How old is too old for speech therapy? Some people think therapy is only for children, but in reality, it can be helpful for all ages–even adults and teenagers.

If your teen seems to be struggling with communication, read on. In this article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about speech therapy for teenagers, including the reasons to get teen speech therapy and what to expect during teen speech therapy sessions.

Does Speech Therapy Work For Teenagers?

Yes! Any person, at any age, who isn’t at the level they should be in their communication abilities can benefit from speech therapy.

Think about it like this: If someone is having trouble developing the skills needed to be a confident communicator, it’s best to step in and provide help. There’s no magic age at which speech therapy is no longer beneficial. Similar to improving your cooking, piano playing, or athletic skills, all people can continue to learn and grow in their abilities–no matter their age!

Why Are Communication Skills Important For Teens?

Being able to effectively communicate is an important skill for individuals of any age but can be particularly essential for teens and young adults. Strong communication skills are crucial for helping teens:

Ensure Social Development: Building and maintaining friendships and other important relationships is a vital part of the teenage experience. Effective communication skills help teens connect with others, learn about healthy relationships, and foster a sense of well-being, community, and support.

Contribute to Academic Success: Strong speech, language, and communication skills are necessary for the achievement of success in the classroom. In order to appropriately and effectively engage in classroom discussions, retain information, understand instructions, read aloud, deliver a presentation, or collaborate on group projects, a foundation of solid communication skills is vital.

Support Emotional Expression: The ability to articulate and express our thoughts, feelings, and ideas is important for teenagers as they grow and change. For many teenagers, communicating their emotions helps them reduce stress and anxiety, solve problems, resolve conflicts, and ask for help when they need it.

Enable Future Opportunities: Well-developed communication abilities are important for navigating job interviews, networking, improving leadership skills, and solidifying professional relationships in the future.

Increase Self-Esteem: Effective communication skills help to boost confidence, facilitate connections, and increase self-esteem, all of which are essential to the mental health and well-being of teens.

Reasons A Teenager May Need Speech Therapy

An adolescent may receive speech therapy for a number of reasons.

Articulation

Speech therapy can help people learn to correctly pronounce sounds that they’re struggling with.

A teenager could have trouble with any speech sounds. But some of the trickier difficulties that can linger if not treated properly in childhood occur with the /r/, /s/, and /l/ sounds.

Expressive And Receptive Language

A teen may have trouble with receptive language, expressive language–or both!

Let’s break down what these are. Receptive language is being able to comprehend what is spoken to them. Expressive language is the ability for a person to make their wants, needs, as well as ideas known through clear communication.

If a teen has receptive language problems, they might have trouble understanding questions that are asked in conversation or even at school. They may also have a tough time following directions. This could be due to difficulty following the structure and actual meaning of sentences, or difficulty understanding vocabulary terms being used.

If a teen has issues with expressive language, it might be hard for them to construct sentences that are coherent. They may even misuse words if they’re having difficulties with vocabulary usage.

Another difficult area of expressive language development is being able to tell a story or retell an event. Let’s say your teenager is telling you about something that happened at soccer practice. If their speech is tricky to follow, and the story they’re telling stops and then starts several times, this can be a sign of a delay in expressive language.

As a whole, any issues with clearly communicating needs and thoughts is a sign that speech therapy may be necessary.

Speech and Language Issues

This is a major area where some adolescents need help. Social pragmatics refers to the social aspect of language and communication. This includes social rules like:

• Maintaining eye contact while conversing
• Not standing too close to the person with the person you’re speaking with
• Staying on topic during the conversation
• Having a two-way, instead of a one-sided, conversation

Even being able to understand sarcasm and figurative language could be a challenge for teenagers who struggle with social communication.

Social language is like the “icing on the cake” of being a decent communicator. If you know what to say, but don’t know how or when to say it, your message may not come across the way it’s intended! Treatment for social language is extremely beneficial for teenagers struggling in this area and can help them make friends and become the best communicators they can be.

Social, Emotional, and Academic

Stuttering And Fluency

This is another challenging area for some teenagers. Stuttering is known as the disruption of normal, fluent sounds and movements of speech. It could sound like a person stammering over the initial sound in their sentence, or possibly repeating a word over and over. There could even be instances of “blocks,” where someone appears frozen and has difficulties making the mouth movements to continue what it is they’re trying to say.

It would be for the best to start speech therapy as soon as stuttering is first observed. For some teens, this may be an issue they’ve faced all their life. But sometimes, stuttering could occur later in childhood or adulthood.

Voice therapy

This type of therapy helps improve the quality of the voice. It can help people who have an underlying issue causing problems with the vocal cords, such as vocal fold paralysis, vocal nodules, and underlying neurological problems. Vocal volume, strength, and pitch are usually targeted in voice therapy.

Signs Your Teenager May Need Speech Therapy

If you’re wondering if your teenager may need speech treatment, here’s a quick checklist of signs to look for. An adolescent who needs therapy may exhibit just one of these signs:

• Difficulty pronouncing some speech sounds
• Speech that is difficult to understand
• Stuttering while speaking
• Hard time clearly expressing thoughts and needs
• Poor ability answering questions
• Difficulty story telling and explaining something in a sequential order
• Voice issues, such as hoarseness or poor ability to speak loudly enough
• Unable to follow social rules when conversing with others
• Difficulty to keep eye contact
• Poor ability to do appropriate body language
• Difficulty staying on topic and asking and answering questions
• Inability to understand sarcasm or figurative language

If you sense that your teenager may have trouble in one or more of these areas, schedule an evaluation with a speech-language pathologist.

How to Find a Speech Therapist for Your Teenager

When you’re first considering speech therapy, it may feel a little overwhelming. Just take it one step at a time, and you’ll find exactly what you need.

First, talk with your child’s doctor or pediatrician. Even though your teen isn’t so little anymore, their pediatrician can still be a great source of information. They may have recommendations for a qualified speech therapist. Plus, in many cases, a doctor’s script is needed for insurance to approve visits for therapy.

If you want to research for yourself talk with friends whose children have had speech therapy. And be sure to look online. Take time to read reviews of several therapists. Reviews can give you a good sense of a therapist’s expertise, working style, and personality.

It’s best to find a therapist who specializes in working with teenagers. As you do your research, be sure to put this question at the top of your list. And keep teletherapy in mind as an option. It can be an effective and convenient way to receive speech therapy, especially for busy teens.

What Does Speech Therapy for Teenagers Look Like?

During your initial visit, the speech therapist will complete an evaluation. This will allow them to see exactly what areas of communication your child is struggling with.

If the therapist sees areas that need improvement, they will recommend treatment. Sessions are typically held once or twice a week. During these sessions, your speech therapist will target goals they have hand-picked for your child. Each session will focus on these goals so that the speech therapist can measure progress over time.

Speech therapy can be personalized to your teenager’s likes and interests. Speech therapists who work with teens know that their interests differ from the interests of younger kids, so they’ll be sure to select tasks your child will enjoy.

Speech therapy can be personalized to your teenager’s likes and interests.

Of course, some teenagers may not need this extra motivation to participate. Many teens are self-motivated enough that they can simply come in and work with their speech therapist.

No matter what your child prefers, your speech therapist will always work to keep your child comfortable and encouraged. They know speech therapy can be challenging–and that therapy likely isn’t how a teen prefers to spend their free time. Your speech therapist will provide just the right balance to keep therapy motivating and purposeful.

Benefits of Teen Speech Therapy

Speech and language are vital to every child’s development, affecting behavioral tendencies, social interactions, and academic growth. Here are five benefits of speech therapy in special education:

1. It Fosters Academic Success

Development of language and speech very much correlates with a child’s academic performance. Difficulties with speech could impact vocabulary skills, reading comprehension, the ability to listen and follow directions, and understanding new concepts. Speech therapy can help a student’s phonological awareness, executive functioning, and ability to comprehend and understand what is being taught within the classroom. Our SLPs provide students with personalized support to evaluate and assist with issues such as:

• Articulation and speech sound disorders
• Receptive and expressive language deficits
• Language learning deficits
• Augmentative and alternative communication
• Oral motor difficulties
• Social/pragmatic language deficits

2. It Reduces Frustration Among Students and Parents

Difficulty with speech can cause a child to experience feelings of anxiety, fear, and frustration. Parents, too, may feel discouraged when they can’t help a child voice their thoughts. Our SLPs work to set specific, attainable goals that encourage effective communication. As with all of our onsite therapies, JB believes it is essential for parents to play a critical role in their child’s speech-language development. Our therapists are in frequent contact with parents to strengthen goals and activities in the home.

3. It Makes Students More Independent

Improved communication could lay the foundation for a child’s independence both in and out of the classroom. It has been shown that early intervention is essential for a child’s growth during these crucial developmental years. Speech and Language Therapy aids children in their efforts to communicate thoughts and feelings and improves their comprehension and conversational skills. The tools students learn from our SLPs improve their quality of life, increase their level of independence, and allow them to grow and thrive alongside their peers.

4. It Develops Social Skills and Increases Self-esteem

Many children who struggle with speech and language development also have trouble developing appropriate social skills. It can be a challenge for them to understand social etiquette and the “unwritten” rules of social interactions. This can negatively impact self-esteem and interpersonal relationships. SLPs work with students to teach appropriate ways of communicating and to improve their confidence. SLPs teach children the skills needed to comprehend and communicate verbally and non-verbally.

5. It Helps with Behavior Management

When children struggle with communicating their thoughts and feelings, it can often lead to tantrums, meltdowns, and behavioral issues. SLPs teach students how to adequately express themselves, and pinpoint exactly what treatment is needed to improve a child’s communication skills. Learning how to effectively communicate can be life-changing for a child who struggles with speech and language delays. SLPs provide quality speech and language services that enable children to become functional and independent communicators within their school community and beyond.

Your Involvement Matters!

One important thing to note: Although your teen is more independent than a young child, their speech therapist should still involve you in therapy. They should provide frequent updates on your child’s progress, as well as recommendations for home practice.

Ensuring your child follows through on this home practice is key! Speech therapy sessions absolutely help teens gain the communication skills they need. But it’s the practice that happens between sessions, at home, and during everyday life that helps them progress even faster.

The therapy journey isn’t always an easy one. But if this is what your child needs, then looking into resources for speech therapy is the best thing you can do for them! It won’t be too long before your teenager is a grown adult, off on their own attending college or working. Establishing these foundational communication skills now is one of the most valuable things you can do to ensure their success.