Children who have cerebral palsy, autism, or other disabilities frequently have speech or communication impairments.

The child is unable to comprehend what he is trying to communicate. Children and young people who might never be able to talk were instructed on alternative or augmentative communication techniques in Laketown, Kolkata. There were parents and kids with speech and language impairments. A prominent speech-language pathologist and hearing expert from SSKM Hospital, Kolkata, Shahidul Arefin graced the workshop.

According to Shahidul Arefin, a child’s speech and language disorders will be resolved quickly if alternative or augmentative communication is used to correctly stimulate speech and language in the child. He stated that many autistic youngsters in our nation visit doctors with these kinds of issues. They still have a great deal of ignorance about them. He believes that to raise awareness of this, more seminars of this kind ought to be held. He advised parents to take their child to a qualified speech and language pathologist to confirm that the child’s speech or language issue is present.

Learn when and how much to employ augmentative or alternative communication methods. Many people believe that a child who communicates in this way can’t speak. However, this notion is untrue. The child is then better able to communicate rapidly and express his emotions thanks to this alternate form of communication. This, in his opinion, is the only other option. Seeing the scope of the issue, he stated that the child can use low, high, or mid-tech current technology to express himself through a communication board, app, or other mechanical systems.

With such workshops, speech and language disorders can be better handled in the future.

Priyanka Dutta