Apraxia is a motor speech disorder when the individual has difficulty sequencing the complex motor movements for intelligible speech. They generally have a good understanding of language and know what they want to say, they have trouble being understood. Speech therapy directly addresses the motor component of speech sounds and sequencing those sounds to make intelligible words.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts social interactions, communication, and behavior. Speech therapy addresses increasing expressive and receptive communication skills to decrease behaviors used as communication.
Swallowing disorders, or dysphagia, are when food and drinks have difficulty getting to the stomach via swallowing. This can result in respiratory issues or pneumonia. Speech therapy addresses positioning during feeding, compensatory strategies, and education about appropriate foods and when to try the next step.
A phonological disorder is characterized by difficulty at the phonemic level. They have difficulty organizing the speech sound systems in their brain. An articulation/speech sound disorder affects the phonetic level, they have difficulty saying consonants and vowels. Speech therapy targets these speech sound organizations as a group to increase intelligibility through tactile, visual, and verbal cues for accurate sound placement.
Stuttering is characterized by unnatural stoppage of speech, the repetition of sound, syllables, or words, or the use of fuller words like “uh, um” with in conversation. Speech therapy helps individuals who stutter learn specific strategies to reduce anxiety when talking to others, as well as, addressing any social skill management of their stuttering.
An expressive/receptive language disorder is characterized by a child having difficulty expressing his wants/needs and understanding and following directions given. Speech therapy directly targets those skills to facilitate increased interactions and a reduction in behaviors
Cognitive developmental delay is a broad spectrum with a significant difference in a child's cognitive development when compared to same age peers. It is important to understand cognition, which is the process of acquiring and understanding information through our thoughts, experiences, and senses. Speech Therapy addresses using all of our senses to help process the world and communicate effectively.
Cerebral palsy is a group of disorders that affect movement and muscle tone or posture. It's caused by damage that occurs to the immature brain as it develops, before or shortly after birth. Signs and symptoms appear during infancy or preschool years. Speech therapy involves working with motor deficits for optimal communication outcomes.
A person with selective eating is picky in their choice of food they consider to be safe or acceptable, avoiding foods with a particular taste, texture or color. Food variety is important for nutrition input and growth. Speech Therapy can help identify the root cause of selective eating, which is helpful in moving forward to expand a little one’s palate.
At age 2 a typically developing child should have around 200 words and be combining 2 words together. If you are concerned that your child has not met those milestones speak with your pediatrician about a referral for speech therapy. The earlier these concerns are addressed the better the outcomes for your child.
Genetic Syndromes are often accompanied by deficits in speech and language development. Speech Therapy can address these from a young age to support speech and language development as the child grows. More common genetic syndromes include Down Syndrome, Rett Syndrome, Fragile X, Klinefelter Syndrome, and others.