What is a speech disorder?

Speech refers to how an individual’s output of verbal language is understood. Speech sound disorders is an umbrella term to differentiate between articulation and phonology disorders. Articulation disorders include difficulty with production of individual sounds. Phonological disorders include difficulty with production that affects more than one sound, which are rule-based and predictable in manner.

What is a language disorder?

Expressive language refers to an individual’s ability to communicate their wants and needs. This includes facial expressions, gestures, intentionality, vocabulary, semantics (word/sentence meaning), morphology, and syntax (grammar rules), etc. Furthermore, any difficulty with fluency or voice is within the area of expressive language skills. Receptive language refers to an individual’s understanding of language. This includes completing directions, attending to wh-questions, yes/no questions, understanding age-appropriate vocabulary, following conversations appropriately, etc. It is important to note the interconnected relationship between receptive and expressive language when considering both definitions of language at large.

​

Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapy is offered to support difficulties in the areas of fine motor, gross motor, visual motor, and sensory needs. The aim of this service is to improve motor, sensory, and coordination skills through everyday activities tailored to meet individual needs.

​

​PROMPT Therapy (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets)

Most of our Speech Pathologists are Level I Trained in PROMPT. This type of therapy uses a series of tactile cues that are designed to stimulate speech production. It is a very individualized therapy aimed at developing the most normal and flexible motor control, cognitive skills and social interactions that produce the most functional results in the fastest way. For more information about how PROMPT works, please visit www.promptinstitute.com