Speech language pathologists, or speech therapists, often work as a member of a multi-disciplinary team. I think it is most beneficial to have input from other professionals when assessing young children with developmental delays. I think it is difficult tto look at just one area of a child’s development, whether it be speech development, language development, motor development, or cognitive development. Children don’t learn or grow that way. When speech therapists work as part of a team, which includes the parent as well as other professionals, we can get a more complete picture of the child’s strengths, weaknesses, and overall development.
In the Baby Clinic at Central Valley Regional Center, we look at the youngsters in terms of several areas: Self-Help, Social, Fine and Gross Motor and Cognitive and Expressive Language. All of these components overlap when we are looking at early developmental skills. Working with the nurse who looks at the youngster’s fine and gross motor skills lends itself to understanding the manipulation of objects in receptive language development (stacking blocks and placing puzzle pieces). The input from the counselor in terms of social and self-help skills adds another dimension to the understanding of the whole child. This evaluation lends itself to a more complete assessment and appropriate outcome for the child.