Frequently Asked Questions:
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What
is Speech Therapy?
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How do I know if my child needs speech and language therapy?
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How do I get started?
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What happens during a speech and language evaluation?
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I've heard a lot of different technical names for types of problems,
what do they mean? [A glossary of terms]
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Articles about Communication Disorders
Q. What is Speech Therapy?
A. There is a large misconception about what speech therapy is
all about. Most people, upon hearing the term "speech
therapy", think of kids with lisps. Although it is true that
Speech Therapists (more accurately called Speech-Language Pathologists)
work with children who have lisps, there's a whole lot more to what we
do. What most people don't realize is that speech development
starts in infancy, and there are many steps along the way before a child
is "speaking". At any point along that development, a
problem may arise. We are here to help children overcome those hurdles.
As you can see from the title "Speech-Language
Pathologist", we not only focus on speech sounds, but also on
language skills (communication skills). We look at how a child is "taking in"
(understanding) all the new information he/she is receiving on a
daily basis, as well as how
he/she is using that new information. Another aspect of speech therapy
that people are mostly unaware of, is working with feeding and
swallowing problems. Most of the skills and movements necessary for eating
and swallowing are similar to movements necessary for speech, and are
therefore inter-related. So, speech therapy (speech-language
therapy) is the process by which a Speech-Language Pathologist works
with people (of any age) who have any type of difficulty in their speech
and language skills, or feeding and swallowing skills, and teach them strategies and techniques which will
help them reach their potential.
Q.:
How do I know if my child needs speech and language therapy?
A: As a general rule, children develop skills at their own pace, and not
always "on schedule". Having said that, it is also
important to be aware that for some children, they may need help getting
to those skills (also known as milestones). There is a common misconception
that people often have, where people will say "Oh, they'll
outgrow it". There may occasionally be times when this will turn
out to be true, but why should you be constantly worrying about when it's
going to happen? Furthermore, there are many
pediatricians who hold by the theory of "let's wait and
see". However, there is an even more important idea to
consider: "The earlier help is
given, the better." Without going into specific details about
each stage of speech and language development, a general guideline that you can
follow is to determine
whether or not your child is showing new skills every week. These changes do not need to be large ones, but if you're
not seeing a progression from week to week, then that should at least
raise a question in your mind. Furthermore, don't think that just
because a child is an infant that they are too young for speech and
language therapy...a child of any age is able to benefit from
assistance in his speech and language development. As a parent,
you know your child best. So, if there are issues that concern
you, it is best to seek advice from your pediatrician and from a
licensed Speech-Language Pathologist (also known as "speech
therapist"). As the saying goes, "When in doubt,
ask". So, don't be afraid to ask for help or a professional's
opinion.
Q.
How do I get started?
A. The first step is to contact us by email at info@horizonspeech.com,
or by phone at 201-214-7643, to discuss your concerns. The next step is
to set up an appointment. Before the appointment, you will need to
fill out a case history form, which provides us with important
background information, and vital input from you as a
parent/guardian. You can download a Horizon Case History Form here
in a .pdf format (if you don't already have a program which can read a .pdf
format, you'll need to download Adobe Reader or other such program), or
you can request to have the forms mailed or faxed to you. Once the forms
are returned to us, your appointment will be confirmed by
phone.
Q.:
What happens during a speech and language evaluation?
A.: All Speech-Language Pathologists (Speech
Therapists) have their own
styles of doing evaluations. So, this answer will be based on what we do
at Horizon Speech Therapy Services. Depending on the types of
concerns you have, we will determine which type of speech and language
evaluation will be administered. However, there
are several basic common aspects to all evaluations. First,
parents are asked to fill out a case history form, which contains some basic
background information about the child (ie: pre- and
post-natal history, health history, developmental milestones, etc.).
This information, in combination with the
information gained from the evaluation, will help the therapist get a
full picture of where the child's strengths and weaknesses are. The
evaluation itself consists of formal and informal testing. Formal testing
refers to the use of standardized tests, the results of which,
tell us where the child is performing in comparison to peers his
age. The informal testing is usually a combination of parent
input, conversation with the child, or play with the child. After
the evaluation is completed, the therapist will be able to give you
their impressions of your child's speech and language
development/skills, and determine whether therapy
is recommended. Yes, there are actually times when therapy will not
be recommended. The therapist may also recommend an evaluation or
consultation with another professional (ie: A special type of doctor,
another type of therapist, a school or county
service, etc.)
Want
to know more about Evaluations? Click here for an article explaining
the "When and Why to do it and What to
Expect"
Q.:
I've heard a lot of different technical names for types of problems.
What do they mean?
A.: As people become more aware of speech and language issues, a lot
of terms are becoming commonplace, but many people are still
confused as to what they all mean. Here are some of the
more common ones. If there are others that you are specifically
concerned about, please feel free to contact us by email or phone and we
will be happy to answer your questions.
Articulation: This term refers to a child's ability to produce
speech sounds (consonants and vowels). As children learn to speak, they
tend to follow a typical pattern for the development of speech
sounds. A problem with articulation happens, when a child steers away from that typical
pattern or when they stay at a certain stage longer than others their
age. There are also times when, for various reasons, a child just
does not learn to form a sound correctly. Often, the child will substitute
a different sound in it's place. Other times, there will be a distorted version of the sound,
or they may leave out that sound all together. There may also be a problem where
going from single consonant-vowel-consonant combination (ex:
"bed") to a consonant blend (where two consonants are together
- ie: "br" as is "bread") becomes difficult or, when a child can produce the sounds on a single word
level but then
it "falls apart" when it is combined into phrases and
sentences.
Stuttering: This term refers to a difficulty in producing sounds
or words in a smooth, flowing manner. It is usually characterized
by hesitations before speaking, the repetition of sounds or words -
usually at the beginning of a sentence, or sounds that are seemingly to be
"stuck" and can't come out for several seconds.
Receptive and Expressive Language: The term "Receptive
Language" refers to a child's ability to understand spoken
language (ie: having a vocabulary of words they understand that are appropriate
for their age, having skills to be able to follow directions,
demonstrating thinking skills and memory skills,
etc.). The term "Expressive Language" refers to their
ability to use spoken language (ie: having a vocabulary of words
spoken on a daily basis that is appropriate for their age, an
ability to express their needs, wants, feelings and ideas, an ability to
participate in a conversation, an ability to put a stream of words
together to produce sentences and use grammatical forms, etc.).
Oral-Motor (Oral Placement) Disorders: This term refers to the problems where
there is low muscle tone in and around the mouth, as well as poor
coordination of the muscles and structures in and around the mouth
(cheeks, lips, teeth/jaw, tongue), and poor motor planning for
speech and feeding movements. Oral-motor problems are often accompanied by
feeding problems which parents may or may not be aware of. For
example, a child who is an extremely "picky" eater (ie: only
eating certain textures or temperatures) would be more obvious to
parents. A child who is not drinking properly from a straw (ie:
using an immature suckling pattern) or not chewing properly (ex: using
an immature munching pattern instead of a rotary chew) may not
be so obvious to parents but would be recognized by our Speech-Language
Pathologist who specializes in oral motor disorders.
Apraxia: (Segments of this section have been copied from www.apraxia-kids.org)
This term can be broken down into two basic sections: Oral
apraxia and Verbal apraxia. Oral Apraxia indicates
that the child has difficulty with volitional control (doing an action
on demand) for non-speech
movements. For example: having difficulty sequencing movements for the
command: "Show me how
you kiss...Now smile...Now blow". Verbal Apraxia indicates
that the child has difficulty with volitional movement for the
production of speech. This can be at the level of sounds, syllables,
words, or even phrases (connected speech). The motor struggle is most
typically seen with sound sequencing.
It has been reported that it is very rare (and fairly unheard of) for a
child to have oral Apraxia without verbal Apraxia. What are
the symptoms? Basically, the problem occurs when the child has to consciously
make a movement or sound; However he/she can make the same movements or sounds
when they're not focusing on it. For example: the child may be
playing happily and parents may hear sounds being made - almost without
thought - "ma, ma, ba, ma, da". However, when the parents
attempt to get the child to use those sounds - "Say Ma-ma!"-
the child is unable to do so. In many cases one can see the struggle on
the child's face. The child may move their lips as if searching for the right
position to use. One minute he/she could do it (when not thinking about it or attempting the task) and the
next minute it is an intense struggle (he/she is now aware of the request
and are trying to will their mouths to make those movements = volitional
control). This type of difficulty would be recognized by our Speech-Language Pathologist
who specializes in Apraxia.
Sensory Integration / Processing Disorder: This term is usually associated with
occupational therapy, but is often inter-related with speech
therapy. It refers to the system in the body which controls our
body's response to sensory input. A sensory integration disorder
would be when "the child's central nervous
system is inefficient at integrating, interpreting, analyzing,
associating, and generally making use of sensory information"
(Carol. Kranowitz, author of "The Out-Of-Sync Child").
When infants develop, they often
learn about their world through their mouth (putting toys and objects in their
mouth). This tendency to explore objects by mouth eventually becomes outgrown at a certain point. However, for some children
this behavior continues and they are frequently seen putting objects in
their mouth. This is usually due to the body's craving to have
sensation in the mouth, to fulfill a lack of sensation that the body is
feeling. For more information about this topic please refer to the
website: Sensory
Processing Disorder Foundation.
Articles about Speech and Language Disorders: Communication disorders can affect people
of any age, race, gender, and ethnicity. Furthermore, just as people are
different, so are the communication disorders which effect them.
However, there are some common threads or symptoms that run through each
disorder. The following articles are presented with the intention that
they may help clarify things for you or answer some questions that you
may have. These articles have been published by the American Speech-Language-Hearing
Association to help parents, educators, physicians, and others, to
gain more understanding about Speech and Language disorders: What Are
They? Who Do They Effect? And, What Can Be Done About Them?
1. General
Information about Speech and Language Disorders
2. Information
about Ear Infections and Language Development
3. Frequently
Asked Questions About Articulation (speech sound pronunciation) Problems
