Speech therapist and audio pedagogue

A speech therapist both investigates and works with children and young people who have various forms of communication difficulties. There may be children who completely or partially lack spoken language, general language and speech difficulties, voice difficulties, speech fluency difficulties (stuttering or "runaway speech"), speech sound difficulties, specific language difficulties, eating difficulties and dysphagia (swallowing difficulties).

There are many reasons why someone may have problems communicating. It may be due to a congenital disease or condition, such as e.g. a gene mutation, autism or cleft lip and palate. For some, it may be due to illness or injuries later in life, such as e.g. meningitis or brain damage after an accident. 

Speech therapists can be found in nurseries, schools, PPT, competence centres, rehabilitation centres, dining teams and hospitals, and other services.

Language is power! Communication is important for social development and participation, independence, inclusion, learning and education, and further into adulthood.

If you are concerned about your child's language development, you should be quick to request an assessment from a speech therapist.

How to get help?

You can talk to nursery or school staff about your concerns. The nursery school or school can refer the child to PPT and/or a speech therapist. You as a parent can also refer your child directly to PPT on your own, e.g. if you do not meet understanding from the nursery school/school. A health centre, GP or other health personnel can also help with a referral to PPT. Read more about PPT here.

A speech therapist can help with, among other things

• Language training
• Conceptual understanding
• Training sounds, word composition for pronunciation difficulties
• How to deal with and train speech fluency difficulties
• Oral motor exercises
• Eating training
• Use of concrete and symbolic language

There are also bodies other than the municipality that offer speech therapy services.

Habilitation for children and young people (HAB/HABU)

A hospital doctor can also refer you to HABU, if your child has congenital or early acquired functional variation. HABU is an interdisciplinary body within the specialist health service that investigates, diagnoses, treats, guides and facilitates, including language difficulties, eating difficulties and ASK (Alternative and supplementary communication).

Here you can read more about ASK, and you can read about it here HABU.

Speech therapist in private practice

Through Helfo, you can apply for benefits for speech therapy treatment from privately practicing speech therapists if the municipality does not have a good offer or good enough expertise for your child's needs.

An example of this is the Children's Language Center, a competence center for children with major language challenges and often major complex difficulties. The children's language center offers assessment, training, guidance and assistance in finding the right aids for language and oral motor training. They live in Eastern Norway.
Here you can look at the website of the Children's Language Centre.

Read more about benefits for speech therapists from HELFO here.

What is an audio pedagogue?

An audio pedagogue often has a bachelor's degree in pedagogy or special pedagogy, this is built on with a two-year master's degree with specialization in audio pedagogy. The audiologist works with children and adults who experience challenges related to various forms of hearing loss/difficulties and communication and can also be a supporter for parents of children with hearing loss. 

Children and young people who are born with or develop hearing loss/difficulties later in life and receive aids such as hearing aids or cochlear implants may have challenges in perceiving and interpreting sound signals and will need help and guidance to train both hearing and language perception in order to utilize these . It can require both effort, time and patience to adapt to the new sound image the aid provides. This can be a heavy and demanding process for both children and parents. Many sit with the hope and belief that a hearing aid, BAHA (bone-anchored hearing aid) or cochlear implant will cure the hearing impairment and that the child will function as normal hearing as soon as the aid is in place, it can be quite a shock if and when this does not happen. An audio teacher can support and guide both the child, the parents and the nursery school/school in this process.

An audio teacher can, among other things

• Participate in the investigation of hearing function
• Guide kindergarten staff and teachers about what it means to have a hearing-impaired child in the ward or class
• Inform and guide kindergartens and schools about both technical aids as well as educational and aesthetic measures to optimize listening and sound conditions
• Plan, carry out and compose listening training 
• Plan, execute and compose exercises and programs with a focus on sign language training or AVT (auditory verbal therapy) together with families with hearing-impaired children
• Guide children with hearing problems and parents of children with hearing problems 
• Map the child's development in terms of perception, listening development, language development and general communication skills. 
• Treatment of tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and hyperacusis (sound hypersensitivity)

Where does an audio teacher work?

Audio pedagogues work, among other things, at hearing centres, in CI teams, Statped (department of hearing) competence centers (signo) aid centers and PPT. They can also work in nurseries and schools, both in mainstream and in nurseries and schools for the hearing impaired. Some audio pedagogues work as private practitioners or in external service in, for example, schools and kindergartens.

How to get in touch with an audio teacher?

There is often an audio pedagogue linked to the country's various hearing centers so that you have the opportunity to make direct contact with one when the hearing impairment is determined. Statped also has an IMMEDIATE team consisting of a family therapist, speech therapist and audio pedagogue. The hospital is obliged to contact Statped if the parents so wish. Many privately practicing audio pedagogues work with a Helfo agreement. If there is no public audiologist in your municipality who can assist you, the GP can write a referral, you will then receive covered treatment from a private provider linked to such an agreement. For general questions or an overview of audio pedagogues near you, it is possible to contact the audio pedagogues' trade association (Norwegian Audiopedagogical Association).