If you’ve noticed your child doesn’t seem to be developing at the pace you expect, it can be a frightening time.
Every parent wants the best for their kids, and you’re no different. But if your child has been diagnosed with a developmental disability, or hasn’t started talking by two years old, it’s understandable that you’d feel concerned.
And while this might be overwhelming, you don’t have to go through it alone. At Sol Speech & Language Therapy, we have experienced speech therapists that can help.
We’ll work with both you and your child to help foster the skills that gives your child the best chance of overcoming their speech and language concerns.
Read on to find out more.
Why Is Early Intervention So Important?
The reality when dealing with speech and language disorders is that the longer you live with your disorder, the more time you’ve had to develop habits around your disorder.
As a result, it has been shown that the earlier your speech or language disorder is treated with speech therapy, the better your results will be.
This is why it’s so important to seek speech therapy as soon as you suspect something may be wrong with your child’s speech and language development. Many children grow out of speech and language issues, but it’s important to seek professional advice regardless.
If your child hasn’t started speaking by the time they’re two years old, that’s a good sign they may benefit from speech therapy.
Common Speech & Language Disorders For Kids
Though anybody can experience any speech & language disorder at any age, it’s far more common for kids & teenagers to experience certain ones than others. We’ll cover the more common disorders below.
If your child has been diagnosed with a speech or language disorder that’s not listed below, Sol Speech & Language Therapy can still help. These are just the more common ones.
Speech Therapy Services For Autism Spectrum Disorder
Broadly speaking, autism spectrum disorder isn’t a speech & language disorder on its own. However, it can come with a number of speech & language deficits and disorders.
Kids with autism spectrum disorder may range from no symptoms at all from a speech & language perspective to extreme difficulty.
Some autistic kids have difficulty speaking, learning new words, understanding nonverbal cues, or may be entirely nonverbal.
Regardless of where your child falls on the autism spectrum, though, Sol Speech & Language Therapy can help.
Our primary focus is on helping your child learn to communicate. This includes speaking, but it can also include understanding language better. In some cases, it may involve introducing AAC (augmentative & alternative communication) systems.
If your child has been diagnosed with autism, or you believe they may be autistic, contact us at Sol Speech & Language Therapy to book your appointment today.
Speech Therapy Services For Articulation Disorders
Articulation disorders are disorders where your child has difficulty making certain sounds with their articulators – their teeth, tongue, lips, and the roof of their mouth.
These tend to fall under four different categories – errors of substitutions, omissions, distortions, and additions.
With errors of substitution, your child will replace a sound for another sound in a word. Maybe saying “fink” for think.
With errors of omission, your child leaves out certain sounds from their speech – like going to “cool” instead of going to “school”.
With errors of distortions, they pronounce sounds in unusual ways. If you’ve ever heard someone speak with a lisp, this is generally a distortion error.
Finally, with errors of additions, your child will add extra sounds to the words they speak.
Regardless of what type of articulation disorder your child may have, Sol Speech & Language Therapy can help. We’ll work with you and your child to practice the sounds they’re having trouble with, so they can learn to adapt their articulation.
Book your appointment with Sol Speech & Language Therapy today.
Speech Therapy Services For Childhood Apraxia Of Speech
Apraxia of speech is a speech disorder related to the muscles used to form speech. In most cases, the muscles themselves work fine, but there’s a disconnect between them and the part of the brain that controls them.
This can manifest in delayed language development, limited vocabulary, and distorted speech patterns.
However, speech therapy can help.
Early intervention is key for managing apraxia of speech. So if you suspect your child may have apraxia of speech, don’t delay.
Book your appointment with Sol Speech & Language Therapy today.
Speech Therapy Services For Executive Function Disorder
Your executive function is the part of your brain responsible for organizing your thoughts and tasks. Around puberty, a child’s brain becomes capable of more complex tasks, which is where the executive function becomes fully developed. This includes tasks like:
- Analyzing situations
- Planning how to address a situation
- Organizing their plan into separate tasks
- Developing a realistic timeline to complete the task
- Modifying their approach as necessary
With executive dysfunction, teenagers and adults have a difficult time with one or more of the above tasks. They may be overly impulsive, easily distracted, disorganized, have a poor memory, and display many of the same symptoms of ADD/ADHD.
A speech therapist can help your teenager develop coping mechanisms to better control their impulses and focus on the task at hand. This can lead to stronger academic performance and a more satisfying personal life for your teenager.
Book your appointment with Sol Speech & Language Therapy today to find out more.
Speech Therapy Services For Other Pediatric Speech Disorders
Speech therapy can be effective in treating a wide range of childhood speech, language, and feeding concerns, including:
- Dysarthria
- Phonological Delay/Disorder
- Dyslexia
- Social skills development
- Fluency disorders (stuttering)
- Swallowing disorders
- Recovering from traumatic brain injury
- Tongue thrust
- Cleft lip/cleft palate
- Hearing delays
Book Your Appointment With Sol Speech & Language Therapy
If your child has been diagnosed with any of the above conditions, or you suspect they may have one of them, book your appointment with Sol Speech & Language Therapy today.
With early intervention, your child may be able to communicate with either no sign of a speech and language disorder, or very little, and go on to excel in both their school and home environments.
A speech or language disorder in your child can be frightening, but you don’t need to go through it alone.
Book your appointment with Sol Speech & Language Therapy today, and let’s get your child the skills and tools they need to communicate effectively.