What is Speech and language therapist?
A '''speech and language therapist''' is a [[healthcare]] [[professional]] who specialises in [[communication]] and [[swallowing]] difficulties. The main part of their work involves [[Assessment|assessing]] people and planning [[therapy]]. They work with people of all ages across different settings such as [[Nursery|nurseries]], [[School|schools]], [[Day centre|day centres]], [[Care home|care homes]], [[Clinic|clinics]] and [[Hospital|hospitals]]. ==Communication difficulties== These can include difficulties with [[fluency]], [[stuttering]], making sounds and words, making [[Sentence|sentences]], [[understanding]] what others say, and using [[language]] [[Society|socially]].<ref>The Bercow Report: A Review of Services for Children and Young People (0-19) with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (2008) Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Health, London</ref> These difficulties fall into two main areas: ===Language=== There are two types of language difficulties: *'''Receptive''' People with [[receptive]] language difficulties have problems understanding spoken and [[Writing|written]] language. Because of this they usually also have expressive language difficulties although this is not always the case. * '''Expressive''' People with expressive language difficulties are able to understand but cannot say the words and sentences they want to. This may be because of word finding difficulties or problems making sentences. In children language difficulties are divided up into *delay: language follows the normal [[Developmental disability|developmental pattern]] but at a slower rate e.g. a four year old may have the language skills of someone 12 months younger. *disorder: language is not following typical development. Where language difficulties occur with no other difficulties the child may be [[Diagnosis|diagnosed]] with [[Specific Language Impairment]]. In adults acquired receptive and expressive language impairments are known as [[aphasia]]. There are many different t