Speech therapist does much more than simply teaching a child to correctly pronounce words. In fact, a speech therapist working with an autistic child may work on a wide range of skills including:

• Speech articulation /Articulation disorders: Children with articulation disorders are unable to produce certain word sounds. For example, they may substitute one sound for another — like saying “wed” instead of “red” or “thith” instead of “this.” By Oromotor exercises of lip and facial muscles, the way a child moves mouth while saying certain words and sounds. Early intervention speech therapy can help with articulation disorders.
• Communication: This includes teaching gestural communication, or training with PECS (picture exchange cards) and other non-verbal communication tools.
• Comprehension: The speech therapist engages the child in a functional language activity that involve cognition and social interaction.
• Speech pragmatics: Use of speech to build social relationships.
• Conversation skills: Self Talk, parallel talk, sentence elongation, situational talk.
• Conceptual skills: Big and small concept, left & right concept, colour concept, body parts concepts, yes and no concept.
• Cognitive-communication disorders: When the area of your brain that controls your thinking ability is damaged, it can result in difficulty communicating. People with cognitive-communication disorders may have issues with listening, speaking, memory and problem-solving.
• Expressive disorders: People with expressive disorders may have difficulty getting words out or conveying their thoughts. Expressive disorders are linked to stroke or other neurological events, developmental delays or hearing loss.
• Fluency disorders: Fluency disorders disrupt the speed, flow and rhythm of speech. Stuttering (speech that’s interrupted or blocked) is a fluency disorder. So is cluttering (speech that’s merged together and fast).
• Receptive disorders: People with receptive disorders have difficulty comprehending or processing what others are saying. As a result, they may have a limited vocabulary, trouble following directions or they may seem uninterested in conversation.
• Apraxia. People with apraxia know what they want to say, but have trouble forming the words. They may have trouble with reading, writing, swallowing or other motor skills.
• It can also help people with hearing impairments

What are the advantages of speech therapy?

Speech therapy offers a number of benefits, including:

• Improved self-esteem.
• Increased independence.
• Improved ability to comprehend and express ideas, thoughts and feelings.
• School readiness for young children.
• Enhanced vocal quality.
• Early language skills.
• Improved quality of life.