 410-696-3301 for personalized suggestions.