Services
Articulation Delay
An articulation disorder or delay involves problems making sounds. Sounds can be substituted, left off, added or changed. These errors may make it hard for people to understand you.Young children often make speech errors.
For instance, many young children sound like they are making a “w” sound for an “r” sound (e.g., “wabbit” for “rabbit”) or may leave sounds out of words, such as “nana” for “banana”.
The child may have an articulation disorder if these errors continue past the expected age. Additionally, the child may present with many different speech errors that may be individually typical errors for that child’s age, but due to the number of errors, intelligibility is reduced.
Apraxia of Speech
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a deficit in the brain’s ability to plan and program volitional movements for speech
Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing (DTTC) was designed specifically for children with CAS. A primary difference is that the focus of treatment is on the movement gesture, rather than an individual sound. No sounds are worked on in isolation. DTTC is based on motor learning theory and research, integrating Dr. Edythe Strand’s personal research and clinical experience treating children with CAS over a span of more than 40 years.
Word targets are individualized to each child – there are no word lists or picture cards that are routinely used in therapy. Through skilled assessment, Heather determines speech movement patterns the child needs to work on and then selects relevant, functional words for the child that fit the movement goal.
The therapist uses cues individualized for each child. No standardized cues apply to all children. Instead, therapy involves several different cueing methods such as saying the word slowly, saying the word in unison with the child, modeling mouth movements for the word, and tactile cues, which are not specified, and as simple as possible. Cues are dynamic, meaning more cues are given when needed so the child is successful, but cues are faded as soon as possible to promote independence. This dynamic cueing means Heather is constantly responding to the needs of the child throughout practice to avoid frustration while building skills.
Language delays
A receptive language disorder affects the ability to understand spoken and sometimes written language and often makes it difficult to respond to others appropriately. Children with receptive language disorders can have difficulty following directions, understanding questions and comprehending complex or longer spoken ideas.
A developmental expressive language disorder does not have a known cause and generally appears at the time a child is learning to talk. A toddler with an expressive language delay may not say many words or combine words. An expressive language disorder is characterized by a child having difficulty expressing him- or herself using speech. The signs and symptoms vary drastically from child to child. The child may have problems putting sentences together coherently, using proper grammar, recalling the appropriate word to use, or other similar problems. A child with an expressive language disorder is not able to communicate thoughts, needs, or wants at the same level or with the same complexity as his or her peers. The child often has a smaller vocabulary than his or her peers.
Children with an expressive language disorder often have the same ability to understand speech-language as their peers, and they have the same level of intelligence. Therefore, a child with this disorder may understand words that he or she cannot use in sentences. The child may understand complex spoken sentences and be able to carry out intricate instructions, although he or she cannot form complex sentences.
Learning Disabilities/Dyslexia
Heather Carpenter MS CCC-SLP, provides assessment and remediation of language based learning disabilities. Reading is complex. It requires our brains to connect letters to sounds, put those sounds in the right order, and pull the words together into sentences and paragraphs we can read and comprehend.
People with dyslexia have trouble matching the letters they see on the page with the sounds those letters and combinations of letters make. And when they have trouble with that step, all the other steps are harder.
Dyslexic children and adults struggle to read fluently and spell words correctly. But these difficulties have no connection to their overall intelligence. In fact, dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in reading in an individual who has the language skills & intelligence to be a much better reader. While people with dyslexia are slow readers, they often, paradoxically, are very fast and creative thinkers with strong reasoning abilities.
Therapy/instruction is individualized, multi-sensory and based on the Principles of the Orton-Gillingham approach.
For more information and signs of dyslexia: http://dyslexia.yale.edu/dyslexia/signs-of-dyslexia/
Teletherapy
Teletherapy is an option for many families. That could mean fully virtual, a hybrid mix with in-person sessions, or just the occasional telehealth session when it makes sense to switch it up. Teletherapy will only be considered an option if it is determined that the child would benefit and progress to the same degree as in-person therapy.