Services

WHAT WE DO

SCREEN

Speech and language screenings are utilized to identify potential problems at the broad level.

It is important that all prospective clients have a current and valid hearing screening prior to receiving an evaluation.

We offer
COMPLIMENTARY phone consultations for all first time clients!

ASSESS

Speech and language evaluations provide an appraisal of communication skills including comprehension and expression of language, non-verbal communication, sound production and articulation. A combination of formal and informal measures such as parent interview, play-based interactions, and observations are used to determine areas of strengths and weaknesses.

TREAT

Therapy sessions are aimed at improving a child's communication skills through both verbal and non-verbal methods. Skills are enhanced through fun activities which promotes the child as an active communicator.

PRIVATE SCHOOL LIAISON

Most private schools do not have a Speech-Language Pathologist on staff. In coordination with the private school, services (e.g., screenings, assessments, treatments) may be provided at the child's school.

ACCENT MODIFICATION

Accent Modification - choose to receive this service include: Non-native English speakers, speakers who want to reduce regional accents, and business and medical professionals who want to improve their communication skills due to foreign or regional accents.

ACADEMIC TUTORING

Tutoring is successful because it provides individualized, one-on-one instruction. Our tutor is a credential and Master degree holder who has many years experience teaching general and special education classrooms. STP offer academic tutoring to students needing educational support. Tutoring services are provided for students ranging from elementary all the way through high school aged.

AREAS OF FOCUS

SPEECH DISORDERS

Articulation

Articulation refers to the manner in which an individual produces a sound and the placement of the tongue, lips, and teeth. Articulation delay/disorder is the atypical production of a specific speech sound that may interfere with speech intelligibility. Many speech sound disorders occur without a known cause. Some can result from physical problems such as developmental disorders (e.g., autism), genetic syndromes (e.g., Down Syndrome), hearing loss, illness, and neurological disorders (e.g., cerebral palsy). Children who experience frequent ear infections may be at a higher risk for speech sound disorders.

Certain sounds are expected to develop earlier than other sounds. Developmental articulation disorders are common. They appear in at least 10 percent of children younger than age 8. The child may learn to produce these sounds correctly on his/her own as he /she grows older. These errors are not considered to be a speech disorder until the child is beyond the age when he would be expected to have learned the correct production of that sound. For example, if a 3 year old says "wabbit" for "rabbit" it would be considered a developmental sound error, but if an 8 year old has the same error, it would be considered an articulation disorder.

Adults can also have speech sound disorders. They may have articulation errors they did not correct from childhood, or they may have speech impairments as the result of a brain injury or stroke. Some individuals produce speech sound omissions or substitutions in relation to having an accent or dialect. These are not considered to be speech sound disorders, but rather a feature of their accent or dialect. For example, speakers of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) may use a "d" sound instead of a "th" sound (e.g. "dis" instead of "this").

apraxia of speech

Apraxia of speech or Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is characterized by difficulty producing deliberate, volitional movements, even though there is no weakness, slowness, or incoordination resulting from muscular impairment. This is considered an oral motor planning disorder. Some behaviors associated with apraxia include groping, perseverative errors, and increasing errors as the length of utterance increases. This classification is applicable for both children with congenital or early onset disorders and for adults with acquired disorders.

fluency/ stuttering

Fluency Disorder is the disruption of the flow of speech. It is characterized by repetition of sounds, syllables, words, phrases (ex. li-li-like this), prolongations (ex. llllike this), or abnormal stoppages (no sound). These speech disruptions may be accompanied by struggling facial or body movements, such as rapid eye blinks or tremors of the lips.
All children exhibit disfluencies in their speech — making mistakes is a normal part of learning to talk. Furthermore, some types of disfluencies are actually a normal part of the communication process. We all occasionally produce interjections, such as "um" or "uh", while we are thinking about what we want to say. Similarly, we sometimes make changes in what we want to say, and then revise our speech accordingly (e.g., "I want- I need that"). These examples of "normal" or "typical" types of disfluencies are different from stuttering, which involves a seemingly involuntary interruption in speech — or, a moment when the child knows what she wants to say but has difficulty saying it.

LANGUAGE DISORDERS

Phonological disorder

Phonology is the sound system of language. Knowledge of phonology involves learning and organizing all the sounds needed for clear speech, reading and spelling. A phonological disorder 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 "t" and "d" (e.g., saying "tup" for "cup" or "das" for "gas"). Children with phonological disorders are frequently unintelligible; often, their parents are the only ones who can understand them, and even they have difficulties. While this is partly a speech disorder, due to its relation to language; reading and spelling; it is now seen as a language-based disorder. Children with these disorders are at a very high risk for later reading and learning disabilities, and should be treated with intensive speech therapy as soon as they are diagnosed.

Developmental phonological disorders may occur in conjunction with other communication disorders such as stuttering, specific language impairment, or childhood apraxia of speech.

language disorder/ delay

Language Delay/Disorder is the noticeable disruption in the development of the vocabulary, grammar and social communication necessary for expressing and understanding thoughts, ideas and oral directives. For example, individuals may have difficulty following directions, or they may have difficulties formulating messages, or both. There are two major subtypes of language disorder:

Developmental Language Disorders "As the term ‘developmental’ implies, these are problems of language acquisition.” Often described as a language delay, a child's language is developing in the right sequence, but at a slower rate. “Affected clients present a pattern of delays in language development from early states of language learning” (Tomblin et. al., 2002).
An acquired language disorder is characterized by a clear reduction in language abilities and is therefore viewed as a disturbance of an already successfully developed language system” (Tomblin et. al., 2002).

expressive language disorder

A person with an expressive language disorder (as opposed to a mixed receptive/expressive language disorder) understands language better than he/she is able to communicate. Children with expressive language delays often do not talk much or often, although they generally understand language addressed to them. Expressive language disorder is characterized by having a limited vocabulary and grasp of grammar (especially with tense and temporal words). An expressive language disorder could occur in a child of normal intelligence, or it could be a component of a condition affecting mental functioning more broadly (i.e. mental retardation, autism).

Expressive language disorder affects work and schooling in many ways. It is usually treated by specific speech therapy, and usually cannot be expected to go away on its own.

receptive language disorder

Receptive language involves the comprehension of spoken language. Children with a receptive language disorder often have difficulty understanding and processing what is said to them. They may have difficulty following directions, may often ask the speaker to repeat themselves, or may appear not to be listening. For a child with this diagnosis, spoken words may sound like a foreign language; the child can hear the words being said, but does not understand what they mean.

autism spectrum disorder

Autism, sometimes referred to as infantile autism or autistic spectrum disorder, is a disorder that impairs neurologic, intellectual (cognitive functioning, cognition) and social/emotional development and functioning to varying degrees. Speech and language are impaired as a result of these difficulties. Autism Spectrum Disorders is an umbrella term that includes classic autism (also known as Kanner's autism or Kanner's syndrome), Asperger's syndrome, and pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). Autism is considered a spectrum disorder because it is a variable and complex disorder. That is, the disorder can occur in many forms, ranging from mild to severe. Autism and thus professionals say that it exists on a spectrum. However, all people with autism demonstrate impairments in the following three areas: communication, social relationships and restricted patterns of behavior.

social language deficits

Children with pragmatic difficulties have great trouble using language socially in ways that are appropriate or typical of children of their age. Although the are able to use grammatically correct and sentences, they often do not understand the
social communicative functions of language (e.g., turn taking, understanding of inferences and figurative expressions) as well as to the nonverbal skills needed to communicate and regulate interaction (e.g., eye contact, gesture, facial expression, and body language).

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