What are the Benefits of Multilingual Speech Therapy?

Sofía Zelou is a Multilingual Neuro-Speech and Language Therapist based in Barcelona. She works with families across the globe, supporting children, adults and educators with online therapy to address a range of challenges.

Originally from Greece, Sofía’s expertise spans numerous languages including sign language and Braille, making her uniquely equipped to support multilingual families from diverse cultural backgrounds. Here she shares insights into her practice, the fascinating world of Multilingual Neuro-Speech and Language Therapy and the immense benefits that being multilingual can have for children.

What is Multilingual Neuro-Speech Therapy?

Multilingual Neuro-Speech and Language therapy gets its name from two main worlds. The first is that of speech therapy, a broad realm dedicated to helping those with various language, communication, speech, voice and hearing difficulties. 

This encompasses learning disorders, speech disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, voice disorders and auditory pathologies. Nested within this world is the field of neuro-speech therapy, a specialised profession focused on treating and rehabilitating language, speech, or swallowing disorders caused by neurological conditions.

The second world is that of languages, which compliments the work I specialise in. I speak and work in Spanish, Catalan, English, Greek, Italian, both Greek and American Sign Language and Braille.

What are some of the greatest benefits of speaking more than one language, for a child’s brain and their development?

Multilingualism constantly stimulates children’s brains and its executive functions. Some of the many benefits include:

• Improved problem solving skills.
• Improved ability to multi-task.
• Their memory and concentration (cognitive skills) flourish faster.
• Children who are multilingual, or speak more than one language (bilingual) develop an open mind and understand from an early age that diversity of cultures enriches their mind.
• Children who speak several languages learn from a very young age to communicate better with others. Language barriers don’t exist for them.

Multilingualism stimulates the brain in a total and holistic way. Children become creative, pay attention to more details and can learn lots of hobbies.

What are the unique challenges of working with bilingual or multilingual children?

So far, there haven’t been any challenges! By speaking their language and by understanding their culture and their needs, our therapeutic sessions have been always successful. As a multilingual speech therapist, what is important is to be able to inform and address the parents during their multilingual journey. That can be a challenge for them but it soon becomes a wonderful and enjoyable process!

In your experience, what role does family involvement play in the success of speech and language therapy? Are there specific strategies you recommend to parents?

Absolutely! Parents have a very important role in the success of our therapy. Our therapy wouldn´t be successful or have the same results if parents weren’t present and willing to follow the guidelines. They need to participate actively throughout our collaboration and work. I help them with specific and personalised guidelines so that they can do similar things at home and help their children to meet the therapeutic objectives.

How do you help parents navigate the decision of which language to prioritise at home, especially in multilingual households?

That depends on the family and on the language’s cultural relevance. Some parents, for example, want to teach their children their mother tongue so they can feel more connected to their heritage, culture and family roots and they use only that at home. And of course it depends on global relevance, on their social environments and on their needs.

Each family is different, unique and not only depends on the different languages they use but also on which language they feel is best to communicate with their children. The more comfortable they feel with the language in which they express themselves daily, the better they´ll be able to communicate with their children in that language.

How do you address concerns from parents who worry that multilingualism might contribute to speech delays or disorders?

My role as a multilingual speech and language therapist and parent consultant is to help parents understand that multilingualism or bilingualism is never the cause of a speech delay or any other language disorder. My consulting services either online or in person, have as a goal, personalised 100% guidance for parents who present lots of concerns regarding multilingualism.

You also offer Speech Therapy using sign language and Braille. What motivated you to include these in your practice, and how do you tailor this type of therapy for children and adults with diverse communication needs?

I do and I feel very proud to offer this, as I have lots of children and adults who really need someone to speak their language and to help them feel included and accepted. What motivated me is the diversity of people, our diversity, being different and unfortunately sometimes struggling to find services and help. When I was studying and I got closer to a deaf community for the first time, I thought that this is exactly what I want. To learn something more, another language and in my future to be able to also help people that communicate in sign languages. Same for Braille.

Our speech therapy sessions are tailored in the same way as they are for any other language.

How do you collaborate with educators in international schools to support multilingual students with speech and language challenges?

I attend schools and help accelerate the generalisation of everything that needs to be learned, in the fastest and most functional way. My presence in the international schools of Barcelona, with which I have been collaborating over the past few years, has assisted many families, their children, and the teachers themselves.

My role in schools is to help both the child directly and the school to have the most functional tools and strategies for the child’s best possible development.

Given your global reach, how do you adapt your therapy techniques for families from different cultural backgrounds?

This is something that I have enjoyed since the very beginning of my professional experience. Getting to know people from all over the world, respecting their cultural backgrounds and collaborating with them, has taught me that there are no boundaries and no borders. What is important is a nice and functional communication between all and of course mutual respect.

Could you share a memorable success story from your work with a multilingual family or child?

I could share many!! I´m very happy and so pleased with all of the multilingual families I help and treat. All of them have worked and still work amazingly. Memorable success stories for me are when parents understand that multilingualism or bilingualism aren’t the cause of a speech delay. And then after our speech therapy sessions, you see how children start speaking not only one but two or three languages as their brain has been stimulated correctly over our speech therapy time.

Looking ahead, how do you envision the field of multilingual neuro-speech therapy evolving, especially with advancements in technology and increasing global connectivity? What innovations or trends are you most excited about?

I´m looking forward to getting to know more innovations and expert trends in my field. What has been so helpful so far is increased global connectivity and how technology has helped us to communicate with people from all around the world. I’m sure that in the near future there will be so many more advancements that will benefit multilingual speech therapy even more and I cannot wait for them!

Find out more about the Sofía’s different in person and online therapy services on her website.

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