About speech and language therapy

Speech therapy is really about helping your child be able to communicate effectively, interact with others, and understand the world around him or her.

Speech/language therapy can:

  • Help children speak more clearly, and thus reduce frustration.

  • Help children that may have difficulty with speaking or understanding language improve his/her communication skills.

  • Help prevent prevent potential problems with behavior, learning, reading and social interaction when treated early.


What are the benefits of speech and language therapy at home?

Speech and language therapy in the child’s natural environment is typically the place we spend most of our time. It is a safe place for learning to happen. Interacting with people and activities in the natural environment helps the child feel safe and confident and thus leads to more positive outcomes.

What is speech and language therapy?

Speech Sound Disorders

Articulation Disorder: Difficulty saying sounds or words correctly. Often times they are hard to understand.

Fluency Disorder: Difficulty with the flow of speech, otherwise known as “stuttering”. This can include sound, syllable or word repetition (b-b-b-ball, mi-mi-mi-mine, you-you-you), as well as prolongation of sounds (Sssssssam).

Language Disorders

Receptive Language Disorder: Difficulty processing or understanding language.

Expressive Language Disorder: Difficulty putting words together to make sense.

Cognitive Language Disorder: Difficulty with communication including memory, organization, perception, problem solving, attention, and regulation.

Pragmatic Language Disorder: Difficulty using or understanding social language appropriately.

Childhood Apraxia

This is a motor speech disorder that makes it difficult for children to speak. This results in difficulty planning and sequencing motor movements (involving the jaw, lips, and tongue), such as slow, effortful speech, difficulty initiating words, adding or deleting speech sounds, or having inconsistent errors when speaking. Many children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) have a good understanding of language and know what they want to say, but have difficulty with the sequence of movements to generate intelligible speech.

CAS often requires specialized approaches and intensive therapy.