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LEARNING MORE ABOUT OUR

speech

therapy

occupational therapy, speech therapy, portland oregon

Speech therapists address so much more than talking! SLP’s can help your child build skills related to oral language, total communication, play, literacy, grammar, vocabulary, speech sounds, listening, feeding, social language, self-advocacy, and stuttering.    

 

Communication helps build a strong relationship with your child whether it comes via words, signs, facial expressions, gestures, or any other method. Our speech therapists believe therapy should be fun and family-centered in order to promote success.   

Isabelle is a wonderful speech therapist! We have seen so much progress with my son, and she has given me so much wonderful information and resources that I can use at home to better help my son.

late talkers

A late talker is a child between 18-36 months whose spoken language is delayed even if there aren’t delays in other areas of development.  A child experiences the most brain growth before 3 years of age, so early intervention is critical.  

Signs therapy may be beneficial:

LIMITED BABBLING AND/OR IMITATION OF GESTURES AT 1 YEAR

BY 18 MONTHS, LESS THAN 10 TRUE WORDS, NOT USING SEVERAL CONSONANTS, NOT FOLLOWING 1-STEP DIRECTIONS 

BY 2 YEARS, LESS THAN 50 WORDS, NOT COMBINING 2 WORDS, NOT USING LANGUAGE TO COMMUNICATE 

BY 3 YEARS, LESS THAN 300 WORDS, NOT COMING 2-3 WORDS, MINIMAL GRAMMAR 

Late Talkers

speech sound disorders

Children may say some sounds the wrong way as they learn to talk which is a typical part of development.  However, by 4 years, most children can say almost all speech sounds correctly and are understood by people outside of their family.  Speech therapy can determine if your child’s errors are age-appropriate or if help is recommended.   

social language + play

Communication is more than just talking.  Communication means talking with another person.  These skills allow us to be social, to develop relationships and to understand meaning during social communication. For children, play is the primary facilitator of communication.  Play supports social learning as children learn to work together, share a space, and negotiate with others.   

Speech Sound Disorders
Social Language + Play

language + literacy disorders

Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a communication disorder that interferes with learning, understanding, and using language.  About 1 in 14 kindergarteners have a developmental language disorder.  Because oral language is the bedrock of reading and writing, language difficulties can be the first sign of literacy difficulties.  Speech therapy can strengthen your child’s vocabulary, grammar, and storytelling skills, which are all crucial parts of communication and literacy. 

common symptoms of DLD:

HISTORY OF LANGUAGE DELAY

SLOW TO LEARN LETTER SOUNDS OR LEARNING TO READ 

SMALL VOCABULARY, OVERUSE OF WORDS LIKE "STUFF" AND "THING" 

DIFFICULTY EXPRESSING THOUGHTS CLEARLY 

DISORGANIZED STORYTELLING (ABOUT ONE'S DAY OR FROM A BOOK) 

FREQUENT GRAMMATICAL ERRORS 

DIFFICULTY FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS AND ANSWERING WH- QUESTIONS 

Language + Literacy Disorders

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"

Receptive + Expressive Skills

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

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

Apraxia of Speech
Gestalt Language Processing

gestalt language processing

Gestalt language processing is a style of language development.  It is not a diagnosis or disorder, but another way children acquire language.  Gestalt language processors communicate with whole memorized phrases (also called scripts, chunks, echolalia, or gestalts).  This distinction is important so speech therapists can tailor their interventions. 

common signs a child might be a gestalt language processor:

USES SCRIPTS FROM FAVORITE SHOWS, MOVIES or SONGS

SCRIPTED PHRASES MIGHT SEEM OUT-OF-CONTEXT

LABELS LOTS OF OBJECTS, BUT HAS DIFFICULTIES USING THE WORDS FOR COMMUNICATION 

WHEN ASKED A QUESTION, CHILD MAY IMITATE THE QUESTION INSTEAD OF ANSWERING 

AAC (augmentative alternate communication)

AAC refers to all the ways we communicate besides talking.  AAC can include pictures, writing, facial expressions, sign language, gestures and pointing, printed visual aid,s and high-tech devices.  Our SLP’s are trained in Proloquo2go, LAMP Words for Life, TDSnap, TouchChat, SimPODD, and Go Talk. 

AAC facts:

AAC USE DOES NOT PREVENT YOUR CHILD FROM TALKING 

AAC CAN BE A PART OF CHILD'S COMMUNICATION TOOLBOX, MEANING THEY MAY USE VERBAL SPEECH, SIGNS/GESTURES, WRITING, ETC. 

AAC CAN BE INTRODUCED EARLY – IT IS NOT A LAST RESORT! 

AAC INCREASES OVERALL COMMUNICATION WHICH REDUCES FRUSTRATION 

AAC

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 refers to interruptions to the forward flow of speech, characterized by repetition of sounds/syllables/words, blocks, and prolongations of sounds.  About 5% of children go through a period of stuttering that lasts 6 months or more.  Most of these kids will grow out of their stuttering, leaving about 1% of the population with a persistent stutter.  Speech therapy address stuttering behaviors as well as thoughts and beliefs about stuttering to help children gain confidence in their communication skills.   

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.

Stuttering
Articulation + Phonology
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