LEARNING MORE ABOUT OUR
speech
therapy
Communication helps build a strong relationship with your child whether it comes via words, signs, facial expressions, gestures, or alternative communication methods. Speech therapy at Whole Circle Pediatric Therapy can address articulation and phonological disorders, expressive and receptive language disorders, social language, childhood apraxia of speech, stuttering, dysarthria/oral motor weakness, and executive function deficits. Our speech therapist believes therapy should be fun and family-centered in order to promote success.
Outstanding speech therapist! From the moment my son started working with Larissa, she made us both feel at ease and speech quickly became a fun visit we would look forward to.
receptive + expressive skills
Receptive / expressive skills are required in order to let people know our wants and needs throughout our day. Children with difficulties in this area often don’t understand simple and complex directions and may be unable to communicate what they want or need.
USING WORDS INCORRECTLY
USING SIMPLE SENTENCES OR SHORT PHRASES
Children with EXPRESSIVE language disorder often struggle to form sentences that make sense. They may need extra time to answer questions or take a turn in a conversation. Common issues include:
USING VAGUE WORDS LIKE "THING" OR "STUFF"
HAVING A LOWER THAN AVERAGE VOCABULARY
HAVING TROUBLE FINDING THE RIGHT WORD
LEAVING OUT WORDS
BEING LATE TO BEGIN TALKING AND/OR SPEAKING QUIETLY
Children with RECEPTIVE language disorder have difficulty understanding language, following multi-part directions, and organizing their thoughts.
TUNING OUT WHEN PEOPLE TALK
MISUNDERSTANDING WHAT'S SAID
TROUBLE FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS
ASKING PEOPLE TO REPEAT
INTERRUPTING PEOPLE WHO ARE SPEAKING
NOT GETTING JOKES
GIVING ANSWERS THAT ARE "OFF"
apraxia of speech
Apraxia is a motor speech disorder which interrupts the messages needed to go from your brain to your mouth. These messages tell the muscles how and when to move to make sounds. In a child with apraxia of speech, the messages do not get through from the brain to the mouth correctly.
A child with apraxia of speech knows what they want to say, but when the words come out, they don’t sound right. The problem is not how the child thinks but how the brain tells the mouth muscles to move. The child might not be able to move their lips or tongue in the right ways, even though their muscles are not weak. Sometimes, the child might not be able to say much at all.
common signs of struggling with apraxia of speech :
DOESN'T ALWAYS SAY WORDS THE SAME WAY EVERY TIME
TENDS TO PUT THE STRESS ON THE WRONG SYLLABLE OR WORD
DISTORTS OR CHANGES SOUNDS
CAN SAY SHORTER WORDS MORE CLEARLY THAN LONGER WORDS
DELAYED LANGUAGE
DIFFICULTIES WITH FINE OR GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
NOT A PROBLEM THE CHILD WILL OUTGROW
WILL NOT MAKE PROGRESS WITHOUT TREATMENT
CAN TAKE A LOT OF WORK, BUT CHILD'S SPEECH WILL IMPROVE
motor skills + articulation
Oral motor skills refer to the movement of the muscles in the mouth, jaw, tongue, lips and cheeks. The strength, coordination and control of these oral structures are the foundation for feeding related tasks, such as sucking, biting, crunching, licking and chewing. They are also important for speech articulation and facial expression.
indicators of limitations in oral motor skills include:
LIMITED DIETARY PREFERENCES
EXCESSIVE DROOLING
DIFFICULTY SUCKING, CHEWING, AND SWALLOWING
POOR ARTICULATION
MESSY EATING HABITS
articulation + phonology
An articulation deficit is the inability to correctly produce speech sounds because of imprecise placement, timing, pressure, speed, or flow of movement of the lips, tongue, or throat. Children with articulation disorder are producing erred speech sounds and may have a difficult time being understood by others.
stuttering
Stuttering is a speech disorder characterized by repetition of sounds, syllables, or words; prolongation of sounds; and interruptions in speech known as blocks. An individual who stutters knows exactly what he or she would like to say but has trouble producing a normal flow of speech. These speech disruptions may be accompanied by struggle behaviors, such as rapid eye blinks or tension elsewhere.
pragmatics + social language
These skills allow us to be social, and to develop relationships and understand meaning during social communication. Some children have difficulty interpreting facial expressions and body language, and may only be interested in their own topic of conversation.