This is a question that comes up a lot in sessions, particularly when working with preschool or younger children. The answer is that speech therapy does involve a lot of play and here are some reasons why:
– Play has been shown to have strong links to cognitive, social, physical and emotional development. This includes the development of language skills. Therefore, play is used in sessions as a tool to learn language skills.
– Play is meaningful to children and a wonderful way to engage them in learning tasks that they may not be motivated to participate in otherwise.
– Children interact with each other through play; therefore, development of play skills can enhance their ability to engage with others.
Speech therapy is all about collaboration with parents, educators and other health professionals to achieve goals related to communication or swallowing. Both intentional teaching and play are used to work towards goals in therapy. Play that is included always works on a specific goal that the child is working towards.
At Northside speech pathology we are passionate about family centered intervention. This means that the families and therapist work together and are constantly discussing the goals and meaning of each activity that is included in therapy. We feel that this leads to the best outcomes.
Principal Speech Pathologist
