What We Do
We provide professional services designed to enhance your child’s skills in articulation, expressive and receptive language, social language, fluency, voice, and alternative and augmentative communication.
Speech Sounds & Articulation
This refers to how your child pronounces sounds. To pronounce sounds, we need to use our breath, vocal folds (“voice box”), mouth, teeth, and tongue. If your child has an articulation or speech sound delay, they will have trouble pronouncing specific sounds when talking. For example, she might say the word “look” like “wook.” Or he may omit a sound entirely and say “snake” like “nake.” It is normal for your children to make mistakes with sounds, but a delay occurs when mistakes continue to occur past a certain age. Speech therapy for pronouncing sounds can give your child confidence and make them a better communicator.
Expressive Language
This refers to how your child expresses themselves – whether they use pictures, a communication device, sounds, words, or sentences. If a child has an expressive language delay, they may have a smaller vocabulary than is expected for a child their age, or they may not be using words at all yet. Older children may make more grammar or sentence structure errors compared to their peers. Expressive language difficulties can make it hard for children to make their needs, wants, and ideas known, which can lead to frustration and challenging behaviors.
Receptive Language
This refers to what your child understands when other people talk to him. A younger child with a receptive language delay may have difficulty following directions, such as “Put your red jacket on!” and often parents or caregivers will think that the child is just ignoring them. An older child with a receptive language delay may have trouble following directions in the classroom or have difficulty understanding conceptual information. This can make success in school very challenging.
Social and Pragmatic Language
This refers to your child’s ability to use language for a variety of purposes, such as asking for help, asking and answering questions, and connecting with peers to build and maintain friendships. Children with social/pragmatic language delays may have trouble understanding and using of aspects of non- verbal communication as well, such as body language, tone of voice, and eye contact.
Fluency
Stuttering is a speech disorder that involves difficulty producing smooth speech. Forms of stuttering include involuntary hesitations, blocking sounds, sound or word repetitions, and prolonged sounds; these may make it difficult for the speaker to get his/her message across. Some people may also show physical signs such as involuntary muscle movements in the face or other parts of the body. Children who stutter may face challenges communicating at home and school.
Voice
This refers to the use of the vocal folds and breath to produce sound. There are many causes of voice disorders, such as overuse/misuse of the voice, trauma to the vocal folds, and certain neurological conditions.
Alternative / Augmentative Communication
This refers to all forms of communication, other than talking, that are used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas. For example, we use AAC when we use gestures or write. However, people with severe speech or language problems rely on AAC to help improve or replace speech that is not functional. Aids such as picture communication boards or speech generating devices can allow people to have their voice heard.