We work with children who have needs in the following areas:
Expressive Language: Some children have problems talking, called expressive language. They may have trouble:
Receptive Language: Some children have problems understanding, called receptive language. They may have trouble:
Pragmatics/Social Skills: Your child may have problems relating to other people. She may seem to be in her own world. It may be hard for her to:
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): Apraxia is a motor speech disorder that makes it hard for children to speak. It can take a lot of work to learn to say sounds and words better. To speak, messages need to go from your brain to your mouth. These messages tell the muscles how and when to move to make sounds. If your child has apraxia of speech, the messages do not get through correctly. Your child might not be able to move his lips or tongue to the right place to say sounds, even though his muscles are not weak. Sometimes, he might not be able to say much at all.
A child with CAS knows what she wants to say. CAS is a problem with her brain getting her mouth muscles to move, not with how well she thinks. You may hear CAS called verbal dyspraxia or developmental apraxia.
Even though you may hear the term "developmental," CAS is not a problem that children simply outgrow. A child with a developmental speech disorder learns sounds in a typical order, just at a slower pace. If your child has CAS, he will not follow typical patterns and will not make progress without treatment. It will take a lot of work, but your child’s speech can improve.
Articulation and Phonological Disorders: Children will say some sounds the wrong way as they learn to talk. They learn some sounds earlier, like p, m, or w. Other sounds take longer to learn, like z, v, or th. Most children will be able to say all sounds in English by 8 years old. A child who does not say sounds by the expected age may have a speech sound disorder.
Expressive Language: Some children have problems talking, called expressive language. They may have trouble:
- Asking questions
- Naming objects
- Using gestures
- Putting words together into sentences
- Learning songs and rhymes
- Using correct pronouns, like "he" or "they"
- Knowing how to start a conversation and keep it going
- Changing how they talk to different people and in different places. For example, you speak differently to an adult than a young child. You can talk louder outside than inside.
Receptive Language: Some children have problems understanding, called receptive language. They may have trouble:
- Understanding what people mean when they use gestures, like shrugging or nodding
- Following directions
- Answering questions
- Pointing to objects and pictures
- Knowing how to take turns when talking with others
Pragmatics/Social Skills: Your child may have problems relating to other people. She may seem to be in her own world. It may be hard for her to:
- focus with someone on the same object or event, called joint attention;
- play with others and share toys;
- understand how others feel; or
- make and keep friends.
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): Apraxia is a motor speech disorder that makes it hard for children to speak. It can take a lot of work to learn to say sounds and words better. To speak, messages need to go from your brain to your mouth. These messages tell the muscles how and when to move to make sounds. If your child has apraxia of speech, the messages do not get through correctly. Your child might not be able to move his lips or tongue to the right place to say sounds, even though his muscles are not weak. Sometimes, he might not be able to say much at all.
A child with CAS knows what she wants to say. CAS is a problem with her brain getting her mouth muscles to move, not with how well she thinks. You may hear CAS called verbal dyspraxia or developmental apraxia.
Even though you may hear the term "developmental," CAS is not a problem that children simply outgrow. A child with a developmental speech disorder learns sounds in a typical order, just at a slower pace. If your child has CAS, he will not follow typical patterns and will not make progress without treatment. It will take a lot of work, but your child’s speech can improve.
Articulation and Phonological Disorders: Children will say some sounds the wrong way as they learn to talk. They learn some sounds earlier, like p, m, or w. Other sounds take longer to learn, like z, v, or th. Most children will be able to say all sounds in English by 8 years old. A child who does not say sounds by the expected age may have a speech sound disorder.