Children Serviced Areas

A Speech-Language Pathologist provides evaluation, treatment and prevention services for children of any age group. There are many reasons for speech and language disorders so each individual receiving service at Speech Therapy Solutions will be given the service that meets his or her specific need.

  • Speech Therapy (Articulation Therapy)
  • Language Therapy
  • Oral Motor Therapy
  • Fluency Therapy
  • Voice Therapy
  • Language Processing Therapy
  • Social Skills Therapy
  • Accent Modification


EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT
Evaluations and assessments are provided to determine what the individual needs to do to improve his/her communication skills. The assessment is the initial phase of the treatment process. The evaluation can include assessment of one or more of the following:

  • Articulation (speech sound production),
  • Language,
  • Oral motor,
  • Voice,
  • Fluency,
  • Pragmatic skills

Depending on the severity of the communication difficulties, the assessment may be completed in one visit or it may require several sessions. Assessment of skills and performance also occurs as an ongoing process during therapy. Initial assessments provide information regarding strengths and weaknesses and allow the speech language pathologist to choose appropriate goals for the client. A report summarizing the results of the assessment will be provided to the family.

Language Delays

Language therapy covers a wide range of services. Delayed language in infants and toddlers is one aspect of a therapy program. School-age children may have a specific language impairment, which affects their ability to comprehend reading and other academic material. These children may have effective functional and conversational language but have difficulty with language processing or defining, describing or understanding the vocabulary associated with math, science and other reading comprehension concepts. Adults may have a need for therapy following a stroke that has impaired their ability to use language and speech in the manner utilized prior to the vascular incident. Language therapy may also be necessary for individuals as a result of autism, developmental delay, hearing loss, closed head injury, adult neurogenic communication disorders, or traumatic brain injury. All aspects of language therapy cannot possibly be covered in this brief overview. The Language sub areas may include the following:

Receptive Language Delays

Receptive language delays are when an individual has difficulty understanding language. Individuals with receptive language delays may demonstrate behavioral concerns or seem inattentive. Some examples of difficulties may include trouble following directions, answering questions, or understanding stories.

Expressive Language Delays

Expressive language refers to the production of language, putting thoughts and ideas into spoken or written words. Expressive language delays may affect one or more of the following areas of language:

  • Syntax – combining words into sentence or phrases, following grammatical rules
  • Semantics – meanings of words
  • Morphology – combining small units of language to form new words (e.g. sleep, sleeping, slept)
Social Language Skills

Social components of language are also known as pragmatic skills. Pragmatic language refers to language in its social sense. It involves not only what is said but also why and for what purpose it is said. Individuals may have good linguistic ability and be able to use a variety of sentence structures that are syntactically, morphologically and semantically correct, but lack the ability to monitor when to most effectively and appropriately use them. These include:

  • Maintaining eye-contact
  • Taking turns during activities and in conversation (e.g. raising hand, not interrupting)
  • Requesting, commenting, and sharing information appropriately
  • Maintaining the topic of conversation
  • Understanding and using gestures and facial expressions
Literacy Delays (Reading and Writing)

Literacy is an essential skill for learning. There are many skills a child must acquire before they are able to read and write. Some of these skills include:

  • Book Awareness (e.g. how to hold a book, when to turn the page, reading from left to right)
  • Phonological Awareness (e.g. syllables, rhyming, identifying beginning sounds)
  • Letter-sound Correspondence (e.g. letter S says “sss”)
  • Decoding (i.e. sounding words out)
  • Sight Word Recognition
Autism Spectrum Disorders

Children with ASD have social, communication, and language difficulties; often characterized by repetitive or restrictive patterns of behavior, interests or activities. Children may have difficulty using social skills to connect with other people or difficulty sharing focus with other individuals, playing with others, understanding feelings and making friends.
Children and adolescents with autism may require speech and language therapy to help with receptive or expressive language skills as well as social skills. Speech-language therapy addresses a range of challenges that are often faced by individuals on the autism spectrum. After an assessment is completed by a speech-language pathologist (SLP), speech therapy will target specific goals that will be functional for the individual.
If your child has ASD, he/she has social communication difficulties. These might include:

  • joint attention,
  • referencing and eye contact,
  • shared enjoyment of activities
  • having difficulty playing with peers,
  • taking turns in conversations
  • understanding other people’s intentions
  • understanding other people’s perspectives
    In addition, your child might have difficulties with:
  • motor speech skills (articulation of speech sounds),
  • understanding language
  • using language
  • telling stories
  • understanding jokes

Some children with ASD might be nonverbal and thus need an augmentative and alternative communication system. These systems are designed by SLPs.
An SLP is trained to assess, diagnose and treat the above goals.

Articulation/Speech Sound Disorders

Articulation refers to speech sound production. Sounds that are misarticulated call attention to how the speaker sounds rather than to what he/she is discussing. Misarticulations can include one or more of the following:

  • Substitutions: when a different sound is produced instead of the correct sound
  • Omissions: the sound is left out of the word
  • Distortions: the sound is produced with improper use of airflow or oral mechanics

Speech sound disorders occur when an individual has difficulties producing sounds correctly. This may be due to substituting sounds (e.g., “wed” for “red” or “tar” for “car”); omitting sounds (e.g., “pay” for “play”); or adding sounds (e.g., “buhlack” for “black”).
Both children and adults can experience articulation difficulties. Children develop their ability to control the muscles used for speaking over a series of developmental stages. While many children may outgrow their articulation errors, some children will need speech therapy to help them overcome difficulties.
Adults with articulation difficulties often require speech therapy since the longer a person has dealt with a speech problem, the more resistant it may be to change. Speech therapy can help an individual learn new motor patterns and how to transfer their skills to everyday conversational speech. Articulation disorders can vary from mild substitutions to multiple sound misarticulations. Young children are frequently enrolled in articulation therapy to improve their communication skills.

For more information, please see: www.osla.on.ca/en/articulation

Auditory Processing Disorder

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is also known as Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD). Children have normal hearing, but experience difficulty processing information that they hear. APD is diagnosed by an audiologist; however speech-language professionals may provide therapy to assist with difficulties that coincide with APD.
APD becomes more apparent when trying to process speech within a noisy environment. Symptoms of APD include but are not limited to; difficulty following directions and comprehending verbal information. A multi-disciplinary approach is recommended to rule out any other disorders as these symptoms are common with disorders other than APD.
Children with language processing difficulties do not have difficulty hearing and they have normal/near normal basic receptive/expressive language skills. The auditory information is received accurately however the child has difficulty attaching meaning to it as the linguistic difficulty of the task increases.

Acquired Brain Injury

Acquired brain injuries result from damage to the brain (e.g. motor vehicle accident, birth trauma etc.). Such damage can result in temporary, prolonged or permanent impairments in cognitive, emotional, behavioral, or physical functioning.
Symptoms of an acquired brain injury may vary depending on the individual, as well as the severity and area of the damage. As a result of such an injury, individuals may experience difficulties with:

  • Receptive Language
  • Expressive Language
  • Fluency (Stuttering)
  • Word Finding
  • Motor Speech (e.g. dysarthria, apraxia)
  • Swallowing
  • Literacy
  • Attention
  • Memory
  • Organization/Planning
  • Processing Information
  • Verbal Reasoning
  • Problem Solving
  • Social Communication
Stuttering

Individuals with fluency disorders have difficulties with the flow and rhythm of speech. It is commonly known as a stutter. This occurs when an individual experiences syllable, word, or phrase repetitions (“I wah, wah, want to go.”), prolongations (“I wwwwant to go.”) and/or blocking (“I——want to go.”). Often, individuals who stutter demonstrate additional behaviors such as poor eye contact and avoidance of difficult words. They may also present with secondary behaviors such as eye blinking or fist clenching. Stuttering may look different from one individual to another and can range from a single word repetition (“My-my dad went to the store”) to an extended block (i.e. can’t get the word out).
Seeking therapy may increase a speaker’s confidence, as well as reduce the likelihood of social withdrawal or avoidance of certain communication situations (e.g. speaking to teachers, answering questions in class, oral presentations).
The goal is to help the individual manage and/or control their speech to gain fluency. Secondary characteristics during speaking are also addressed to reduce or eliminate their occurrence. Some identified characteristics may be tongue clicks, loss of eye contact, facial grimaces, hand movements, lip tension, jaw tension and other body and facial movements. All aspects of the disorder are carefully addressed in therapy and in the evaluation process. For young children the Lidcombe program is the preferred therapy in which our SLPs are certified in.

Voice/Resonance

Voice disorders are characterized by a mismatch between the sound of an individual’s voice and their age, size and/or gender. This may include abnormal loudness, pitch or overall voice quality. For example, a child yelling excessively on the playground or a teacher who habitually speaks in noisy conditions may develop vocal polyps or nodules, which cause a hoarse voice.
Voice can become a problem when it calls attention to itself or when it is a struggle to speak. This can develop at any age. There are many causes of voice problems – e.g., misuse through inefficient breathing; yelling; throat clearing; damage due to trauma or disease; exposure to environmental toxins, etc. Symptoms may include vocal fatigue; a hoarse or raspy sounding vocal quality; a higher or lower pitch than usual; reduced range of vocal pitch; a softer sounding voice, etc.
If you experience changes to your voice, it is important to seek medical attention. Your doctor may refer you to an ear, nose and throat physician (ENT) for further evaluation. Speech therapy may be recommended to help you find effective ways to improve the way you use your voice and to identify any behaviors that can contribute to voice problems.
Resonance disorders are characterized by a difference in airflow through the nose and mouth. This may include hypernasality (excessive emission of air through the nose) or hyponasality (a lack of appropriate nasal airflow during speech, such as when a person has nasal congestion). For example, a child born with a cleft palate may have velopharyngeal insufficiency (improper closing of the soft palate muscle in the mouth during speech, allowing air to escape through the nose instead of the mouth) resulting in hypernasality.
For more information, please see: www.osla.on.ca/en/voice

Developmental Apraxia of Speech

Children with articulation difficulties who struggle with voluntary or imitative production of speech may present with a developmental apraxia of speech. Errors often become more obvious as speech and language skills develop. There is no weakness in the muscles used for speaking and no obvious neurological cause.
Speech difficulties may differ from child to child. A very young child may not babble as an infant and demonstrate delayed onset of first words. Some children have difficulties saying sounds, syllables or words. They know what they want to say, however, their brain has trouble coordinating the muscle movements to say words correctly.
Speech therapy can help work toward establishing increased control and coordination of speech muscles, to promote speech sound development and improve intelligibility.

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OUR ADDRESS

240 B Sunset Blvd.(Regency House), Los Angeles
office@the-advisors.net

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