Selected Podcast
Speech Therapy for the Preschooler
Alex Cobine discusses Speech Therapy for preschoolers as well as the different ways that they may communicate.
Featuring:
Alex Cobine, SLP
Alex Cobine is a SLP at High Pointe Therapy at The Women's Hospital. Transcription:
Deborah Howell: Welcome. How your preschooler communicates at home and interacts in the school setting sets the path for their future. So today, we'll get into the nuts and bolts of speech therapy for our preschoolers.
Our guest is Alex Cobine, speech language pathologist at High Pointe Therapy at The Women's Hospital. Welcome, Alex.
Alex Cobine: Hi! Welcome.
Deborah Howell: So great to have you today.
Alex Cobine: I'm excited to be here.
Deborah Howell: Well, let's get right into it. What age range is considered preschool these days?
Alex Cobine: So today, I'm going to focus on the age range of three to five years old. So this is the age where if they were receiving early intervention through a program such as First Steps, they would have aged out. And it's also the age range where they're working on building the foundational speech and language skills that will set them up for success once they enter school.
Deborah Howell: Okay. Got it. Now, how will I know if my preschooler needs speech therapy?
Alex Cobine: There are a few areas that I look at as a speech language pathologist during an evaluation to determine whether a child would benefit from speech therapy. The most common thing people think of when they hear speech therapy is a child's articulation or like the ability to produce speech sounds with accuracy. By ages four to five, 90% of children should be able to say the sounds for the letters P, M, H, N, W, B, K, G, D, F and the sound iya. Some common articulation errors that I treat in this age range are K and G, which often sound like tat for cat or do for go.
In addition, I work on S blends a lot with kids this age. I know quite a few kiddos who say farkle for sparkle. And last, another common phonological process for preschoolers, it's called final consonant deletion, which sounds like bo for boats or moo for moon. So they kind of just leave off the ending of the word. I get a lot of parents who come in with concerns that their preschooler isn't producing their R or their TH or their L sound correctly. However, these are later developing sounds that are not as big of a concern until closer to the ages of six and eight.
In addition by this age, overall intelligibility should be really high. Meaning that unfamiliar listeners that your preschooler is talking to should be able to understand them. A child can become easily frustrated if they can't be understood while they're trying to communicate basic wants and needs. And it can be really hard on parents to navigate if they can't understand their child. Articulation disorders can also impact a child's social interaction with same age peers and that interaction with peers is vital for preschoolers with learning and growth. So it's really important that they have the skills to do so.
Deborah Howell: Absolutely. Now, do you look at anything else besides a child's speech sounds?
Alex Cobine: Yeah, I do. Some important areas that I also evaluate are expressive and receptive language. So expressive language is kind of just like it sounds. It's all about how the child's able to communicate their thoughts and feelings and needs. So by age three, your preschoolers should be using a lot of sentences that have four or more words in them. They should be able to talk about activities at school or what happened during their day. And they should also be able to answer basic WH- questions like who, what and where.
On the other hand, receptive language is how the child understands the language that's spoken to them. For example, your preschoolers should be able to follow multiple step directions, point to items named like colors, body parts, shapes, and understand words for order like first, next, last and words for time like yesterday, today and tomorrow.
I also want to touch really quickly on fluency disorders, which is just a fancy way of saying stuttering. Some preschoolers can go through what SLPs consider a normal period of stuttering. That often happens when there's a big life change, like bringing a new baby home or moving. Stuttering typically isn't a concern if it starts before the age of four and last six months or less.
Deborah Howell: Got it. Okay. And what are some of the causes for speech and language delay?
Alex Cobine: There are many potential causes for speech and language delays in preschoolers. Developmental speech and language disorders are a common reason for speech and language problems in kids. These learning disorders are caused by the brain just working a little bit differently than their peers. Oftentimes premature infants can experience an overall developmental delay. So I see a lot of premature kiddos for this.
Another potential cause is hearing loss. And this can also be a factor that's easily overlooked. It tends to be one of the first questions I ask parents during evaluation. If your child has delayed in speech and language, their hearing definitely should be tested. Neurological problems can also cause speech and language delays like cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and traumatic brain injuries. And last, autism also affects communication and speech and language delays are often an early sign of autism
Deborah Howell: Now, Alex, what would speech therapy look like at High Pointe?
Alex Cobine: Speech therapy at High Pointe obviously looks different for every child. However, most of our sessions with preschoolers include play-based therapy, which means using play to promote good speech and language skills. Typically, most preschoolers can't sit for long periods of time to do a drill-based therapy, but as they get closer to school age, their sessions will become a little more structured.
My favorite part about High Pointe is that we focus a lot on parent education. I love to remind parents that speech therapy one time a week is a great place to start, but the most difference is going to be seen when they practice at home. Parents are the most effective tool in therapy. My first goal is that parents feel equipped to take the skills they learned in therapy home with them.
Deborah Howell: I love it so much. Of course, they're a huge part of this whole deal. Now, what can parents do to help promote speech and language at home?
Alex Cobine: Parents can expand the vocabulary and the length of their child's utterances by doing things like reading and singing and talking about what they're doing and where they're going and saying like fun nursery rhymes. So they can also work on comprehension skills by asking their child simple WH- question like "what does the cow say?" or "where do you put a hat?" A good time to practice those WH- questions is while reading a book with your preschooler, which is also very important. And then to improve overall intelligibility, I typically encourage parents to have the child watch their mouth so that they can see where their tongue and lips need to go to form the words and sounds. But that only scratches the surface on what you could do for language and articulation facilitation at home.
Deborah Howell: Wow. I hadn't heard the mirror thing of having them watch their own mouth. That's fascinating.
This is such great information, Alex. What a pleasure to have you on the podcast today to talk about speech therapy for our young ones. I can't wait to talk to my two and a half year old niece. Talk about some of these things with her and read her some books. Thank you so much for being with us today.
Alex Cobine: It was such a pleasure. Thank you.
Deborah Howell: For more information, please contact us at deaconess.com/highpointe or call (812) 842-2820. This is The Women's Hospital, a place for all your life. I'm Deborah Howell. Thanks for listening and have yourself a great day.
Deborah Howell: Welcome. How your preschooler communicates at home and interacts in the school setting sets the path for their future. So today, we'll get into the nuts and bolts of speech therapy for our preschoolers.
Our guest is Alex Cobine, speech language pathologist at High Pointe Therapy at The Women's Hospital. Welcome, Alex.
Alex Cobine: Hi! Welcome.
Deborah Howell: So great to have you today.
Alex Cobine: I'm excited to be here.
Deborah Howell: Well, let's get right into it. What age range is considered preschool these days?
Alex Cobine: So today, I'm going to focus on the age range of three to five years old. So this is the age where if they were receiving early intervention through a program such as First Steps, they would have aged out. And it's also the age range where they're working on building the foundational speech and language skills that will set them up for success once they enter school.
Deborah Howell: Okay. Got it. Now, how will I know if my preschooler needs speech therapy?
Alex Cobine: There are a few areas that I look at as a speech language pathologist during an evaluation to determine whether a child would benefit from speech therapy. The most common thing people think of when they hear speech therapy is a child's articulation or like the ability to produce speech sounds with accuracy. By ages four to five, 90% of children should be able to say the sounds for the letters P, M, H, N, W, B, K, G, D, F and the sound iya. Some common articulation errors that I treat in this age range are K and G, which often sound like tat for cat or do for go.
In addition, I work on S blends a lot with kids this age. I know quite a few kiddos who say farkle for sparkle. And last, another common phonological process for preschoolers, it's called final consonant deletion, which sounds like bo for boats or moo for moon. So they kind of just leave off the ending of the word. I get a lot of parents who come in with concerns that their preschooler isn't producing their R or their TH or their L sound correctly. However, these are later developing sounds that are not as big of a concern until closer to the ages of six and eight.
In addition by this age, overall intelligibility should be really high. Meaning that unfamiliar listeners that your preschooler is talking to should be able to understand them. A child can become easily frustrated if they can't be understood while they're trying to communicate basic wants and needs. And it can be really hard on parents to navigate if they can't understand their child. Articulation disorders can also impact a child's social interaction with same age peers and that interaction with peers is vital for preschoolers with learning and growth. So it's really important that they have the skills to do so.
Deborah Howell: Absolutely. Now, do you look at anything else besides a child's speech sounds?
Alex Cobine: Yeah, I do. Some important areas that I also evaluate are expressive and receptive language. So expressive language is kind of just like it sounds. It's all about how the child's able to communicate their thoughts and feelings and needs. So by age three, your preschoolers should be using a lot of sentences that have four or more words in them. They should be able to talk about activities at school or what happened during their day. And they should also be able to answer basic WH- questions like who, what and where.
On the other hand, receptive language is how the child understands the language that's spoken to them. For example, your preschoolers should be able to follow multiple step directions, point to items named like colors, body parts, shapes, and understand words for order like first, next, last and words for time like yesterday, today and tomorrow.
I also want to touch really quickly on fluency disorders, which is just a fancy way of saying stuttering. Some preschoolers can go through what SLPs consider a normal period of stuttering. That often happens when there's a big life change, like bringing a new baby home or moving. Stuttering typically isn't a concern if it starts before the age of four and last six months or less.
Deborah Howell: Got it. Okay. And what are some of the causes for speech and language delay?
Alex Cobine: There are many potential causes for speech and language delays in preschoolers. Developmental speech and language disorders are a common reason for speech and language problems in kids. These learning disorders are caused by the brain just working a little bit differently than their peers. Oftentimes premature infants can experience an overall developmental delay. So I see a lot of premature kiddos for this.
Another potential cause is hearing loss. And this can also be a factor that's easily overlooked. It tends to be one of the first questions I ask parents during evaluation. If your child has delayed in speech and language, their hearing definitely should be tested. Neurological problems can also cause speech and language delays like cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and traumatic brain injuries. And last, autism also affects communication and speech and language delays are often an early sign of autism
Deborah Howell: Now, Alex, what would speech therapy look like at High Pointe?
Alex Cobine: Speech therapy at High Pointe obviously looks different for every child. However, most of our sessions with preschoolers include play-based therapy, which means using play to promote good speech and language skills. Typically, most preschoolers can't sit for long periods of time to do a drill-based therapy, but as they get closer to school age, their sessions will become a little more structured.
My favorite part about High Pointe is that we focus a lot on parent education. I love to remind parents that speech therapy one time a week is a great place to start, but the most difference is going to be seen when they practice at home. Parents are the most effective tool in therapy. My first goal is that parents feel equipped to take the skills they learned in therapy home with them.
Deborah Howell: I love it so much. Of course, they're a huge part of this whole deal. Now, what can parents do to help promote speech and language at home?
Alex Cobine: Parents can expand the vocabulary and the length of their child's utterances by doing things like reading and singing and talking about what they're doing and where they're going and saying like fun nursery rhymes. So they can also work on comprehension skills by asking their child simple WH- question like "what does the cow say?" or "where do you put a hat?" A good time to practice those WH- questions is while reading a book with your preschooler, which is also very important. And then to improve overall intelligibility, I typically encourage parents to have the child watch their mouth so that they can see where their tongue and lips need to go to form the words and sounds. But that only scratches the surface on what you could do for language and articulation facilitation at home.
Deborah Howell: Wow. I hadn't heard the mirror thing of having them watch their own mouth. That's fascinating.
This is such great information, Alex. What a pleasure to have you on the podcast today to talk about speech therapy for our young ones. I can't wait to talk to my two and a half year old niece. Talk about some of these things with her and read her some books. Thank you so much for being with us today.
Alex Cobine: It was such a pleasure. Thank you.
Deborah Howell: For more information, please contact us at deaconess.com/highpointe or call (812) 842-2820. This is The Women's Hospital, a place for all your life. I'm Deborah Howell. Thanks for listening and have yourself a great day.