What is Speech and Language Therapy?

Most people think of "Speech Therapy" as correcting a lisp, or learning how to properly say the "R" sound.  But "Speech Therapy" encompasses so much more than just that! "Speech Therapy" can be articulation, delays, understanding social cues, grammar, and abstract concepts. 

Why do children need Speech and Language Therapy?

There are a multitude of reasons why your child may have been referred to a speech language pathologist. Concerns may be brought to light by you, your pediatrician, teachers, or family and friends. It can be how your child articulates words. It can be how they understand words that are spoken to them. This is what we refer to as expressive and receptive language. Better known or more common reasons for therapy, may be stutters, lisps, or speech that's hard for others to understand. Less common reasons may be children that are late talkers or stop talking, children with executive function difficulties such as attention, memory, organizational. Also children with co-occurring disorders that impact speech and language development

How long will my child need Speech and Language Therapy?

This is the age old question! All children are different. Some children have more to learn while others may have underlying issues that make learning a little more challenging. Some days my little communicators arrive ready to play and learn and other days they may not be in the mood. After performing an evaluation, I can provide more detail, but the end of their speech journey is always dependent on the child.  

To help your child progress, we suggest working with your child at home as well. After each therapy session, I will summarize what we worked on and how your child performed. I also provide tricks and activities to practice at home. Working cooperatively gives your little communicator a better rate of progress! 

For more information from the American Speech Language Hearing Association please visit this website: https://www.asha.org/public/developmental-milestones/communication-milestones/ 

Will my child grow out of their speech errors?

There are circumstances where a child's speech errors are normal development. In these situations speech therapy would not be recommended. After an evaluation, I am able to decipher which errors are typical of development and which would be something for us to work on. The goal is to work on these errors while your child is developing and not later in life when it becomes harder to correct. Waiting to see if your child will grow out of their errors can make their path more difficult. It is always recommended to perform a clinical speech language evaluation to truly answer this question. You can also view our developmental milestones page to get a general idea of typical speech and language development. 

Do you work with school speech language pathologists?

YES! We as Speech Language Therapists/Pathologists LOVE to collaborate with other Speech Therapists working with your child in other settings.  We do our best to collaborate regarding goals that are being worked on, how the child is cued and reinforced, and even techniques used to create consistency and a less challenging learning process for your child. It is also helpful for children to have a connection between home, school, and outside therapy. When everyone is on the same page children thrive. 

If my child has services at school do they still need outside speech language therapy?

Yes! We always recommend clinical therapy along side school services. Schools and outside clinicians can have different overall goals. It is the job of the school to ensure your child can access the curriculum being taught. It is my job to ensure your child can access life. When school therapies and clinical therapies come together children can make better progress, not just academically, but also socially and in skills they will carry through adulthood. 

Can I just work with my child at home?

Yes! We want you to work with your children at home to help your child practice in their natural environment.  A quality speech pathologist will provide you with tips and activities to try at home. However, it's also important that your child learn in the right way. A speech pathologist is trained to know what skills to teach, what order to teach them, and how to teach them correctly so they will have a lasting impact. 

Another provider/facility offered to do the initial evaluation but cannot get my child in for weekly therapy. What should I do?

If you are looking for solely for an evaluation to use as a second opinion, an IEP meeting or for a check in on your child's developmental progress, Little Speech house as well as other providers can perform this evaluation. 

If you suspect your child may need or are seeking consistent weekly therapy, it is best practice to have the pathologist performing the therapy services also initially evaluate your child. This allows the provider the ability to get to know your child's strengths, your areas of concern, and your child's speech, developmental, and possible past therapy history. From here they can provide a treatment plan tailored to the information gained through this evaluation time.