Children make speech sound errors for many different reasons and sometimes these errors are completely normal. Speech therapy is typically provided to preschool and school age children when a speech sound disorder or delay is identified and it negatively impacts their access to the curriculum and participation in age appropriate school-based activities.

Language therapy is a broad treatment area and involves many aspects of understanding what is heard and read, as well as the ability to express thoughts and ideas verbally and in writing. Students who present with language deficits often have difficulty meeting learning objectives in school and depending on the nature and severity of the language disorder, it can impact functional and social communication skills .

Social skills are critical foundation skills that allow children fully engage in their education experience. In order to access instruction and participate in daily interactions with peers and adults, social communication skills must developed. Some of these skills include active listening, attention, perspective taking, problem solving, and personal behaviors and expectations.

In speech therapy, fluency refers to the flow of speech, although in schools, educators often use the term fluency to refer to students' 'reading fluency'. Common fluency disorders include stuttering and cluttering.

Resonance and voice disorders include problems with the pitch, volume, and/or quality of one's voice that distract listeners from the spoken message. Resonance and voice disorders are typically evaluated and treated by speech-language pathologists in conjunction with physicians.

Prelinguistic communication (e.g., joint attention, intentionality, communicative signaling)

Paralinguistic communication (e.g., gestures, signs, body language)

Cognition (attention, memory, executive functioning)

Pre-literacy and literacy (phonemic awareness, reading, writing, spelling)

Hearing loss associated communication

Auditory processing

Feeding and swallowing