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Child Development & Early Education vocabulary · Language and Communication

Speech and language therapist

Meaning in child development & early education, with examples

nounCommon term

In child development & early education, speech and language therapist means: A health professional who assesses and supports people, including young children, who have difficulties with speech, language, communication or swallowing.

In Turkish: dil ve konuşma terapisti

How it is used

The UK title, shortened to SLT or SaLT; in the US the title is speech-language pathologist (SLP). Nurseries refer children to speech and language therapy and use the therapist's targets in everyday play.

Example sentences

  1. The speech and language therapist gave us some games to use in small groups.

  2. She has been seeing a speech and language therapist for her stammer.

Common collocations

  • refer to a speech and language therapist
  • speech and language therapy
  • SLT assessment
  • speech-language pathologist
  • language developmentThe process by which children learn to understand and use language, from crying and babbling to words, sentences and conversation.
  • expressive languageA child's ability to use language to communicate, through words, sentences, gestures or signs, in order to ask for things, share ideas and describe events.
  • stammeringA difference in the flow of speech in which a person repeats sounds or words, stretches sounds or gets stuck before a word, as in 'I w-w-want the ball'.
  • early interventionSupport given as early as possible, often in the first years of life, to children who have or may develop delays, disabilities or other difficulties.

More terms: Language and Communication

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