Speech and Language

Offering:

- weekly speech and language therapy

- speech and language screening

- articulation evaluation

- comprehensive speech and language evaluation

- social skills groups

- IEP service reviews

- alternative and augmentative communication support

- consultation to families and other professionals

Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Language Therapy, or AAC-focused Therapy can be provided in-home, in-school, or virtually across the state of Florida! Current in-person service areas include North Tampa, South Tampa, and Wesley Chapel. Check out available therapies below!

Speech

Articulation or Phonological

Children with articulation and phonological impairments often have speech that is difficult to understand. Common articulation difficulties include a “lisp” for the /s/ sound or making a “w” for “r” (example: "wabbit/rabbit"). It's possible for a child to develop out of some speech errors, but others could persist into adulthood. Speech therapy focuses on targeting errors that are developmentally appropriate to address.

Language

Receptive or Expressive

Children with language impairments have trouble understanding language (receptive language), expressing language (expressive language), or both. They often have a hard time following directions, answering questions, or expressing age-appropriate language concepts like pronouns, plurals, or forming complete sentences. Language therapy helps children improve their comprehension and teaches ways to better express themselves.

Social language

Pragmatics

Pragmatic language is knowing how and when to use language appropriately. Children on the autism spectrum or with diagnoses like ADHD can demonstrate pragmatic language impairments when interacting with peers and adults. This could include appropriate eye contact, body language, topic maintenance, and understanding other people's perspectives.

Fluency

Flow of speech

Children with fluency disorders “stutter” on sounds, words, and phrases as they speak. Some repeat sounds or words, get “stuck” on words, or take long pauses mid-thought. There is a typical phase of disfluent speech for young children when they are learning to speak in longer phrases; however, there are many signs of fluency disorders that would persist. Direct therapy from a speech-language pathologist at an early age can help with smoothness of speech, but more importantly can help with self-perception and self-esteem.

Literacy

Understanding written language

Literacy is a child's ability to read and write. Speech-language pathologists play an important role in literacy as children with speech or language difficulties are 50% more likely to have difficulties with literacy. Speech-language pathologists can assist by preventing literacy struggles through facilitating age-appropriate language acquisition, directly assessing reading and writing abilities, and by providing multisensory direct support when needed.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication

Non-speech methods of communcation

Children who are non-verbal or with very limited verbal skills sometimes benefit from the use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to express language. AAC systems range from low tech options like core vocabulary and PECS to high tech options like iPad's enabled with ProloQuo or TouchChat. Having a speech-language pathologist partner with your family to utilize AAC can make a drastic difference in a child's communication abilities!