SLT Delays & Disorders

Articulation Therapy

An articulation disorder is the inability to say speech sounds correctly. A child with this speech delay or disorder may substitute (say “tat” for “cat”), omit (say “ain” instead of “train”), distort (say “sshhun” instead of “sun” – commonly
seen in children with lisps) or add sounds to a word (say “bhlack” for “black”).

Adults can undergo articulation therapy to improve the way they speak so that they are more intelligible to others. Accent modification and correcting inter-language errors are common elements of articulation therapy for adults.

Language Intervention

Receptive Language Disorders

A child with a receptive language disorder has trouble
understanding and processing what others say. This can cause them to have limited vocabulary, have trouble following directions or appear uninterested when someone is speaking. Some common conditions that cause this are autism, down syndrome, hearing loss and brain injuries.

Expressive Language Disorders

A child with an expressive language disorder has difficulty conveying or expressing information. The child may have trouble getting words out or forming accurate sentences (e.g. missing nouns, incorrect verb tenses).

School aged students or adults who require language intervention usually have deficits in higher level language skills. These include, but are not limited to: naming skills (e.g. naming from description), verbal expression (e.g. idioms and reasoning skills), planning skills (e.g. sentence construction), auditory comprehension (e.g. understanding a paragraph and answering questions about it), auditory memory (e.g. remembering a sentence or a short paragraph) and reading comprehension (e.g. answering questions related to a story or a paragraph).

Students or adults who benefit from language intervention may also have difficulties with written language (e.g. dictation or compositions) and numeracy (e.g. solving word problems in Maths.

Cognitive Communication Intervention

A child with cognitive-communication difficulties can present with long-term or short-term memory issues, difficulties with problem solving, sequencing or planning/organizing their thoughts for effective communication. It is commonly seen in children with autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other disorders.

An adult with a cognitive-communication disorder may have difficulties with paying attention to a conversation, staying on topic, remembering information, responding accurately, understanding jokes or metaphors, or following directions.

A cognitive-communication disorder results from impaired functioning of one or more cognitive processes (due to brain injury or other co-existing disorders). These processes include attention, memory, perception, judgements, orientation (time and space), processing speeds and language.

Pragmatics Therapy

Children with social skill deficits may show difficulties with eye contact, taking turns, using appropriate facial expressions, and using appropriate body language. They may also seem isolated and are unable to start or maintain conversations.

Students and adults who would benefit from social skills intervention include those who have difficulties with basic communication, empathy and rapport, interpersonal skills, problem solving skills and accountability in social situations. These include students and adults with autism and other disorders that impact overall development.

Fluency / Stuttering Therapy

A fluency disorder affects the flow, speed, and rhythm of speech. A person with a stuttering disorder has trouble getting a sound out and may have speech that is blocked or interrupted. This is also displayed as repetition of a sound, part of a word or a whole word.

Voice Therapy

Voice therapy targets children with dysphonia (hoarse voice). This can include voice concerns in relation to quality, pitch, loudness and resonance.

Adults who may benefit from voice therapy include vocalists/singers, patients with ear, nose and throat (ENT) concerns, patients with Parkinson’s Disease or sufferers of chronic cough syndrome. Adults who have Dysarthria (slow or slurred speech due to an inability to control the muscles used for speech), vocal nodules or surgery in areas around their voice mechanism will require voice therapy.

Feeding/Swallowing Therapy

Speech therapists can help babies develop their suck and swallow reflex that is highly essential for feeding and weight gain. They can also assist with bottle or cup drinking, coordinating breathing when eating and chewing skills in infants and toddlers.

Some babies and toddlers have an aversion to certain textures of food. Speech therapists can help to make feeding time more enjoyable by changing food textures, liquid thickness, feeding positions or methods and can also offer suggestions to improve behaviours during eating.