Pediatric Speech Therapy Services

Screenings

Do you have concerns/questions about your child’s speech or general development?

How about concerns about vision or hearing?

Screenings help you to get answers to your important questions. Know the signs of speech and language delay. Act early!

Identify the Signs!

https://identifythesigns.org

Screenings are not diagnostic but offer a quick way to check development and get a professional opinion on whether a full evaluation is needed.

Evaluations

Evaluations provide standardized measurements of your child’s specific speech and language strengths and weaknesses. Evaluations are much more involved than a screening, take longer, and are diagnostic.

Evaluations are scheduled over 2 appointments and require a detailed developmental/health history form be filled out prior to the appointment.

After testing is complete, a follow-up appointment is scheduled to go over results and discuss recommendations and a plan of action. A written report of results is provided.

 

Specific Areas Addressed by Speech/Language Therapy

Articulation

Is your child’s speech hard to understand? Do other people have difficulty understanding your child? Do you notice difficulty producing certain sounds like “r”, “l”, “k”, “g”, “s”, or difficulty producing many different sounds. Speech Evaluations help to determine if the mispronunciations are normal for a child’s age. Speech language therapy helps children to learn to pronounce sounds and become easier to understand.

Delayed speech

Does your child seem late to talk? Late to learn words? Are words coming but developing slowly? Developmental evaluations help to determine if development is truly delayed. Developmental Therapy helps a child to make gains in areas that may be behind.

Language

Is your child’s conversation hard to follow? Do you notice that your child has difficulty following directions? Has your child had a lot of ear infections? Does your child have a difficult time playing or interacting with other children? Language evaluations help to answer these questions. Speech language therapy helps children to interact and communicate as expected for their age, learn new words, put words together in new ways, follow directions, increase comprehension, and become successful readers and writers.

Stuttering

Do you hear frequent “bumps”, “repeats”, or interruptions as your child speaks? Does your child seem to get stuck on words? Evaluations help determine if this is really stuttering or just a passing phase. Speech language therapy helps a child to learn how to smooth out speech.

Tongue Thrust

Has your orthodontist or dentist mentioned tongue thrust? Tongue Thrust evaluations help determine when a tongue thrust is interfering with speech or causing teeth to shift. Tongue thrust therapy teaches new swallowing and resting positions to clear that “lispy s” and help to keep teeth straight for a beautiful smile!

Voice

Is your child’s voice always hoarse? Has there been a diagnosis of vocal nodules? Voice Evaluations help to determine if the voice is healthy. Voice therapy helps to gain and maintain a healthy voice, eliminating hoarseness.

Autism

Questions about a possible diagnosis or a recent diagnosis of autism require a collaborative and progressive approach to help definitively diagnose and treat symptoms and to ultimately help a child maximize potential.

Ear Infections

If your child has experienced even a few ear infections during the critical speech and language development years (the first two years), it is a good idea to have their speech and language development screened. The presence of fluid in the ears changes a way a child perceives speech & language and can affect the way they learn to say sounds and put sounds together.

Cleft Palate/ Craniofacial Anomaly

Is there a diagnosis of cleft palate or any type of structural disorder? Oral motor evaluations help to determine if mouth structures are working like they should. Oral Motor therapy helps a child to gain clear speech and normal feeding and swallowing.

Feeding/ Swallowing

Premature birth? Respiratory issues? Reflux? Stomach problems? Refusing to eat? Not gaining weight? Refusing to try new foods? Feeding/Swallowing evaluations: Help to determine what is happening in the mouth and throat. Feeding Therapy helps to make feeding and swallowing muscles stronger, identify the best feeding positions, and introduce new foods.

Reading Readiness

Have you noticed your child is having trouble learning letters or letter sounds? Has there been difficulty hearing certain letter sounds or rhyming words? Is your child struggling to identify letters even after seeing them many times? Language Literacy evaluations help to determine if a child is developing necessary skills to get ready to read.These evaluations also help identify children at risk for dyslexia. Language & Literacy Therapy helps children to identify sounds and letters and gain the necessary skills to become successful readers and writers.

Bilingual Language Delay

Is your child learning more than one language and struggling to master either language? Language Evaluations help to determine if there is simply a delay in acquiring language or if there is a true disorder. Language Therapy helps children to catch up in their language development.

Feel free to contact us regarding any questions you have. We look forward to visiting with you and answering your questions!