What is Speech Therapy?
The professionals who are educated to assess speech and language development and to treat speech and language disorders are called speech-language pathologists (sometimes informally referred to as speech therapists). Speech-language pathologists can also help people with swallowing disorders.
Does my child need Speech Therapy?
- Doesn't Smile or Interact with Others (Birth-3M)
- Doesn't Babble (4-7 Months)
- Makes Few Sounds (7-12 Months)
- Does Not Use Gestures (Ex: Waiving, Pointing) (7-12 Months)
- Says Only a Few Words (12-18 Months)
- Doesn't Put Words Together to Form Sentences (1 1/2 - 3 Years)
- Has Trouble Playing and Talking with Other Children (2 - 3 Years)
- Has Problems with Early Reading and Writing Skills (Ex: May Not Show Interest in Books or Drawing) (2 1/2 - 3 Years)
- Says p, b, m, and h incorrectly (1 - 2 Years)
- Says k, g, t, f, d, and n incorrectly (2 - 3 Years)
- Produces Speech That is Unclear Even to Familiar People (2 - 3 Years)
- Struggles to say sounds or words (2½–3 years)
- Repeats first sounds of words—"b-b-b-ball" for "ball" (2½–3 years)
- Pauses a lot while talking (2½–3 years)
- Stretches sounds out—"f-f-f-f-farm" for "farm"(2½–3 years)
Learn About the Areas of Speech
Who benefits from Speech Therapy:
Diagnosis
Difficulty
Diagnosis
- Achalasia
- Aphasia (amnestic, global, nominal, semantic, syntactic)
- Agnosia
- Ankloglossia
- Attention Deficit Disorder
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Aphasia
- Aphonia
- Apraxia
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Bell's Palsy
- Central Auditory Processing Disorder
- Cerebral Palsy
- Cleft Lip or Palate
- Concussion
- Chronic Ear Infections
- Congenital Malformation of the Musculoskeletal System
- Congenital Malformation of the Respiratory System
- Congenital Malformation of the Nervous System
- Cognitive Communication Deficit
- Desease of Vocal Cords
- Dentofacial Anomalies
- Developmental Disorder of Speech and Language
- Down Syndrome
- Dysarthria
- Dyslalia
- Dysphasia
- Dysphasia
- Dyspnea
- Dysphonia
- Dyslexia
- Expressive Language Disorder
- Facial Weakness
- Feeding Difficulties
- Fluency Disorder
- Frontal Lobe and Executive Function Deficit
- GERD/GER
- Hearing Loss
- Hemiplegia (right or lefts side)
- Hyper/Hyponasality
- Idioglossia
- Intellectual Disabilities
- Jaw Asymetry
- Lalling
- Lisping
- Macroglossia
- Malocclusion
- Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder
- Muscular Dystrophy
- Neurofibromatosis
- Nodules of Vocal Cords
- Paralysis of Vocal Cord and Larynx
- Phonological Disorder
- Polyp of Vocal Cord and Larynx
- Speech and Language Delay Due to Hearing Loss
- Slurred Speech
- Symptoms and Signs Involving Speech and Voice
- Swallowing Disorders
- Tracheostomy
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Ventilator Dependence
- Voice REsponance Disorders
- Wernicke's
- Zenker's Diverticulum
Difficulty
- Attention
- Articulation
- Augmentative Communication Device Training
- Chewing
- Communication
- Coughing
- Chronic Hoarseness
- Delay in Words
- Eye Contact
- Gagging
- Following Directions (preferred or non-preferred)
- Food Refusal
- Initiates and Carries out Conversation
- Intellectual thinking
- Listening to Instructions
- Limited Vocbulary
- Literacy
- Loudness of Voice
- Matches Tone and Voice Level
- Memory Concerns
- Motor Planning
- Organizing Environment
- Perception
- Pre-Linguistics
- Pragmatics
- Problem Solving
- Putting words together
- Reading
- Respritory Problems
- Seeking Needed Verbal or Written Information
- Self Regulation
- Semantics
- Sequencing Tasks
- Social Skills
- Social Speech
- Sound Production
- Sound Processing
- Stuttering
- Syntax
- Swallowing / Eating Food or Fluid
- Takes Turns
- Vocal Hygiene
- Voice Pitch, Volume, Quality
- Weak Oral Motor Muscles