A Speech and Language Therapist has specialized knowledge of the skills necessary for successful communication, as well as how children acquire them. A speech therapist may work on one or more of the following when treating children with speech and language disorders:

 

• Speech production - This refers to the speech sounds that we produce to make words.

• Language - This refers to the words and sentences that we understand and use to communicate.

• Pragmatic skills – These are the skills that allow us to use language correctly in different contexts.

• Abstract verbal thinking - This refers to the way we use language to think about and understand abstract concepts such as solving problems, predicting outcomes and making inferences.

• Auditory processing – This refers to the way our brain processes a spoken message.

• Word retrieval – This is the ability to effectively retrieve words in real time, as we need to use them.

• Phonological awareness – This is the ability to analyze words into their component sounds and to put them back together again.

 

To learn more about these skills, click here.