Speech and language therapy services are designed to address delays in a child's communicative abilities. The function of speech and language services is to help a child communicate as best as he/she can given their level of function, and to assist the family and caregivers to "read" their child's communication, respond, reinforce and expand so that the child and the family can participate together in daily activities and loving social interactions. The main goal of speech and language therapy is to provide a child with ways of communicating their wants and needs. The speech therapist works with the child and their family to enhance the communicative environment through direct therapy and/or preventative treatment and teaches the family how to be their child's language facilitator. Depending on the child's needs, the therapist may focus on speech development through sound imitation and production, targeting receptive and expressive language, oral motor skills, pictoral communication systems, sign language, or augmentative communication devices.