Speech Therapy

What is Speech Therapy?

Many people think of speech therapy as the place you go to learn how to pronounce certain sounds more clearly.  While that is part of what we do, speech pathologists also diagnosis and treat numerous other disorders.  The following is a brief overview of the areas within communication that can be helped by speech therapy.

Active Listening Skills – Active listening (as opposed to ‘passive listening’ which only requires hearing) requires the children to demonstrate that they have heard and understand what was communicated to them via a form of response.   Also referred to as ‘listening with the whole body’, active listening also incorporates appropriate body language and conversational exchanges.  Active listening skills are imperative to classroom success.

Apraxia – Also referred to as Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS), Developmental Apraxia of Speech and Verbal Dyspraxia, this is a motor speech disorder that impairs the ability to control oral musculature and the sequencing of muscle movements necessary for speech production. For more information about apraxia please visit www.apraxia-kids.org.

Articulation – Also referred to as Speech, this is the type of therapy that remediates sound substitutions, additions, omissions and distortions to increase the child’s ability to speak intelligibly and be easily understood by others.  This category also includes the frontal and lateral lisps.

Attention – Joint attention, or when the caregiver and the child are both focused on the same activity and each other, is necessary for children to observe and imitate new actions, play behaviors and language.  In order to learn, the child must first be able to attend to the material being taught and the person who is teaching it.

Auditory Processing Disorder – Also referred to as Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), these disorders involve an impaired ability to attend, discriminate, recognize and/or comprehend language through the auditory channel.  This is further complicated while in a noisy environment or when there is background noise such as in a classroom setting.  Hearing and cognition/intelligence are generally within normal limits.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication – Also referred to as AAC, this involves using low and high tech devices as an alternate means of communication for individuals who are unable to express themselves verbally.  Low tech systems may include using sign language or pictures to communicate such as the PECS system (Picture Exchange Communication System).  High tech devices are usually electronic and involve speech generating devices.  This also includes I Pad and I Phone apps such as Proloquo2go and Touch Chat.  For more information please visit www.mayer-johnson.com for low tech devices, or www.dynavoxtech.com for high tech devices.

Expressive Language – Expressive Language refers to the use of language in both the oral/spoken and written mediums.  This includes using standard grammar/syntax, age appropriate vocabulary, socially appropriate pragmatics and intact semantics (the meaning of the language being used) while speaking and writing.

Feeding Development – Feeding development refers to the motor abilities of biting, chewing, swallowing and the use of age appropriate utensils and vessels for doing so.  This area also refers to ‘picky eaters’ who may eat only a few select foods and/or show extreme sensory bias to food choices.

Fluency / Stuttering – Stuttering refers to a disturbance in the normal fluency of speech that is characterized by silent blocking, repetition of sounds, words or phrases, sound prolongations, interjections such as ‘um’ and ‘uh’, circumlocutions, and/or excessive tension when speaking.  For more information, please visit www.stutteringhelp.org, the Stuttering Foundation of America.

Oral Sensory-Motor Skills – Oral sensory-motor development involves the sensory awareness and motor movements for the parts of the mouth referred to as articulators; the jaw, cheeks, lips, tongue and palate.  Sensory dysfunction may involve a hyper- or hypo- sensitive oral cavity and its resulting effects.  Motor functioning includes the strength, range-of-motion, coordination and mobility of the articulators.  Deficits in this area can negatively impact speech, feeding, and oral hygiene.

Phonological Awareness – Phonological awareness activities help children hear, comprehend and manipulate phonemes, or sounds.  These activities include identifying and manipulating beginning, middle and ending sounds, rhyming, and understanding syllables, vocalic /r/, diphthongs and digraphs.  Phonological awareness helps to improve reading fluency and comprehension, as well as spelling.

Pragmatic Language – Pragmatics refers to the social uses of language or different ways we use communication to interact with others.  Common examples include greeting, saying good-bye, asking and answering questions, commenting, reporting, negotiating and protesting.  Pragmatics also involves adapting communication to a specific listener such as a baby or a doctor, or adapting while in a specific situation such as at a party or in a library.

Reading and Reading Comprehension – Reading refers to decoding the symbols (or letters) that make up words.  Knowledge of letter sounds is used to blend the sounds together and thus decode the word.  Reading rate or reading fluency refers to the child’s reading speed and is measured in words per minute.  Reading comprehension refers to the ability to understand the message of the words being read.  Comprehension is usually determined based on the child’s ability to answer questions about or summarize what they have read.  Difficulty with reading and/or reading comprehension can become a pervasive educational concern since reading impacts all academic subject areas and aspects of daily living.

Receptive Language – Receptive language is also referred to as auditory comprehension and is the ability to understand/comprehend spoken and written language.

Symbolic Play Development – Symbolic play development refers to how a child plays with toys and other partners.  A child’s play and language develop simultaneously and reflect the child’s developmental level.  By observing a young child at play, an analysis can be made of their spontaneous language and symbolic play development.  This will aid in determining the developmental level of the child.

Tongue Thrust – Tongue thrust, also referred to as a reverse swallow, is a deviant tongue pattern in which the tongue pushes forward touching the teeth, moving through the teeth, or moving through the teeth over the lips while speaking, swallowing and/or while at rest.  This tongue pattern results in difficulties with articulation, swallowing and dentition.

Voice Disorders – Voice disorders involve deviations in pitch, quality, or intensity (loudness) which are inappropriate for age or gender, draw negative attention to the speaker, or adversely affect the speaker or listener.  Voice disorders are often the result of a medical condition and are diagnosed by the ENT physician (otolaryngologist). 

Written Language – Written language refers to the ability to understand and generate language in its written form.  Written language is judged for spelling, capitalization, punctuation, syntax, semantics, and structural complexity.