Speech Therapy

Our Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) offers a variety of interventions that are provided in small groups or on an individual basis.

Note: Through screening, assessment, and therapy, a speech pathologist can work closely with a child to identify and help remediate these difficulties.

Interventions include:

Articulation: Children with difficulty producing sounds come to speech therapy for help with individual or multiple sound errors.

Voice: Children with prolonged vocal hoarseness, excessive loudness, etc., will learn to use their voice in an appropriate manner. SLP's refer some children to an Ear, Nose, Throat doctor (ENT) to rule out any physical problem that may appear on the vocal chords from prolonged vocal abuse.

Language: Children that exhibit delayed vocabulary, syntax, semantics and grammar in their primary language may benefit from speech and language services.

Auditory Processing: Children who have difficulty understanding spoken language and distinguishing and discriminating speech sounds may have difficulty specifically with integrating information they receive auditorily. This may include children with word meaning, sequencing skills, and problem solving deficits.

Pragmatic Language Disorder: Children who have difficulty using language properly in a social context, which may include, learning how to greet others, introducing conversation, making eye contact, using proper body language, and other related social skills, will benefit from speech and language therapy.

Hearing Impairment: Children who have hearing loss participate in aural rehabilitation. This may include lip reading, articulation, and voice therapy.

Oral Motor Disorders: A weak range of motion and/or decreased strength of the oral muscles can decrease the clarity of speech. Speech therapists employ oral activities such as blowing, whistling, using straws, and chewing gum to increase and strengthen these muscles. Some children had difficulty coordinating the movement of structures in the mouth during speech, or with motor planning skills. Often these difficulties are diagnosed as apraxia and may be treated through structured practice of speech movements.

Fluency: Dysfluency is characterized as repetition or prolongation of sounds, words, or phrases during speech. SLP's often assist with strategies to overcome these difficulties.