Treatment Areas
Speech sounds: Articulation and Phonology
When a child has difficulty producing the sounds of their language, they may be experiencing a speech sound disorder. There are several types of speech sound disorders, each with unique treatment paths. Proper diagnosis is essential to ensuring the best possible results.
Repetition is key when treating any speech sound disorder and intervention of this type often involves drills. A speech-language pathologist may work drills into play or games, depending on the child’s age and level of engagement.
Early Language
From birth to age 3, babies and toddlers rapidly learn new words and discover that they can control their environments through communication. Development at this age varies greatly from one child to the next, but general guidelines are first words around 1st birthday, two-word combinations by age 2, and 3-word phrases or sentences by age 3. For more details, please view the American Speech and Hearing Association’s development chart.
Intervention at this age looks like play! A speech-language pathologist will engage your child in play activities and use a variety of techniques to foster comprehension and encourage vocalizations (sounds, words, or phrases).
Developing language
Even after a child has acquired many words and is speaking in sentences, she may experience difficulty communicating or using this language effectively. This may be a result of weak vocabulary skills, difficulty using age-expected grammatical forms or sentence complexity, or trouble telling organized and coherent stories.
Therapy for developing language looks different for every child and is dependent on their specific areas of weakness as well as their age and personality. Intervention may involve play, structured activities (such as picture cards or worksheets), or shared book reading.
Pre-literacy
Literacy starts from infancy and toddlerhood. Before a child begins to read, they must master various pre-literacy skills including print & phonological awareness. An organized sound system is essential, as are the understandings that words are made up of sounds and that these sounds carry meaning.
Intervention for pre-literacy skills may involve word games, letter recognition, listening comprehension, and exposure to many types of print.
Literacy
Literacy consists of two elements: reading decoding and reading comprehension. We call the ability to read individual words and sentences decoding. Decoding skills are foundational to reading proficiency and are generally taught in Kindergarten through early elementary grades.
Beginning around third grade, students are expected to read to learn. By this time, they should be proficient decoders and their reading development is usually focused on reading comprehension. Deficits in understanding what they read may significantly impact their academic development.
Literacy treatment is unique to the individual child and their areas of weakness. A speech-language pathologist will pinpoint your child’s specific areas of concern and plan intervention accordingly. This may involve sound/letter correspondence, vocabulary instruction, grammatical instruction, making inferences from text, or examining text structures, to name a few. Literacy treatment may also include written expression.
Fluency (Stuttering)
Some children experience a fluency disorder, commonly known as stuttering. While a certain amount of disfluent speech (such as sound or word repetitions) is typical, true stuttering requires intervention. A speech-language pathologist can help you identify whether your child’s stuttering is cause for concern.
Stuttering intervention can be very effective, particularly when intervention is provided soon after the onset of stuttering. For young children, behavioral treatment involves giving gentle feedback to encourage fluent speech. For older children and adults, treatment may involve a combination of fluency shaping and stuttering modification strategies.
When a child demonstrates a hoarse or strained vocal quality, they may benefit from voice therapy. After a trip to the ENT, voice therapy can help heal the vocal folds and provide education about how to prevent the issue from reoccurring. Voice therapy often involves learning about speech mechanisms and how to use them safely. It may also involve exercises such as blowing bubbles, humming, belly breathing and using “forward speech”.