Speech Therapy: What I learned from our first year

Since children lay their foundation for language development in the first few years of life, one of the very first steps in the LSL journey is to set up speech therapy sessions. Speech therapy helps kids with all kinds of speech difficulties to improve their communication skills. A speech language pathologist (SLP) is the person who conducts the speech therapy sessions, and will become sort of like your sensei along your hearing loss journey. (So be sure you like … no LOVE … yours! They will become your rock, your advocate, and ultimately a member of your family. -- Shout out to Darcy … WE LOVE YOU!)

Speech therapy for a baby looks a lot like play time. There are toys, books, activities, games, and songs. Each activity or game has a speech component (obviously) that is typically a song or a word/sound in a sing-song style. One of the most important parts is that each activity or game we do has its own routine. Applying the routine to everyday life is one of our main goals. [It is incredible to me the amount of research behind all these little sounds the SLP attaches to the activities… more on this later!]

What I realized about the first year of speech therapy:

1. I am the one in speech therapy

I have come to understand that (for at least the first year or so), I am actually the one learning in these sessions. Not that Ike doesn’t get anything out of it (because clearly he does), but I am the one learning the techniques and the methods and the routines to incorporate into our day to day lives. Sure, Ike is there and is participating, but it is me who is learning how to interact with my son to give him the best environment to learn to listen and speak.

2. Speech therapy skills apply to all kids

This seems so obvious, but before we were involved in speech therapy, I had always assumed it was something someone did simply to rectify some specific speech deficiency. While this may be a small part of it, I quickly realized it was much more. The skills and strategies learned in these sessions can easily apply to any child (especially at a young age when children are learning to speak).

3. Always knowing what to expect next gives you an advantage

One of the coolest things I have learned in speech therapy is knowing what to expect. From all the tons of research out there, speech milestones are fairly predictable. Knowing what milestone should be happening next gives me, as the parent/teacher, a huge advantage. When you know what to expect, you know what to work towards. When you see your child hit that milestone, you can throw a small party and move on to the next. But if you don’t see your child hit that milestone, you know it is something you need to address.

Ultimately, I feel like being involved in speech therapy with Ike has made me more aware as a mom. Now, I notice and anticipate how language is developed. I also love learning about strategies to incorporate language-rich routines into our lives. These routines, whether there is a speech delay or not, can help kids learn, practice, and develop language.

[Be on the lookout for more posts highlighting some of these routines and strategies!]