Speech

Speech disorders can consist of articulation delays, phonological processing disorders, apraxia, and many other diagnosis.  Speech refers to the process of making sounds.  We require our lungs, vocal cords, mouth, tongue, teeth and many muscles to produce speech.

Articulation delays, refers to an inability to  produce speech sounds (phonemes) due to imprecise placement, timing, pressure, speed or flow of movement of the lips, tongue or throat.

Phonological processes are patterns of sound errors that typically developing children use to simply speech as they are learning to talk.  These alterations in speech will go away as the child develops.  Phonological processing disorder is when these patters remain past the typical age.

Apraxia of speech is an inability to perform particular, purposeful actions with the mouth and can result in decreased articulation.

Voice therapy is used when a patient has developed a voice disorder.  Voice disorders can be a result of many things: reflux, vocal cord paralysis, vocal nodules, cancer treatment, etc.  Treatment involves vocal and physical exercises along with behavioral changes to reduce vocally abusive actions.

Fluency therapy is used to treat stuttering.  Stuttering may begin in early childhood and, in some cases, lasts throughout life. The disorder is characterized by disruptions in the production of speech sounds, also called “disfluencies.” Most people produce brief disfluencies from time to time; however, when communication is impacted, an assessment is necessary.