Javier had his first Speech Therapy session today. We had a pleasant visit today, the waiting time was very short, and the staffs were really helpful and friendly.
During the short wait, Javier kept himself occupied with the activities on the wall.
The speech therapist Marie is a sweet, young and bubbly lady. Javier warmed up to her quickly and was super cooperative when the ST ask him questions and getting him to do some facial expression. The ST assess speech, language, cognitive-communication, to identify the types of communication problems (articulation; fluency; voice; receptive and expressive language disorders, etc.) and the best way to treat them.
The assessment goes like this: Firstly, we go through and Q & A so that the ST can better understand Javier’s condition (from birth till now….) (and while we were having the Q&A, Javier was kept occupied with the puzzle). Next, Javier was shown a booklet containing pictures where the ST would ask him simple questions pertaining to those pictures. Follow by, getting to sound out all the letters and lastly doing some facial expression.
After the assessment, the ST explain to me about Javier’s problem and for his case, it is considered a mild one. The main problem for Javier is Slight Articulation problem which means difficulties producing certain sounds in syllables which is caused by wrong positioning of the tongue when he speaks.
Articulation therapy: Articulation, or sound production, exercises involve having the therapist model correct sounds and syllables for a child, often during play activities. The ST will physically show the child how to make certain sounds, such as the "s", “z” and “l” sound (for today session), and demonstrate how to move the tongue to produce specific sounds.
Parents carry an important role in part of the therapy program. As what the ST mentioned, kids who complete the program quickest and with the longest-lasting results are those whose parents have been involved.
We were also given "homework" to help him improve, and our next session will be in a month time which is in March. 
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