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Welcome to Our Blog!

Welcome to Our Blog!

The clinicians at CRT have decided to create a blog, updated monthly, with the intention of educating our clients, both current and prospective! We realize that your experience with us may be your first experience with the world of Speech-Language Pathology, and we hope that this blog will help to answer some questions you might have about what we do, what we know about speech, language, reading and writing, and what you as parents can do to help your child succeed. We are excited to have this opportunity to share some information with you. If there is a specific topic you would love to learn more about, please leave us a comment! Thanks for reading!

Speech-Language Pathology: An Introduction

We at Communication and Reading Therapies work with a widely varied caseload of students both at our office in Vestavia and at a few private schools in the area. Many families may be curious about what a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) does and how we can help their children succeed. We work with students from pre-school age up through high school and occasionally college-age to improve their speech, language, reading, and writing skills. This month, we are briefly describing the role of an SLP and defining speech sound disorders.

What do Speech-Language Pathologists do?

Speech-Language Pathologists (commonly known as Speech Therapists) in the school and private practice setting provide assessment and treatment of speech, language, reading, and writing disorders. SLPs often conduct screenings, which are brief assessments that can indicate the need for a more comprehensive evaluation of a child’s abilities in these areas. A thorough evaluation indicates a child’s strengths and weaknesses and guides treatment based on the child’s needs. Treatment is individualized and can take different forms, often including play-based and multi-sensory activities to promote each child’s success in communicating at home and at school.

What is a speech sound disorder?

Although many children produce errors while they are developing speech, most speech sounds should be mastered by age 4. Some sounds, however, such as /l, sh, ch, s, z, j/ are typically mastered by age 5. Other later-developing sounds, including /r, v, th/, may not be mastered until the early elementary ages. Children presenting delays in speech development may have a speech sound disorder and often benefit from therapy with a Speech-Language Pathologist.

What are the types of speech sound disorders?

Speech sound disorders can be categorized into articulation disorders and phonological disorders. Children producing consistent errors with one or more specific sounds, such as “thun” for “sun” and “path” for “pass” (commonly known as a lisp), may have an articulation disorder. A phonological disorder constitutes an errored pattern of speech. For example, a child may produce all consonants formed with the back of the tongue (k, g) using the front of the tongue, such as “tup” for “cup” and “das” for “gas”.

For more information on these topics, visit the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association website at asha.org. We would love to hear from you! Please visit our website, communicationandreading.com, to contact us with any questions.

Laura Promer, M.S. CCC-SLP; Laura Morgan, M.S. CCC-SLP; Maria Vaccaro, M.S. CF-SLP