A speech-language pathologist explains why posture matters for speech: hip positioning affects lip movement, and a single comprehensive assessment can often eliminate the need for separate occupational or physical therapy referrals. About 70% of cases don't require multiple therapists when posture is addressed upfront.
I've always been trained with sensory providers, occupational therapists that are huge in sensory integration, and a lot of times parents are confused. What do you do? Are you a speech pathologist? Why are you looking at how this child is sitting? So there's a lot of education in that, trying to have them connect the dots between posture, postural stability. You know, what happens at the hips happens at the lips. Why am I referring out potentially to an occupational therapist or a physical therapist or a body worker or, you know, making these referrals? And so when I come in and do that assessment, they really feel like, wow, okay, I called you in for difficulty transitioning to salads, but okay, so now I don't need to seek 3 different therapists, right, to do speech, to do— and that I find is to be the case like 7 out of 10 times. Wow.
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