09/21/2022
Early intervention is a critical component to a child’s future educational skills. The earlier your child begins to receive services, the better. The CDC says “the connections in a baby’s brain are most adaptable in the first 3 years of life”. The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University summarized decades of research explaining this. Here is the linkhttps://ectacenter.org/~pdfs/pubs/importanceofearlyintervention.pdf
Speech language pathologists/therapists (SLP) are experts in expressive language (what you say), receptive language (what you understand), articulation (the sounds you use), social skills, and many more skills that begin to develop before school age. Referring a child to an SLP allows the child to be evaluated, which will help determine the needs the child may have to develop certain skills. Once therapy begins parents should partner with their child’s SLP to fortify the skills that are being honed during the therapy sessions.
There are many indicators that a child may need a referral for expressive language or articulation delays, the most reliable being behavior problems. They may bite, hit, or tantrum. This often happens because they have no other way to express themselves. Here is a chart from the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) that gives developmental milestones for speech and language. https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/chart/
If you believe you need a referral, or are uncertain, Confident Speech Therapy Solutions, PLLC is a locally owned private speech language company in Harrisburg, North Carolina . You can have your doctor fax a referral to 980-225-0229, or you can call 704-995-6896 yourself.
