The Connections between Speech Pathology and Learning at School

When a child finds it difficult to manage what is expected of them in the classroom, often parents are not sure where to turn and what to do. The teachers will implement strategies, but there are times when things remain difficult or behaviour is poor.

So where can they turn or what else can they do?

Perhaps referring to a Speech Pathologist may be the next step.

It is the role of the speech pathologist to collect information about the child’s developmental history and then do a comprehensive assessment that explores the following areas: following directions, recalling sentences, word association skills, understanding spoken paragraphs, word knowledge, word retrieval, formulating sentences, word structures and knowledge of sentences structures.

The Speech Pathologist will also listen to the child’s speech sounds and voice quality to determine if these areas are developing at the expected rate for their age.

There will be some skills that they are very good at and some that may not be so strong – or for some individuals there may be many areas that are not developing at the rate that would be expected for their age.

By looking at the strengths and weaknesses it becomes possible to design an intervention program that will target the key skills that need to be developed.

By doing this we are able to support the learning in the classroom and at kindergarten.

Learning and interacting are dependent on being able to recall and understand what has just been said.

Being able to respond is dependent on being able to organise your thoughts and ideas into a sentence that others can make sense of.

Being understood is dependent on having the mouth muscle skills to be able to produce and sequence the sounds in words.

Being able to learn to read is dependent on being able to identify the sounds in words, match these with spelling choices and be familiar enough with sentence structures to be able to predict what might come next in the sentence.

Reading comprehension is dependent on being able to decode the words efficiently enough that what is read sounds like someone speaking.

When too much effort is needed to work out the words then there is no energy or memory left to fully understand what it is that has just been read – often avoidance behaviours will then creep in and potentially a long-term aversion to reading.

Designing an individualised program that meets the needs and profiles is the role of the Speech Pathologist. Even more importantly to then provide the support that can facilitate some of the changes that are needed to make learning easier.

When communication frustrations are reduced we see better self-esteem and confidence as well as the ability to participate more in classroom and social activities.

So if you have any concerns about your child’s learning at school or kindergarten it may be beneficial to contact a Speech Pathologist and arrange a detailed assessment and see how they may be able to assist and support.

To find out more call Bellfield Speech Pathology on 5622 1055 or visit them at 122 Albert Rd, Warragul.