We use a variety of evidence based practices to help improve speech production and achieve clear speech.
Some examples of speech disorders that we treat include:
Articulation disorders: Articulation refers to the way a sound is produced. When a child has an articulation disorder, they are not able to produce certain speech sounds properly which makes it hard for people to understand them (e.g., “fum” for “thumb, “wip” for “lip”). Articulation disorders also include frontal and lateral lisps.
Phonological Processing Disorders: A phonological disorder occurs when a child fails to use expected speech sounds that are appropriate for their age. Children with phonological disorders can be very difficult to understand. Phonological processes are developmental in nature; they are patterns that children use to simplify speech as they are learning to talk. A child should be evaluated for a phonological disorder when the processes continue beyond the age when most typically developing children have stopped using them. Some processes include:
- Final consonant deletion: Cutting off the ending sounds of words (e.g., saying “ha” for “hat”)
- Fronting: When a sound that is produced in the back of the mouth, like “k” or “g” are substituted with sounds in the front of the mouth like “t” or “d” (e.g., saying “do” for “go” or “tat” for “cat”)
- Weak syllable deletion: When words with two or more syllables are pronounced with fewer syllables (e.g., “elephant” may be pronounced “ephant” or “nana” for “banana”).
- Cluster reduction: When a consonant cluster is reduced to a single consonant (e.g., “nake” for “snake”)
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): This is a motor speech disorder in which a child has difficulty producing accurate movements for speech. In order to speak, messages need to go from your brain to your mouth (e.g., lips, jaw, tongue). These messages tell the muscles how and when to move to produce sounds. With apraxia of speech, the messages from the brain do not get through to the muscles correctly. The child knows what he/she wants to say but their brain has difficulty coordinating the necessary muscle movements to say the words. The child might not be able to move their lips or tongue in the right ways, even though their muscles are not weak. Some indicators include children who are late talkers and do not babble or make sounds at all. These children have difficulty saying sounds, syllables, and words. If a child has CAS they may:
- Have difficulty making sounds or repeating sequences of sounds or words
- Make different mistakes when they say the same word
- Have difficulty with normal intonation patterns (e.g. speaking in a monotone voice)
- Have a very limited vocabulary
- Speak more slowly than other children their age
- Use more pauses and fewer words
- Make searching movements with their lips and tongue when trying to say a sound
Dysarthria: This is a motor speech disorder due to paralysis or weakness of the muscles needed to produce speech. Symptoms may include:
- Slowed speech
- Slurred speech that is not clear
- Difficulties controlling speech volume
- Hoarse, nasal, breathy vocal qualities
- Speech that appears effortful due to lack of breath control
- Reduced control of pitch – speech may be monotone, high or low pitched