Children with specific language impairment should practice speaking as much as possible.
Children who have difficulty speaking, writing, reading, or understanding speech may have specific language impairment. Symptoms of this disorder are a limited vocabulary, nervousness about speaking, incoherent speech, difficulty formulating sentences, and poor test performance. Kids with specific language impairments often require the help of a speech therapist or speech-language pathologist. However, parents can reinforce therapeutic concepts at home. Helpful techniques include encouraging children to speak, reading aloud, and ignoring troublesome behaviors such as stuttering.
Instructions
Professional Help
1. Visit your pediatrician first to ensure that your child's speech is not being affected by physical abnormalities. Pediatricians can also make referrals to speech therapists when necessary.
2. Ask your child's physician or school for a referral to an appropriate speech therapist or speech-language pathologist. These professionals can develop a treatment plan based on a series of tests designed to identify strengths and weaknesses in language use.
3. Follow up with your child's school to ensure that teachers and school administrators are aware of any recommendations made by a speech therapist or other medical professional.
Home Support
4. Encourage your child to keep practicing speech and writing. Reward efforts and small successes with praise and encouragement. Do not point out obvious errors, even if they are repeated. Especially early on, it is important for children to simply keep trying to express themselves.
5. Avoid interrupting, rushing your child, or filling in the correct or missing word when she is speaking. By speaking in a deliberate and unhurried way, you're encouraging your child to take her time as well, which may help improve speech accuracy.
6. Read with your child, soliciting his participation often. Ask for feedback, responses or comments about the material. If your child has few comments, provide a few of your own to demonstrate a typical response. If your child is successful in providing opinions about the reading, ask increasingly difficult questions.
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