Speech Therapy for Children

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Most parents are worried when they believe that their child is having speech problems: »Is this still normal? Will it disappear in time?« Those questions can only be answered by physicians and specially trained therapists. The good news is, that many speech problems in childhood age can be successfully treated with speech therapy.

Therapeutic Areas

Dyslalia involves articulatory disorders like substitution or omission of certain vowels/consonants and lisping.

Typical problems include incorrect usage of prepositions, adjectives, plural and articles (in German: der, die, das) and also reduced vocabulary and difficulties with speech comprehension and sentence formation.

Stuttering encompasses involuntary disruptions in the flow of speech such as repetitions of syllables, words or phrases, prolongations of sounds and hesitations or pauses. The severity of stuttering often varies from day to day and depending on the situation. Cluttering is characterised by fast and erratic speaking and incomprehensible phrases.

Growing up in a bilingual environment undoubtedly offers great advantages for children. But it can also be quite challenging for them, as they have to deal with different linguistic rules. In order to meet these challenges, children require adequate linguistic role models for both languages and sufficient opportunities to practice them. It is quite common that bilingual children show a better mastery of one of the languages and this is nothing to worry about. However, speech therapy could be recommended when a child performs poorely in both languages compared to his peers. Typical signs are incorrect syntax, reduced vocabulary, difficulties in finding the right words and a lack of descriptive terms (warm, cold, loud,...) when telling stories. In these cases, an as early as possible therapeutic intervention is advisable. Those language deficits can effect the entire educational career and are very hard to compensate later on.

Chewing, swallowing, speaking: Our mouth and chewing muscles need to be well balanced to do their job. Certain habits (sucking a thumb or a soother) or physical factors (frequent respiratory infections, injuries,...) in the course of childhood development can cause an imbalance in this system. Myofunctional disorders include open mouth, incorrect swallowing pattern, false position of the tongue and excessive salivation. As these disorders often result in malpositioned teeth, they are often discovered by orthodontists in the first place.

Therapeutic Methods

Every therapy starts with a detailed initial examination. By means of questions and tests we determine »where the shoe pinches« and how we can best help your child. Our therapeutic approach is individually different and may include therapeutic conversations, exercises and educational games.

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About Speech Therapy Speech Therapy for Adults

Practical information

Your guide to speech therapy

1. Medical prescription

In Germany, speech therapy must be medically prescribed. Prescriptions can be issued by your family doctor, an orthodontist, a pediatrician or any physician of your confidence.

2. Appointment

You already have a medical prescription? Call us and we arrange an appointment for your first therapy session.

3. Therapy start

Please bring your prescription to the first therapy session. Without a prescription, we are not permitted to treat you and we can't settle the costs with your health insurer.

FAQs

We always start with a detailed therapeutic evaluation, including tests and interviews on your or your child's background and clinical history. If the patient is a child, the first step will be an interview with you, the parents. We will then discuss our findings with you and create an individual therapy plan. The actual therapy starts in the second or third session. Therapy with children will usually be without their parents accompanying them. At the end of the prescribed therapy period, you will receive a report for your doctor including our advise whether the therapy should be continued.

Yes. If necessary, you doctor will issue a follow-up prescription based on our report or his own assessment allowing you to continue the therapy.

An initial interview may take 45 to 60 minutes. A therapy session lasts from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the individual needs of a patient.

Most often the therapy will involve individual sessions. In some cases, however, a group therapy including two or more patients can be effective and is generally possible as well.

The treatment period varies widely depending on the the type of disorder, the degree of severity and the patient's individual needs, ranging from 10 to 60 prescription hours.

Puplic and private insurance companies in Germany will normally bear the complete costs for a (medically necessary) logopedic treatment for patients up to the age of 18. From the age of 18 up patients have to pay an own contribution of 15 percent of the costs per prescription. Different regulations may apply for those with private health insurance, please check your insurance contract for details. Please bear in mind that you must have a medical prescription in order to begin a therapy. For therapy services that are not covered by health insurances (individual health services) you also have the option to get a private prescription from your doctor. This means that we have the required prescription to provide our services for you but that you will have to pay the costs all by yourself.

If you (or your child) cannot keep an appointment, please let us know as soon as possible, but not later than 24 hours before the agreed time. In this case, there won't be any costs for you. Please have understanding for the fact that a late or missed cancellation means that we cannot reallocate your appointment to other patients. In this case, we will have to issue you a private invoice for the session in the amount of the current rate per session covered by insurance companies.