Speech, Language, and Feeding Therapy

Each member of our team of Speech-Language Pathologists is trained in a wide variety of areas that affect the pediatric population. The types of issues we address include:

Mis-articulation and Oral Motor Weakness
(Including Apraxia of Speech, Dysarthria)

Our oral motor and articulation therapies address a child’s ability to correctly pronounce standard English speech sounds.
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The term Oral Motor refers specifically to the muscular movement of the mouth. In many cases, the root cause of a child’s articulation issues may be the results of weakened and uncoordinated movements of the lips, tongue and jaw. Oral Motor and Articulation therapies often include physical exercises to strengthen the muscles used in speech and speech drills to improve clarity.

Orthodontic Related issues
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Children with tongue thrusts often display a lisping speech pattern as well. However, mispronouncing the letter 's' is not the only consequence of a tongue thrust. Tongue thrusts play a major role in the dental mis-alignment that leads to orthodonture. Because of this we frequently work with Orthodontists to determine effective schedules to address these issues through both clinical approaches. For example, the remediation of a lisp may be recommended prior to the application of orthodontic braces. However, in situations where palate expansion is also necessary, speech therapy might be delayed until after a palate expander is inserted for a period of time.

Stuttering

Stuttering or stammering is a speech disorder in which the flow of a person’s speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases; and/or involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the speaker is unable to produce sounds. Many young children display developmental dysfluencies. These issues can be frustrating for parents, but are not necessarily indicative of a true stuttering issue and don’t necessarily warrant immediate intervention. The key is to determine whether the dysfluencies are typical or atypical.

Feeding Issues

Because the muscles that are used for speaking are the same ones used for eating, a speech-language pathologist is recognized as the most appropriate medical professional to address feeding issues.
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These issues can include newborns and infants struggling with nursing, toddlers having difficulty transitioning to or past purees or soft chewable foods, or older children who, on the surface, seem to be picky eaters, but who may in fact have muscle weakness that manifests itself in food aversions.
Excessive drooling or difficulty in orally manipulating solids and liquids are other examples of issues addressed in feeding therapy.

Craniofacial Anomalies

Though not common, some children display anomalies of the oral structures, such as a cleft palate or short frenum (tongue tie).
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These issues frequently impact a person’s clarity of speech. We often collaborate with or refer a patient to an otolaryngologist (ENT) when such structural issues are noted. In some instances, a course of speech/oral motor therapy is attempted before deciding to address the issue surgically.
Receptive, Expressive and Pragmatic Language Issues

A person’s language skills break down into three separate, though overlapping areas; receptive language, expressive language and pragmatic (or social) language.
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Receptive language skills can be described as one’s ability to take in and comprehend language that is presented textually, orally or visually. When a child has difficulties in this area it might manifest itself in the following ways: difficulty following directions; limited vocabulary; an inability to process information in environments with competing stimuli; difficulty in identifying and understanding salient information and main ideas.

Expressive language skills might similarly be defined as one’s ability to access and utilize information that has been received. Deficits in this area often are indicated by poor word retrieval, disorganization of thoughts (either verbal or written), limited vocabulary and errant grammar.

Pragmatic language skills take these two areas one step further, requiring a person to employ these skill sets when interacting with peers. Examples of this are reading social cues, taking other people’s perspectives or taking conversational turns. It is not unusual for both children and adults to have proficient receptive and expressive skills, and still have difficulties employing those skills with other people. Pragmatic language therapy is most often conducted in a group setting.

Once a deficit in one of these areas has been identified, language therapy can teach strategies to improve performance and rebuild or open up new neural pathways.

Auditory Processing Difficulties
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Auditory Processing Disorders are a specialized subset of receptive language issues. When an auditory processing component exists, it means that, when placed in an environment that includes competing auditory stimulation (noise) a person has difficulty mentally sorting through or distinguishing subtle differences in the presented information, even though the hearing is normal.

Autistic Spectrum Disorders

Autism and its less severe associated diagnosis (Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Asberger’s Syndrome, etc.) are disorders of brain function that appear early in life, generally before the age of three. Children with autism have issues with social interaction, communication, imagination and behavior. Autistic traits persist into adulthood, but vary in severity. With appropriate intervention, some people with autism can function well, earning college degrees and living independently.