Speech Development & Play

Something I often hear as a speech-language pathologist: “All you do is play!” 

Think about this… How do children learn? Are they given textbooks for information as a young age? No, of course not! They learn from events occurring in the world around them, specifically through playing and observation.

“Play” is an important developmental skill for children. Playing helps children develop age-appropriate language skills, increases imagination, assists with peer interaction, increases their ability to understand social cues, and helps them explore ideas and solve problems. Children with language delays may have difficulty with any of these developmental skills.  

Play-based therapy is an approach that is often used in speech therapy. This means that the focus is on your child’s interests in an “errorless learning” environment. With this approach, “play” is the tool that is used to help your child learn and develop language skills that are not yet mastered through indirect learning (i.e., naming objects, expanding sentences, answering questions appropriately, making inferences, etc.). 

READY… SET… PLAY!

If you are concerned with your child’s speech and language development or have questions regarding this topic, we can help! Please contact any of our office locations in Shreveport, Ruston, West Monroe, and Monroe.