What is Language Therapy?

Language therapy is a very broad label for many types of therapies that a speech-language pathologist (SLP or speech therapist) can provide for children.  Language therapy addresses children with delays or disorders in the following areas:

• Listening Skills: How your child is able to understand what is being said to her and follow directions
• Grammar Skills: Your child’s ability to use grammatical markers to form complete sentences
• Vocabulary Skills: Your child’s knowledge of what things are called and her ability to understand those words when spoken as well as to recall and say the word when needed
• Question Skills: Your child’s ability to answer and ask questions with a variety of structures
• Social Language Skills (Pragmatics): Your child’s ability to use language to interact with others and follow social rules of conversation and play
• Literacy/Book Skills: Your child’s ability to read and write or use pre-reading skills such as book handling, recognizing print, etc.

How does language therapy work?

Your child’s speech therapist will choose a few targets from the areas above that your child has difficulties with.  Then, she will find ways to teach each skill to your child.  Most of the time, this involves breaking the skill down into smaller steps and specifically teaching each skill to the child.  For example, if your child is working on “where” questions, the SLP will teach the child that “where” means place and will start with very simple “where” questions, such as “where’s your nose”, or “where’s the ball”.  Then, as the child’s accuracy increases, she will begin to ask your child more challenging “where” questions, such as “where do you wash your hands?”.  The SLP may use a variety of techniques to help teach your child a skill, including pictures, verbal reminders, etc.

Purchase the eBook with Lesson Plans for Teaching Language Skills:

I have an eBook that has detailed lesson plans, sample goals, data collection, activities, handouts, and worksheets for 39 different speech and language skills. It’s a great overview of how to teach a variety of topics related to speech and language:

More Resources for Speech-Language Pathologists:

Looking for more therapy ideas and resources to help you provide the BEST services to your clients?  Join us in The SLP Solution, our membership program for speech-language professionals!  Inside the membership, you’ll find:

• Step-By-Step Guides for teaching a variety of speech/language/communication skills
• Pre-Made Worksheets and Therapy Activities for hundreds of different topics
• Training Videos for dealing with difficult disorders or problems
• Answers to Your Questions in our exclusive SLP community
• Tools and Resources to help you with your paperwork and admin tasks
• Continuing Education through our monthly webinars and webinar recordings

To join us in the full SLP Solution, or to snag a free membership, click on the button below!