Speech Language Pathology

ARTICULATION:

One of the more familiar areas of speech and languate, articulation focuses on the production of speech shounds.  Phonoloty, a subset of this area, looks at the production of speech sounds through the use of speech patterns and addresses therapy from that perspective rather than by single sound error.  By age 8, it is expected that a child should have mastered all speech sounds.

FLUENCY:

An area of speech that specifically targets disfluent speech or stuttering.  A person who stutters has speech that is characterized by frequent repititions of sounds, words, or phrases and possibly marked physical associations during attempts to speak fluently.  Therapy focuses on remediating actual stuttering moments or on fluency techniques that aid in an overall approach to speaking.

VOICE:

Voice is an area of speech that specifically targets voice quality, pitch, and volume. Vocal nodules are a common cause of voice problems like hoarseness or breathy voice. Abuse of the vocal folds caused by poor breath support, yelling, exposure to smoky places, frequent alcohol use, and lack of consistent hydration is a common cause of vocal nodules. Teachers frequently suffer from vocal nodules because of the amount of talking they do throughout the day.

EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE

An area that focuses on a child's ability to communicate ideas verbally.  It covers the areas of vocabulary, grammar (syntax), explaining word relationships, and answering questions.  Expressive language has to do with what the student says, his or her output.

RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE

Receptive language therapy focuses on a child's ability to understand information coming in to him or her. It covers the areas of understanding vocabulary, understanding sentence structure; understanding word relationships; following directions; understanding basic concepts, and processing auditory language.

PRAGMATIC LANGUAGE

An area of language that specifically targets a child's social language; a child's ability to participate in conversational turn taking, read nonverbal cues, use appropriate tone and language for his or her peer group, respond appropriately to requests for clarification, request clarification from others when necessary, and understand humor among other skills. Many students with autism have deficits in the area of pragmatic language.