Face to face with the speech therapist. Speech therapy, speech therapist: terms that are now known and clear to many parents. But are we even sure?
What does the speech therapist do and what are his fields of intervention? When to consult a speech therapist? Maybe it's worth clarifying a bit. The word speech therapy derives from the
Greek words logos (word) and paideia (education) : the speech therapist is therefore a health worker who deals with the
prevention and treatment of communication and language pathologies in developmental, adult and geriatric age. The activity of the speech therapist is aimed
at the education and re-education of all the diseases that cause disorders of the voice, speech, oral and written language and communicative handicaps; can operate in total autonomy (the professional figure will finally be regulated shortly, with the establishment of a register and an order of speech therapists) but, not being a doctor, once the evaluation is completed
he collaborates with paediatricians, neuropsychiatrists, phoniatricians and psychologists , if necessary , for drafting the diagnostic profile and sharing the treatment. Sometimes, on the other hand, it is the same doctors who refer the patient to the speech therapist to confirm or not a language difficulty or in the presence of specific pathologies (deafness, dyspraxia, dysphagia, secondary language delays to syndromic pathologies...) to a consultation or to define the treatment.
WHEN SHOULD THE PARENT SEE A SPEECH THERAPIST? 
I feel like answering with a somewhat strong affirmation:
always, if you have doubts about your child's communicative or verbal skills. However, I would like to reassure mothers and fathers about meeting the speech therapist, who will try to interact with the child in a playful way and put him at ease. It is useful to know that studies report that a child
between 20 and 24 months experiences an
"explosion of language" , going from 50 to 300 words, while
from 30 to 36 months we see the first combinations of words, which will become sentences increasingly similar to those of adults;
between 36 and 42 months he knows and uses up to a
thousand words.
The speech therapist also deals with
voice problems (beware of children who always scream and run out),
atypical swallowing (in cases of dental malocclusions, following prolonged use of pacifiers and bottles or finger sucking), stuttering (let's dismiss the thought 'anyway, if he stutters again at the age of six we'll think about it') and, last but not least,
learning difficulties (Dsa – specific learning disorders) and
attention deficits . However, it should be remembered that
linguistic development varies from child to child and the various stages of acquisition should not be rigidly considered; the advice is therefore to always consult a specialist, able to suggest the best path to take.
Edited by Barbara Orlandi
Speech therapist and relational language pedagogist
For further information:
Fli – Federation of Italian speech therapists
www.fli.it
