Services
Articulation Therapy
Over time, as children learn to talk, they learn how to say different speech sounds. You may notice that your child substitutes one sound for another, leaves sounds out of words, or adds sounds. However, by 4 years old, most children can say nearly all speech sounds correctly. If it is difficult for you and others to understand your child when they are speaking, it may be helpful to speak with a speech language pathologist to help your child communicate more successfully.
Voice and Resonance Therapy
Voice therapy can be helpful for both children and adults to support using your voice in a healthy manner. If you notice that your voice is “scratchy” or hoarse, or that you are unable to speak loudly for long periods of time, that you get tired while speaking, or that you run out of breath during a conversation, a speech therapist can help. Vocal issues could be caused by allergies, acid reflux, tense muscles, talking loudly, yelling, singing, stress, or fatigue.
Voice/resonance therapy may also be beneficial for individuals with cleft palate and craniofacial anomalies. Speech therapy can support appropriate speech sound development, focusing on accurate oral pressure to support sound production, and developing new motor speech patterns to replace speech sound errors.
Fluency Therapy
Fluency or stuttering therapy is appropriate for both children and adults as this is a life-long speech disorder. Stuttering usually starts between 2 to 6 years of age. Typically children go through periods of disfluency lasting less than 6 months. If you notice that your child’s disfluencies last longer than 6 months, or are re-occuring a speech therapist may help. A holistic approach is important when seeking stuttering therapy as stuttering may impact feelings and attitudes and may cause a person to feel embarrassed or nervous about speaking.
Signs to look for:
Repeating a part of a word or whole words
Pausing while speaking for long periods of time
Prolonging sounds “ssssun”
Physical behaviors (e.g. eye-blinking, tapping, or head nodding)
Language Therapy
Some children have problems talking and communicating their wants and needs. These skills are called our expressive language skills.
Your child may have difficulty with:
Using gestures
Naming objects
Asking questions
Putting words together into sentences
Learning songs and rhymes
Starting and maintaining a conversation
Some children have difficulty understanding what is being said to them or understanding what they are reading. These skills are called our receptive language skills.
Your child may have difficulty with:
Understanding what people mean when they use gestures, like shrugging or nodding
Pointing to objects and pictures
Following directions
Answering questions
Taking turns when talking with others
Social Communication Therapy
Children may have difficulty with social interaction, understanding social situations, and using non-verbal language skills (e.g. eye contact, facial expressions, body language). Speech therapy may support children in developing, understanding, and navigating various social situations that children face in their daily lives. Oftentimes there are also difficulties with staying on-topic, taking turns in conversation, talking about topics, not of their interest, and understanding abstract concepts like sarcasm.
Alternative and Augmentative Communication Therapy
Alternative methods of communication can be functional for children with developmental disorders who are non-verbal or are having difficulty with communication. Using alternative methods such as picture exchange or speech-generating devices may be helpful to support your child in developing functional communication and language skills including readiness to learn, joint attention, producing single words, and understanding cause and effect relationships in communication.
Feeding Therapy
Children have to learn the feeding process and may have some trouble at first. Drinks may spill from their mouths or they may gag on new foods. This is normal and should go away. However, if your child continues to experience difficulty with this, they may have a feeding disorder.
Signs to look for:
Cries or fusses when feeding
Falls asleep when feeding
Takes a long time to eat
Eats only certain textures, such as soft food or crunchy food
Coughs or gags during meals
A gurgly, hoarse, or breathy voice during or after meals
Spits up or throws up a lot
Potential causes for feeding difficulties:
Nervous system disorders, like cerebral palsy or meningitis
Reflux or other stomach problems
Tongue-tie
Cleft lip or palate
Breathing problems, like asthma or other diseases
Autism
Medicines that make them sleepy or not hungry
Sensory issues
Behavior problems
*There are many other signs for feeding concerns and your child may have some or none of those listed here. If you are concerned, don’t take the “wait and see” approach, let’s chat!
Accent Modification
Accents are a natural part of spoken languages, and you may be incredibly proud of your accent. It is important to know that speaking with an accent is NOT a speech or language disorder.
However, accents can sometimes make it hard for you to communicate with others at work, school, or during other activities. You may feel that if you had a different accent, you would be able to talk to people more easily.
It can be hard to change your accent on your own, and a speech-language pathologist can help if this is your goal.