Hearing Matters: The Importance of Hearing in Speech Therapy
Hearing plays a vital role in speech development. When children can't hear sounds clearly, it can significantly impact their ability to learn and produce speech sounds correctly. This is why it's crucial to rule out any hearing concerns before even starting speech therapy.
What’s The Big Deal?
There are three primary connections between hearing and speech.
Auditory Processing: Children need to be able to hear and process sounds accurately to develop their own language skills.
Sound Discrimination: The ability to differentiate between similar sounds is essential for understanding and producing speech.
Language Acquisition: Exposure to spoken language is crucial for language development, and hearing is essential for this exposure.
If a child has hearing problems, then those connections can’t be made, which will in turn delay their speech development. So, ruling out hearing issues, before beginning speech therapy, is vital to avoiding:
Ineffective Therapy: If a child has an undiagnosed hearing loss, speech therapy may not be as effective as it could be.
Delayed Diagnosis: A hearing loss that is not identified early on can lead to delays in language development and other developmental issues.
Additional Challenges: Hearing loss can sometimes be accompanied by other challenges, such as cognitive delays or social difficulties, that may also need to be addressed.
Who Can Help?
An audiologist, a health-care professional who specializes in hearing loss, will be able to help by providing:
Hearing Evaluations: A comprehensive hearing evaluation can be conducted to identify any hearing loss or impairment.
Recommendations: If hearing loss is determined, the audiologist will recommend what services would be most beneficial.
Hearing is crucial for speech development. If you have concerns about your child's hearing or speech, it's important to consult with a speech-language pathologist and audiologist for a comprehensive evaluation. By ruling out hearing concerns before starting speech therapy, we can ensure that children receive the most effective and appropriate treatment for their needs.
Contact us online or give us a call to see how we can help address your concerns!
Written by Ashlie Thomas, Contributing Writer