Many children have difficulty processing and understanding information that comes through their auditory channel. Understanding concepts and gathering meaning from verbal messages is essential for the child to use the concepts and vocabulary in verbal expression. Very early on in language development, SLPs are interested in knowing that a child can connect the auditory word (for instance: ball) to the ball object. We look for our youngest to respond to their spoken name, to point to named pictures in a book, and to follow simple instructions (for instance: Come here or Sit down). As the child gets older, the expectation is to be able to process and attend to longer pieces of auditory information. The child is expected to attend to auditory details in conversations, and to follow multiple-step directions with imbedded linguistic information/concepts (for instance: Before you turn to page seven in your Spelling Book, be sure to put your two reading papers in the basket on the corner of my desk at the back of the room). The older child is expected to follow and learn novel material from a lecture.
The SLPs at Children’s Speech and Language Services are trained to meet the needs of children with deficits in these areas. We often consult with preschool and elementary school teachers about adding visual schedules and supports to augment their teaching. Materials for use in therapy are wide and varied. They include technology through our computer programs and i-Pad apps.