Speech and Language Services

Speech-Language Therapy

We offer speech and language therapy services to children ages 0-7 years old.

Speech-language therapy for children focuses on helping them communicate more effectively.   There are a variety of areas that therapy can target.  The Speech-Language Pathologist will examine the following areas to determine strengths and weaknesses:

Speech

Articulation/phonology – a child may have difficulty pronouncing certain sounds.  Although they can often speak in sentences, they are very difficult to understand as they consistently replace one sound for another, omit sounds or distort sounds.

Fluency – a weakness in this area is most commonly referred to as stuttering.  This is characterized by a stop in the smooth flow of speech (usually long pauses), prolonging sounds or syllables (e.g. I llllllllllllllllllllike cats) or repetitions of either sounds/syllables or words.

Voice/resonance – a child may present with a harsh or hoarse voice or abnormal pitch or volume levels.  Voice quality issues usually arise from misuse or abuse of the vocal chords.

Language

Comprehension – a child who has difficulty following directions, answering questions, or generally demonstrates a lack of understanding of language most likely has difficulties with language comprehension.

Expression – a child who has a limited vocabulary or has difficulty putting words together and/or does not use age appropriate grammar most likely has difficulties with language expression.

Pragmatics – a child who has difficulty with the social aspects of language (appropriate for their age).  Examples of social language include:

• Taking turns
• Answering questions when asked
• Making eye contact
• Staying on topic
• Reading body language and responding appropriately

If you think your child has difficulties with speech and language and would like a consultation please contact us to set up an appointment.