A team approach is one of the most effective ways to see results and is particularly helpful when working with children who have communication, learning and sensory processing issues.
The Occupational Therapist will help develop self-regulation so that the child will be more engaged and attentive, co-ordinated and organized.
This will help them focus and engage in their Speech Therapy lessons and sequence their thoughts and ideas logically in order to improve overall communication and expressive language.
Postural and jaw stability is critical for speech production and work on sensory integration also helps improve oral-motor skills and feeding which is also directly related to speech.
The vestibular system co-ordinates and controls our physical movements including balance, maintaining a still body, eye movement control and mouth movement. It works closely with the auditory system which impacts auditory processing.
The co-ordination of vestibular, visual and auditory systems is how we begin to understand space and time and we use this knowledge for higher-level language skills like structure, sequence timing, turn taking and conversation.
Working hand in hand makes the therapeutic experience wholistic as both Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy compliment each other and improve treatment outcomes and success.