When your child is need of speech therapy, it can be very frustrating encountering high costs for needed services.  Sounds of Success: Preschool and Learning Center in Aiea, HI has opened the door to affordable speech therapy for kids. Thanks to a grant from the Oscar & Rosetta Fish Speech Therapy and Forensics Fund at Hawaii Community Foundation, Sounds of Success can now offer free or reduced services for preschoolers who may not otherwise be able to afford speech therapy.

Speech therapy programs are often costly because experts have determined that speech therapy needs to be individualized in order for children to get the best benefit. Sounds of Success is now taking applications for preschool-aged children to receive personalized speech therapy services two times a week for 30-minute sessions.

It may not always be evident when your child needs speech therapy. Your pediatrician will help you identify speech milestones to look out for as your child gets older. According to experts, you should hear your child babble and associate names with items by age one. By age two, your child should have a vocabulary of about 50 words. It can be clear that your child needs speech therapy if your child does not talk, stutters, or talks in a language you do not understand.

A common misunderstanding is that speech disorders signal a developmental disorder. While it can characterize autism, Down syndrome, and other disorders, speech problems do not necessarily mean that a child has other developmental disorders.

More than anything, experts suggest parents help their children build their language skills by being a good example of proper speech and introducing new words. Exposing your child to environments that encourage speech is also helpful. Sounds of Success: Preschool and Learning Center is the perfect environment. Their staff is caring and knowledgeable, so you can be assured that your child will get the needed practice and interaction to develop his or her speech.

Sounds of Success: Preschool and Learning Center is a non-profit daycare center that offers child care services and operates a speech therapy program with an on-site certified and licensed speech pathologist. The center is currently looking for new preschoolers to apply for its grant program. If your preschool-aged child (3- to 5-years-old) is need of speech therapy, or if you want more general information, call their Aiea center at (808) 488-2211 or visit their website.