Speech and Language Therapy

Difficulty with the production of speech sounds to the point that others cannot understand what is being said is known as an articulation disorder.

Common errors include substitutions, omissions, insertions, and distortions. Therapy will consist of verbal, visual, and/or tactile cues to teach correct manner, placement, and voicing of specific sounds to increase intelligibility of speech.

PROMPT (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) cues may be used as appropriate by trained professionals to increase success. PROMPT cues are often used with patients who are diagnosed with Apraxia of Speech, a motor-coordination based disorder.

Difficulty with the comprehension of spoken language (receptive language) and the use of spoken language to convey one's message (expressive language) is known as a language disorder. One may have disordered receptive language, expressive language, or both.

Therapy will focus on comprehension of directions and vocabulary, following directions, expansion of one's lexicon, grammatical correctness, development of sentence structure, and narratives.

Difficulty with the smooth production of speech to be understood by listeners is considered a fluency disorder. Characteristics include sound, syllable, or word repetitions, blocks, and prolongations.

Therapy will focus on increasing the patient's understanding of their own fluency skills and teaching behavioral strategies to increase fluency at the word, phrase, and conversational levels of speech.

A voice disorder is a medically diagnosed condition involving the pitch, loudness, and/or quality of the sound produced by the larynx, thereby affecting speech production. Voice disorderes are often diagnosed by an ENT. Commonly treated disorders include: vocal fold nodules, polyps, and chorditis.

Therapy will focus on teaching and implementing a vocal hygiene program, improving resonance, appropriate breathing techniques, and developing a protocol for carry-over into other settings

Difficulty with the use of language in social situations is considered a pragmatic language disorder. Characteristics include difficulty engaging in conversations, maintaining eye contact, knowing what to say and when or how to say it, and turn taking.

Pragmatic language difficulties are commonly seen in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder as well as a variety of other disorders. Therapy will focus on developing the social skills to be able to interact successfully with peers and adults alike in play, collaborate work, and conversations.

Difficulty with chewing, swallowing, and the manipulation of food/drink for safe consumption is known as a feeding disorder. Therapy will consist of increasing strength and coordination of oral/facial structures. Feeding therapy is also appropriate for those diagnosed with Pediatric Feeding Disorder, and children who have difficulty with acceptance of new and varying foods, textures, tastes, and consistencies.

We will approach each feeding patient with a combination of SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory), oral/motor planning, and behavioral feeding strategies to determine which course of treatment would be most appropriate. Often a combination of approaches is used!