Speech Therapy Specialist

What Are Speech Disorders?

A speech disorder is an umbrella term referring to any difficulty or combination of difficulties with perception, motor production, or phonological representation of speech sounds and speech segments—including rules governing permissible speech sound sequences in a language. Speech disorders include:

• Articulation disorders: These are problems with making sounds in syllables or saying words incorrectly to the point that listeners can't understand what's being said.
• Phonological disorders: These are problems that follow predictable, rule-based errors (e.g., saying “tootie” for “cookie”, “toap” for “soap”, or “hoe” for “hope”) and typically affect more than one sound leading to highly unintelligible speech. 
• Fluency disorders: These include problems such as stuttering, in which the flow of speech is interrupted by unusual stops, partial-word repetitions ("b-b-boy"), or prolonging sounds and syllables (sssssnake).
• Resonance or voice disorders: These are problems with the pitch, volume, or quality of the voice that distracts listeners from what's being said. These types of disorders may also cause pain or discomfort for a child when speaking.

What Are Language Disorders?

A language disorder refers to a problem understanding or putting words together to communicate ideas. Language disorders can be either receptive or expressive:

• Receptive disorders are problems with understanding or processing language.
• Expressive disorders are problems with putting words together, having a limited vocabulary, or being unable to use language in a socially appropriate way.
• Cognitive-communication disorders are problems with communication skills that involve memory, attention, perception, organization, regulation, and problem solving.

What Are Social Communication Disorders?

Social communication is the use of language in social contexts. It encompasses social interaction, social cognition, pragmatics, and language processing. A social communication disorder is characterized by difficulties with the use of verbal and nonverbal language for social purposes.

What Are Feeding Disorders?

Dysphagia/oral feeding disorders are disorders in the way someone eats or drinks. They include problems with chewing and swallowing, coughing, gagging, and refusing foods.

How can children benefit from speech therapy?

• Increased confidence and reduced anxiety or frustration
• Reduced negative behaviors
• Improved ability to participate in social activities, including play with others and at school
• Easier for others to understand his/her speech
• Improved understanding of directions, stories, and conversations
• Improved ability to effectively express his/her needs, ideas, and feelings
• Better organization of thoughts
• Improved attention, memory, and problem solving
• Improved overall health and diet with less stress during mealtimes

What are speech therapy techniques?

In general, speech therapy involves play and talking, using pictures, books, objects, or ongoing events to stimulate development.  The clinician will model correct production and use repetitive exercise to build skills. If chewing and swallowing are a challenge, then you can expect exercise to strengthen the muscles of the mouth, as well as working with different food textures and temperatures to increase oral awareness during eating and swallowing.

While treatment is specifically designed to treat everyone differently, some of the therapies provided at Solaris Pediatric Therapy include:

• The Kaufman method (K-SLP) for treating Childhood Apraxia of Speech 
• Talk Tools®: Sensory Motor Approach to Feeding 
• SOS® Approach to Feeding
• Hanen: More Than Words®
• DIRFloortime®

Our speech pathologist also has knowledge and skills in correcting tongue thrust, treating selective mutism, and assessment/treatment involving speech generating devices