Speech Therapy

Communication is the foundation of relationships and is essential for learning, play, and social interaction.

Communication is fundamental to children’s development; children need to be able to understand and be understood. A speech pathologist, also known as an SLP, has advanced training in assessing, diagnosing, and treating disorders related to speech, language, social skills, cognitive communication, voice, feeding, swallowing, and fluency.

Does My Child Need Speech Therapy?

Delayed Language Milestones

Children generally say their first words between 10 and 14 months old
Those with delays may need therapy to help with language acquisition

Difficulty With Articulation

Frustration With Expressing Their Thoughts

Struggles With Social Communication and Interaction

Stuttering, Swallowing Difficulty, and Other Fluency Disorders

Speech-language Pathologists Work With Children in the Following Areas

Receptive Language: Increase understanding of language (ability to identify objects, follow directions, learn new vocabulary, and respond to questions).
Expressive Language: Improve ability to express wants, needs, and thoughts in multiple modalities (words, sign language, communication device, etc.). Improve a child's ability to name objects, use phrases or sentences, and use age-appropriate grammar.
Speech Sound Production: Improve articulation and phonological skills so that a child can be better understood by communicative partners.
Orofacial Dysfunctional Disorders: Help the child establish proper resting posture and function of the orofacial complex to support optimal growth and development, a mature swallow pattern, speech sound production, and airway health.
Social Communication/Pragmatics: Teach children how to interact more appropriately with peers in social settings (such as following rules, taking turns, talking to different communication partners, eye gaze, and how close to stand to communication partners, etc.).
Voice/Resonance: Help children who may sound hoarse, lose their voices easily, or talk too loudly or through their noses.
Fluency: Help children to produce smooth speech and reduce stuttering (repeating sounds, syllables, words, or phrases) and/or pausing during speech. Some repetitions are part of typical development up to age five.
Cognitive Communication: Improve a child’s ability to sequence, organize, problem-solve, sustain attention to task, and make decisions.
Dyslexia/Literacy Disorders: Help a child successfully learn to read by addressing their phonological awareness, reading fluency, decoding skills, phonics, spelling, and reading comprehension.