Speech-Language Therapy helps children develop communication skills, including articulation, verbal comprehension, expression, auditory processing, phonological awareness, pragmatics, voice, and fluency. Speech therapy also addresses oral-motor and feeding skills, as well as augmentative and alternative communication.
If your child has any of the red flags, speech-language therapy may be appropriate.
Speech-Language Therapy Targets:
Language Expression - the production of spoken and written communication
Difficulty developing single words, combining words, poor sentence structure
Language Comprehension - understanding spoken and written language
Difficulty following directions and understanding concepts such as color, shape, opposite; poor vocabulary
Auditory Processing - the brain's ability to process what is heard
Difficulty following directions and listening; an inability to recall words
Articulation - phoneme (sound) production
Substituting, distorting or omitting sounds
Pragmatic Speech - appropriate communication in social situations
Inappropriate body language, eye contact, or responses in social situations
Augmentative and Alternative Communication - supplementing speech with gestures, picture symbols, or voice-output devices or computers
Lack of speech or limited ability to speak
Oral-Motor / Feeding Skills - sucking, swallowing, chewing, and biting
Facial weakness, drooling, coughing, choking, gagging, refusing certain foods
Voice - sound produced by the vibration of the vocal cords and resonators
Abnormal pitch, volume, or quality of voice
Fluency - the rhythm and flow of speech
Stuttering or abnormal rate of speech
