Effective speech therapy and language training begin at home. Many children with autism struggle to articulate words, have underdeveloped mouth, throat, and neck muscles, or don’t verbally communicate at all. In early childhood development, these are speech delays and often require in-office and at-home speech therapy programs. Speech delays can develop in the first six months of a child’s life and throughout their first few years of life. Speech delays can be stressful for parents and children struggling to communicate with each other. Fortunately, our speech therapy programs often offer in-home practice to build strong communication, ease stress, and prepare your child for the future.
If you or someone you know is looking for autism speech therapy programs, consider EMIT. We offer convenient telehealth speech therapy programs for children with autism between 18 months to 18 years old across New Jersey. Learn more about speech therapy tools and our other programs by calling us today at 844.983.0240.
What Is Speech Therapy?
Speech therapy uses various games, exercises, and tools at home and at the therapist’s office to assess, develop, and practice language learning skills. Speech therapists, also called pathologists, can determine a child’s strengths and challenges in verbal and nonverbal communication. They gauge a child’s responsiveness, ability to answer and ask questions, as well as physical language articulation. This treatment may include training in body language, social cues, and simple pronunciations. Speech therapy programs may also consist of:
- Physical therapy to strengthen jaw, neck, mouth, and tongue muscles
- Visual aids in the form of pictures to better understand emotions and facial expressions
- Matching games to teach names of people, places, and objects
- Singing practice prosody, rhythm, and tone
- Forms of alternative speech like ASL
- Grammar, idiom, and social language training and practice
Speech therapy can help children develop communication skills that carry them into their lives. Often, our team pairs speech therapy with function skills and life skills training to prepare students for greater independence. Children who engage in speech therapy are more willing to start conversations, engage with family and friends, connect with peers, and suffer lower anxiety levels.
How Can You Practice Speech Therapy at Home?
Like anything, speech therapy practice makes for more consistent growth in a child’s language development and communication skills. Language learning is most successful when implemented and practiced at school and home. Here are some ways to practice speech therapy without leaving the house:
- Practice verbal behavior and responsiveness by having your child voice their requests. If you set up a call and response system, your child is more likely to express their own needs later in life.
- Point out objects around you. This method allows your child to pair things with words, building vocabulary and relational language.
- Model good verbal behavior. Many children learn language through modeling, so practice naming, pointing, and modeling responsive and receptive language with your child.
- Repeat words your child says to mirror successful speech.
Teaching language skills and communications can feel overwhelming at home. Pathologists devise most speech therapy programs to streamline learning between the therapist’s office, classroom, and home. Most often, parents don’t need to develop language learning tools on their own. Instead, they have to adapt to what best suits their child’s strengths, challenges, and pace.
Begin Speech Therapy at Home with EMIT
If you or someone you know is struggling with autism speech therapy, consider EMIT Therapeutics. Our in-home telehealth programs focus on holistic autism treatment for children in all stages of their young lives. We combine early intervention programs with standard ABA therapy to help children across the autism spectrum struggling with language development. Our in-home speech therapy programs and other services can provide your family and loved ones with supportive tools to foster your child’s speech development, whether they are pre-k or entering high school.
Are you ready to join the countless families across New Jersey using EMIT for autism speech therapy? If so, contact us online today or at 844.983.0240 to speak with one of our qualified speech pathologists.
