Our Services
SpeakEZ provides services for the pediatric population in naturalistic environments: home-based and/or educational setting including:
Orofacial myofunctional disorder
teletherapy
Teletherapy is the online delivery of speech therapy services via high-resolution, live video conferencing. Teletherapy sessions are very similar to traditional speech sessions with one major exception. Instead of sitting in the same room, students and therapists interact via live video conferencing.
EARLY LANGUAGE DELAYS/EARLY INTERVENTION
There are many stages/milestones children move through as they develop speech and language skills, including receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language. Receptive language refers to comprehending and processing language. Expressive language refers to communicating both verbally (e.g., speaking) and nonverbally (e.g., signing). Speech therapy can help children who experience delays in meeting these important receptive and/or expressive language delays.
ARTICULATION/PHONOLOGY:
Speech sound disorders in children include problems with articulation (i.e. making specific sounds), and phonological processes (patterned errors of speech sounds: e.g. producing /t/ for /k/ consistently) which impact overall speech intelligibility.
CHILDHOOD APRAXIA OF SPEECH (CAS):
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS), or “apraxia,” is a motor speech disorder. Children with apraxia have deficits with the motor planning aspect of speech, meaning their articulators (e.g., lips, tongue, jaw) have difficulty getting to the correct positions to make a sound, and they may have difficulty moving smoothly to the next sound.
Receptive Language:
Receptive language is the ability to understand information. It involves understanding the words, sentences and meaning of what others say or what is read.
Expressive Language:
Expressive language refers to the verbal and nonverbal means of communicating wants, needs, thoughts, and ideas with others. Verbal means of communication refers to spoken language, while non-verbal expressive language can include gestures, signing, and more. Expressive language is an essential component of our daily lives.
Social Communication/Pragmatic Language
Communication is a critical part of daily life. Pragmatic language, or “social communication,” refers to using speech and language for social purposes. Pragmatic language is essential, as this is what facilitates children to communicate thoughts, feelings, emotions, and needs both verbally and non-verbally. Verbal communication includes the ability to do the following: conversational exchanges, conversational turn-taking, eye contact, asking questions and answering questions, maintaining a topic of conversation, and using appropriate language for the situation. Nonverbal communication includes facial expressions, gestures and body language, and appropriate personal space during interactions.
Feeding / Swallowing / Oral-Motor
Feeding therapy helps children who may experience challenges eating due to sensory, environmental, behavioral, or oral motor factors. Speech-language pathologists are trained to address concerns with nutrition and growth, family dynamics of mealtimes, and social aspects of eating.
Stuttering
Stuttering is a disorder of vocal communication marked by involuntary disruption or blocking of speech (as by abnormal repetition, prolongation, or stoppage of vocal sounds), also known as “disfluencies”. Children often go through a period of normal or typical disfluencies as their language repertoire expands dramatically. Looking at different types of disfluencies helps us determine if a child is stuttering or simply going through a new stage of learning.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC):
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), used to describe various methods of communication that can help people who are unable to use verbal speech to communicate. This can range from low-tech methods, such as picture exchange systems, to high-tech methods, such as an iPad or other electronic devices. There are also mid-tech methods, such as a switch that allows individuals to respond to yes/no questions.