Pediatric Services

Childhood apraxia is present when a child knows what they want to say but their lips and tongue produce an unrelated sound. The child does not have weak muscles, however there is a disconnect between the muscles used for speaking and a child’s brain causing speech sounds to be distorted and/or incorrect. Speech therapy may be able to aid in improving a child’s speech production.  

 We move our mouth, lips and tongue to shape sounds. Depending on the placement of our articulators (mouth, lips, tongue, teeth etc.) will determine the way the sound is produced. For example, we need to be able to say “r” sound in order to say “rice” instead of “wice.” Most children are able to say most sounds by the age of 4. If a pattern of mispronounced sounds are noticed our speech pathologist can help teach the correct way to produce those sounds!

Stuttering can be defined when speech is disrupted by disfluencies. Disfluencies can range in appearance from repeating part or whole words (repetitions), stretching a sound out for a long time (prolongations) or trouble getting a word to come out (blocks). Another big part of stuttering is the emotional tension and negative feelings towards communication. This may cause people to avoid certain situations due to their disfluencies. Secondary behaviors can also accompany stuttering such as head nods or eye blinking. These behaviors may also be used as an avoidance technique. Our SLP's can assess and treat stuttering and also work on feelings one may have about their disfluencies.

Children develop language in different ways and at different times. Some are early talkers and listeners, while others struggle with listening and/or expressing themselves. Children who struggle learning new words, following directions, answering questions, turn taking, naming objects and asking questions etc. may have a language disorder. Our speech pathologists can assess and treat both receptive and expressive language delays and disorders.