Speech needs are varied

When it comes to kids, therapists who deal with speech and communication disorders have their hands full.

It's not just teaching a child to say his "Rs" properly. There are articulation and language disorders and developmental delays caused by various syndromes including Down and autism, says Tina Sauer, a pediatric speech pathologist at Primary Children's Medical Center.

Speech and communication disorders for both adults and children — and they can be very different — will be the topic of today's Deseret Morning News/Intermountain Healthcare Hotline. Besides Sauer, Angela Menlove and Deborah Millet, who both specialize in speech and communication problems at LDS Hospital, will take calls from 10 a.m. to noon.

Speech therapists work with children who have tongue thrust, incorrectly positioning the tongue, which may impair pronunciation. Think "shock" or "thock" instead of "sock." Tongue thrust often impairs the ability to swallow and moves teeth. If it is left alone, the chances are good the child will need orthodontic work, Sauer says.

"With tongue thrust, we try and teach them where to place the tongue for a correct swallow. It can be worked on. Most of the problem comes when they're eating."

They also work with children who have hearing impairments, including hearing aids or cochlear implants.

For children who had cleft palate corrected, they work on articulation and feeding. Even before surgery, they may be called upon to help babies learn how to suck, swallow and breathe with correct timing, Sauer says. In those cases, they work closely with gastroenterologists.

In a hospital setting, speech and communication therapists see a lot of children with traumatic brain injury from falls and bike accidents and sports activities that went wrong. Some of them will require extensive outpatient speech therapy after their bodies have healed enough to go home. "Children are discharged from the hospital when they are medically stable, but they still probably need occupational and speech and physical therapy in an outpatient setting," Sauer says.

They see children who are unable to make sounds to talk and others who must use communication devices, she says. Primary Children's speech therapists don't treat those children because the school system has a very good team set up to help them.

Speech therapy is typically not vocal exercises, which are used more for singers, according to Sauer. When someone has vocal cord problems, he's usually referred to someone with expertise in that very specialized area of speech and communication.

Sometimes, they see children who didn't get the stimulation they needed when they were young and are very speech delayed.

There are limits, in some cases, to the gains. "With kids who have a lower IQ, you can only take them to their potential and that's in a good scenario. It all takes a lot of dedication by parents and homework, etc."

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com