Pediatric Speech Therapy

Pediatric Speech Therapy in Clearwater, FL

Pediatric speech therapy, also known as speech language pathology, can help with many conditions, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and other developmental delays, that may cause deficits with speech and language development.

At Foundations Therapy, our pediatric speech therapists specialize in treating children who struggle with comprehending language, expressing their ideas effectively, and/or have difficulty making speech sounds in our Clearwater, FL clinic. A pediatric speech therapist is trained to evaluate and create an individualized treatment plan for pediatric speech therapy.

Speech Disorder vs. Language Disorder

A Speech Disorder refers to a problem with the actual production of speech sounds. A Receptive Language Disorder refers to a deficit with comprehending written, spoken, or gestured language. An Expressive Language Disorder refers to a delay with speaking or writing thoughts/ideas.

Speech Disorders May Include:

Articulation Disorders: when children have trouble saying certain sounds or words correctly, they may need pediatric speech therapy. “Run” might come out as “won”, or “say” may sound like “thay.” Lisps are considered articulation disorders.

Fluency Disorders: when children stutter, repeat certain sounds, and/or have trouble saying the complete word, they may need pediatric speech therapy. For example, a child trying to say “story” might get stuck on the “st” and say “stuh-stuh-stuh-story”; or he/she might draw out certain sounds and say “ssssssstory.”

Resonance or Voice Disorders: when children start a sentence loud and clear, but it’s quiet and mumbling by the end as they lose strength; when children sound “raspy,” like they constantly have a cold; or when they talk through their nose sounding hypernasal, they may need pediatric speech therapy.

Language Disorders May Include:

Receptive Language Disorder: when children have difficulty understanding or processing language they may need pediatric speech therapy.

Expressive Language Disorder: when chidren have difficulty putting words together, limited vocabulary, or inability to use language in a socially appropriate way, they may need pediatric speech therapy.

Pragmatic Language Disorder: when children have difficulty using socially appropriate language or understanding social situations they may need pediatric speech therapy.

Cognitive-Communication Language Disorders: when children have difficulty with communication skills that involve memory, attention, perception, organization, regulation, and problem solving they may need pediatric speech therapy.

Therapy Tools We Use for Pediatric Speech Therapy:

AAC
Beckman Oral Motor Protocol
Jaw Strengthening and Stability Programs
Kaufman Speech Praxis Program
Lindamood-Bell Reading and Comprehension Programs
Moving Across Syllables
PROMPT
Talk Tools Horn Program and Straw Program

Therapy Tool Details

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AAC

AAC is short for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, and includes communication devices, systems, strategies and tools that replace or support natural speech. These tools support a person who has difficulties communicating using speech.

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Beckman Oral Motor Protocol

This uses assisted movement and stretch reflexes to quantify response to pressure and movement, range, strength, variety and control of movement for the lips, cheeks, jaw, tongue and soft palate. The assessment is based on clinically defined functional parameters of minimal competence and does not require the cognitive participation of the individual. Because these components of movement are functional, not age specific, the protocol is useful with a wide range of ages and diagnostic categories.

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Jaw Strengthening and Stability Programs

Various oral motor programs are utilized to increase jaw strength and stability. Jaw strength and stability is a basis for chewing and speaking.

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Kaufman Speech Praxis Program

This teaches children to combine consonants and vowels to form words while controlling for oral-motor difficulty. Treatment methods employ a systematic and progressive approach of simplifying word pronunciation patterns to shape and expand verbal expression and make communication easier for children with childhood apraxia of speech and other speech sound disorders.

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Lindamood-Bell Reading and Comprehension Programs

These are programs that help improve reading, spelling, and comprehension for individuals of all ages with diagnoses such as dyslexia.

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Moving Across Syllables

Training Articulatory Sound Sequences is a therapy tool to help children with apraxia. It trains sequencing skills within and across syllables. It is designed to help with sequenced movements as changes occur in placement of the tongue. These skills are vital for intelligibility and accuracy in conversational speech.

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PROMPT

PROMPT_© stands for PROMPTS for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets. It is a tactile-kinesthetic approach to speech therapy, which means that the speech-language pathologist uses touch cues on the client’s face (vocal folds, jaw, lips, tongue), to support and shape correct movement of these articulators. Through these specialized touch cues, the speech-language pathologist is able to guide the client through a series of syllables, words or phrases. This hands-on approach assists the client to plan, coordinate and produce speech sounds. Touch cues are faded as the client’s speech production improves.

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Talk Tools Horn Program and Straw Program

Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson’s Horn Program is designed to normalize oral musculature, correct articulation errors, improve abdominal grading and speech clarity, and also serves as a prerequisite for working on oral-nasal contrasts. Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson’s Straw Program is used in conjunction with therapy to promote tongue retraction and controlled tongue movements. The hierarchy promotes jaw-lip-tongue dissociation through twelve stages of development.

Contact Us

727-724-KIDS (5437)

hello@foundationstherapy.net

2753 State Road 580, Suite 111 | Clearwater, FL 33761

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