Speech therapy can help people with Down syndrome improve speech production and clarity. It can also include working on receptive language skills, such as understanding what others are saying. There are many activities in the daily routine that can be opportunities for you to teach your child speech and language skills. Individual differences are seen within the typical profile: some children have more speech difficulties than others in relation to understanding language and some children have greater differences between comprehension and production than others, for example.
Many people with Down syndrome will experience speech and language difficulties that will cause a deterioration in communication skills. Children with Down syndrome often have delays in speech, language and communication skills compared to their normally developing peers. Speech therapy for Down syndrome is a highly recommended approach to improving a child's communication skills. Children with Down syndrome tend to have low muscle tone and, therefore, speech-language pathologists suggest promotor exercises to do the same.
Their hearing, their deterioration of the phonological loop and their motor difficulties in speech differentiate them, and therapists must be experts in auditory discrimination, oral-motor function and speech work, as well as in language work. Many studies have been commissioned to better understand this topic and have demonstrated that a total communication approach does not slow down speech development. The language skills of children with Down syndrome are often delayed and, therefore, speech therapy is necessary for Down syndrome, which plays an important role in the child's speech and language development. Speech and language therapists can offer a variety of effective interventions for children with Down syndrome.
Speech and language therapy is a key intervention for children with Down syndrome; the sooner a child receives speech and language therapy, the better the outcomes for the child who leads a more independent life. Most will continue to have phonological and intelligibility difficulties that should be addressed, and it may be necessary to address the social use of language, in particular the ability to initiate and maintain conversations. Research is beginning to provide useful information on the underlying causes of the speech and language profile associated with Down syndrome. Families receive different services depending on where they live and the knowledge and interest of local speech and language therapists in the specific needs of children with Down syndrome.
For all children, the first words can be predicted from the speech sounds they may make when they babble; in other words, early oral vocabulary is influenced by existing phonological and articulation skills, not the other way around.
