Pediatric Speech Language Therapy
We’re glad that you have taken the first steps in understanding your child’s speech and language difficulties.
We hope that this page answers some of your questions. Please remember that you know your child best and if you think something is not right, then something is not right. As you look over the information on this page, please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of further assistance.
Areas a Speech Language Pathologist Can Treat
Some of the areas a speech language pathologist treats include articulation disorders, fluency disorders (such as stuttering), voice disorders, difficulty with pragmatics, and swallowing disorders.
Articulation disorders arise when a child has difficulties producing and forming sounds. Omissions, substitutions, and distortions are the most common types of errors. Omissions are when a child omits a sound or leaves a sound out of a word (“da” instead of dog); substitutions occur when a child substitutes one sound for another (“gog” instead of dog); distortions occur when a child distorts a sound in a word. Listeners may have trouble understanding what someone with a speech disorder is trying to say.
A language disorder is an impairment in the ability to understand and/or use words in context, both verbally and nonverbally. Some characteristics of a language disorder include improper use of words and their meanings, inability to express ideas, inappropriate grammatical patterns, reduced vocabulary, and/or an inability to follow directions. Children may hear or see a word but not be able to understand its meaning. They may have trouble getting others to understand what they are trying to communicate.
Receptive language refers to the skills involved in understanding language. Receptive language also affects language use. For example, the child may have trouble understanding question forms or certain concept words. This causes the child to respond inappropriately to a question or have difficulty staying on the topic of conversation.
Expressive language refers to the skills of being precise, complete, and clear when expressing thoughts and feelings, answering questions, relating events, and carrying on a conversation.
Voice and Feeding Disorders
How Speech Therapy Can Help
A voice disorder is related to the quality of the vocal production, such as pitch, loudness, resonance, and duration. A person with a voice disorder may have difficulty maintaining sound production when speaking, may have a “raspy” sounding voice, or may not be able to vary their pitch or loudness. In contrast, a fluency disorder is defined by an interruption in the flow of speech. A person may produce a sound, syllable, word, or phrase multiple times, or may have a block when the speech is halted in the middle of a syllable, word, or phrase. Secondary behaviors may accompany a fluency disorder, such as apparent struggling or tension when speaking.
Difficulty with pragmatics indicates that a child has difficulty with social language. The child may not understand the “unspoken” rules of communication, such as using language for a variety of purposes (greeting, requesting, commenting), changing language according to the situation (talking differently to different people or providing necessary background information), or following rules for conversation
Feeding and Swallowing
Feeding or swallowing disorders can occur when a child has difficulty with the process of sucking, chewing, or swallowing foods. Some examples of feeding and swallowing concerns include requiring a long time to eat (more than 30 minutes), refusing to try different textures, experiencing less than normal weight gain, and having difficulty chewing. A speech language pathologist can evaluate and recommend specific swallowing strategies or exercises, diet consistency modifications, or positioning changes.
Contact Our Speech Language Pathologists Today
If you are beginning to notice your child is struggling with their communication skills or has a feeding difficulty, we welcome you to contact us today. At the Center for Pediatric Therapy, our highly trained speech language pathologists will help evaluate and determine the right type of speech therapy and/or feeding therapy for your child. We take pride in supporting children throughout the surrounding area of Westport, North Haven, Cheshire, Hamden, and Norwalk.