PATH TO PROGRESS

An articulation disorder involves problems producing sounds. Sounds can be substituted, omitted, added or changed. These errors in intelligibility may make it hard for people to understand the child. Articulation therapy focuses on the motor aspects of speech production and the clarity of speech sound production. Articulation therapy follows the hierarchy of sound development beginning in isolation and ending with connected speech. Our therapy involves behavioral techniques, focused on teaching children new sounds in place of incorrect or omitted sounds, with the goal of increasing self-awareness and carryover into conversational speech.

During feeding therapy, we work closely with children and their parents to develop a positive feeding relationship to foster healthy feeding habits during the early stages of a child's life. Our feeding therapy program employs motor exercises, oral-motor techniques, and procedures to optimize mealtime structure, as well as to explore new food types and textures.

A phonological process involves patterns of sound errors. For example, substituting all sounds made in the back of the mouth like "k" and "g" for those in the front of the mouth like "l" and "t" (e.g., saying "tat" for "cat"). A chart of these processes can be found Here.

A tongue thrust is present when a child experiences a delay or interruption in the oral maturational process and fails to progress to an adult swallow pattern. Components of tongue thrust therapy include exercises for the lips, tongue and jaw that are designed to change an incorrect or immature swallow to an adult pattern that is beneficial to the positioning of teeth and to correct articulation of speech sounds.

Apraxia of speech, also known as verbal apraxia or dyspraxia, is a speech disorder in which a child has trouble saying what he or she wants to say correctly and consistently. It is a motor speech disorder which a child presents with difficulty coordinating the oral muscles used for speech. It is not due to weakness or paralysis of the speech muscles, but rather voluntary coordination. The severity of apraxia of speech can range from mild to severe.

A language disorder may be either expressive, receptive, or a combination of both, called a mixed language disorder.
Expressive Language Disorder: Occurs when a child demonstrates difficulty with verbal expression. They may exhibit word retrieval difficulties, have limited vocabulary usage, present with difficulty producing longer sentences or phrases. They may also experience difficulty using proper syntax, semantics, or morphology.
Receptive Language: Occurs when a child presents with difficulties in the ability to attend to, process, comprehend, retain, or integrate spoken language. For example, they may have difficulty following directions, answering questions, or may appear not to attend to spoken language.

Pre-literacy, or phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words and involves blending, segmenting and deleting sounds.
Pre-reading Skills/Letter-Sound Recognition: The ability to hear, identify and manipulate the individual sounds in words is a "pre-reading" skill that provides children with the ability to become aware that sounds are actually building blocks that can be used to construct words. This therapy encourages children to become aware of the many sounds in their language.

An executive function disorder describes difficulties associated with goal setting, carrying out organized steps, and modifying a plan to complete a task successfully. These skills are important for learning from past experiences and applying the knowledge in new experiences. Attention, memory, impulse control, organization, planning, and hierarchical thinking problems often described by parents and teachers are the executive function

Research has shown that the time between birth and 3 years of age is an extremely critical period of development. These months offer a window of opportunity that will not be available later on in life. Early intervention allows us to both identify and treat very young children in an effort to minimize any potential speech and language developmental issues. Early intervention significantly reduces or eliminates communication problems and helps to prevent accompanying social, emotional, or learning issues that may develop.

A stuttering disorder can be described having non-fluent speech. Characteristics of non-fluent speech include repetition of sounds, syllables and phrases. Prolongations or stretching of syllables may occur, as well as blocks, or tense pauses. Physical behaviors or reactions may also co-exist with the stuttering episodes.

Pragmatics is the area of language function that embraces the use of language in social contexts . Children with pragmatic difficulties have trouble using language socially in ways that are expected, appropriate, or typical of children of their age. They also may have difficulty with changing their language with varying listeners, settings, and social situations. It is common for children with pragmatic difficulties to have issues with perspective taking, conversational turn-taking, topic maintance, social thinking, theory of mind, and nonverbal communication.

Autism spectrum disorders are a group of disorders characterized by impairments in social interaction, imaginative activity, and both verbal and nonverbal communication skills. Children diagnosed on the spectrum often appear to have a limited number of interests, rigidity in thinking skills, and activities that tend to be repetitive. Because each child on the autism spectrum presents with a unique personality and varying levels of functional skills, our therapy focuses on improving communication and enhance quality of life. Throughout therapy, we work closely with the family, school, and other professionals to target goals appropriate for the the needs of the child.

AAC therapy involves implementing an alternative set of procedures and processes when an individual's communication skills need to be maximized for functional and effective communication. We work with children and families on supplementing or replacing natural speech or writing with aided or unaided symbols. This can be done through picture communication, tangible objects, gestures, or a dedicated transmission device.