Speech therapy can address any or all of the following:

            Articulation-the production of vowel and consonant sounds when speaking

            Fluency- the flow of speech (i.e. stuttering)

            Voice- aspects of your speaking voice (i.e. tone, pitch, volume, quality)

      Red Flags          

• If child’s speech cannot be easily understood by listeners, and the parents frequently interpret what the child is saying
• If the child does not use consonants in the beginning, middle, and ends of words. Some of the more difficult sounds may be distorted, but attempts to say them
• Substituting one sound for another
• Omitting speech sounds
• Distorting speech sounds
• Lisps

This chart reflects at what age these sounds are produced correctly by 90% of children (2000, Goldman-Fristoe Supplemental Norms).

Key

“ng” as in “fishing”

“voiced th” as in “the”

“voiceless th” as in “bath”

Language therapy addresses receptive language (skills to understand language-not spoken) and expressive language (expressing self through spoken word).

Semantics- vocabulary

Syntax- word order in a sentence

Morphology- grammar, use of plurals, possessives

Pragmatics- social use of language and its rules

Language Therapy

3 Year Olds

-  The child is not using pronouns I, you, me or  verbs ending in "ing"

- The child is unable to use 3-4 words in a sentence.

- The child has difficulties following spatial directions (under, on top, front, back, out, in)

- The child needs prompts to ask  ''what'' questions or can not describe use of objects ( spoon)

4 Year Olds

- The child is unable to use 4-5 words in a sentence

- The child's conversation skills are not emerging

- The child needs prompts to ask  "why" questions

- The child has difficulty understanding concepts of longer, behind, next to or cannot name common objects in picture books

- The child has difficulties with simple categories

5 Year Olds

-The child is unable to use 5-6 words in a sentence

- The child has difficulty with time sequence (what happens 1st, 2nd)

- The child has difficulty using descriptive words or answering simple questions about a story

- The child cannot follow 3 step directions 

- The child is not using complex sentences

6 Year Olds and Older

- The child has difficulties predicting what happens next in a story

-  The child has difficulties putting sentences together in conversation about past events

- The child needs prompts to ask "how" questions

- The child has difficulty telling a connected story or answering complex questions about a story