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Speech Therapy

What Is Speech Therapy?

Treatment that improves a child’s speech, language and oral-motor skills. 

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What is a Speech Disorder?

A speech disorder refers to a problem with producing words correctly or fluently. Speech disorders include the following: 

  • Articulation/Phonological Process disorders - difficulties producing sounds in syllables or saying words incorrectly to the point that other people can’t understand what is being said. 

  • Fluency disorders - problems such as stuttering, the condition in which the flow of speech is interrupted by abnormal stoppages, repetitions (st-st-stuttering), or prolonging sounds and syllables (ssssstuttering).

  • Resonance or voice disorders - problems with the pitch, volume, or quality of the voice that distract listeners from what’s being said. These types of disorders may also cause pain or discomfort for the child when speaking.

What is a Language Disorder?

A language disorder refers to difficulty understanding or combining words together to express ideas. Language disorders can be receptive (difficulty understanding or processing language) or expressive (difficulty putting words together, a limited vocabulary, or inability to use language in a socially appropriate way). Additional diagnoses like ADHD, autism, cleft lip or palate, neurological injuries, and developmental disabilities may also result in language disorders. 

What is an Oral-Motor Disorder? 

An oral-motor disorder refers to difficulty controlling the lips, tongue, and jaw muscles, which makes mouth skills — from talking to eating to sipping from a straw — difficult to master. Developmental delay, genetic disorders, and neurological disorders may result in oral-motor dysfunction. 

Why Is Speech Therapy Needed?

Your child’s doctor may recommend speech therapy for your child due to a variety of reasons related to speech, language, and oral-motor skills. Speech Therapy may be needed anytime a child has difficulty communicating, understanding and/or expressing needs and thoughts or feeding/swallowing.  

What do Speech-Language Pathologists do? 

Speech-Language Pathologists work with a wide variety of disorders that involve speech, language, reading, writing, comprehension, cognition, memory, attention, voice, swallowing, and other behaviors. Speech Therapy sessions might include activities to help your child communicate with the use of signs or pictures, improve your child’s planning and problem solving skills, engage in pretend play as a prerequisite for language development, or practice safe feeding techniques. 

Allied Therapy Speech Therapist Directory

  • Alexis Weber, CCC-SLP

  • Ally Hutchinson, MS, CCC-SLP

  • Brenda VonOhlen, MS, CCC-SLP

  • Brooke Myrick, MCD, CCC-SLP

  • Jamye Rankin, MS, CCC-SLP

  • Julia Hartis, MS, CFY

  • Kaitlin Hill, MS, CCC-SLP

  • Karen Hanson, MS, CCC-SLP

  • Lauren Lentz, MS, CCC-SLP

  • Mollie Gentry, MS, CCC-SLP

  • Stacey Smitherman, MS, CCC-SLP

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