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Many different areas are targeted and covered during speech/language therapy. Below is a brief summary of each of the different areas that are typically worked on in schools.
Many different areas are targeted and covered during speech/language therapy. Below is a brief summary of each of the different areas that are typically worked on in schools.
Articulation
“Articulation” is the production of speech sounds. A child with an articulation disorder is often more difficult to understand, because they produce sounds incorrectly. The three basic types of articulation problems are substitutions (fink for think), omissions (uh for up), and distortions (slushy “s” sound). Speech sounds are developmental, but some people, without the help of a speech therapist, may not outgrow their speech difficulties. To be eligible for speech therapy, a child must exhibit multiple misarticulations beyond the age at which 90% of the population has achieved mastery.
Receptive/Expressive Language Impairments
A receptive language impairment is characterized by difficulty understanding language, and an expressive language impairment is characterized by difficulty expressing language. A child is considered to have a receptive and/or expressive impairment if he/she uses one or more of the following patterns that fall below or are different from others at the same age.
Morphology - The child’s use of the smallest units of meaning in language. Examples would be the use of verb tenses, plurals, etc.
Semantics - The ability to comprehend meaning from words.
Syntax - The ability to apply grammatical rules in language. Examples would be negation, interrogatives, etc.
Pragmatics - This is the overall functional and appropriate communication skill which includes the ability to reason, listen, take turns, problem solve, and supply and request information. The child should be able to attain conversational skills appropriate for his/her age.
Fluency
Fluent speech is smooth and unhesitant. A “dysfluency” is any break in fluent speech. Everyone has normal dysfluencies in speech from time to time. However, stuttering is speech that has a high rate of dysfluencies. A child is eligible for speech services if he/she exhibits moments of stuttering on approximately 5-10% of the words spoken.
The following is a list of types of dysfluencies:
Part word repetition - “ba-ba-baby”
Whole word repetition - “my-my-my”
Prolongation - “ca-a-a-at”
Struggle behaviors - eye blinking, grimaces
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