Speech Therapy Cole Pediatric Therapy works with individuals who have difficulty with communication and related disorders, from auditory and memory to voice and oral-motor. Disorders may range from simple sound repetitions and misarticulations to the complete inability to communicate through the use of speech and language. At Cole Pediatric Therapy, our therapists work with children on the following:
Receptive Language Therapy
Our Speech Language Pathologists will focus on the following skills while performing Receptive Language Therapy: following routine requests such as “sit down” and “throw it away,” pointing to familiar pictures/objects when named by therapist, appropriately using objects/toys during play, understanding more words, understanding sentences, and understanding reading passages. When a child experiences difficulty understanding others then he/she could benefit from receptive therapy.
Expressive Language Therapy
Our Speech Language Pathologists will focus on the following skills in Expressive Language Therapy: using words (or other communication systems such as pictures or sign language) to name or request items/actions, using word endings correctly (such as plurals, possessives, past tense), using correct grammatical structures, answering/asking yes/no and who, what, where, when, why, how questions, improving written expression, and improving pragmatic/social skills. When a child experiences difficulty in sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings then he/she could benefit from expressive language therapy.
Articulation/Phonological Processing Therapy
Our Speech Language Pathologists might address/teach the following skills to those affected with an articulation/speech sound or production/phonological processing disorder: hearing the differences between sounds and saying sounds correctly so the child is understood by unfamiliar listeners in all levels of speech. When a child experiences difficulty producing specific sounds correctly (such as always saying the (f) sound incorrectly), then he/she may have an articulation disorder.
Our Speech Language Pathologists provide therapy to increase oral intake and expand the child’s repertoire of foods by introducing new tastes, temperatures, and textures. Feeding therapy may include oral motor exercises to teach a correct suck, chew, or swallow pattern to ensure safety when eating. If your child exhibits any difficulty with sucking, eating, or maintaining a healthy weight, he/she may have a feeding disorder.
Our Speech Language Pathologists aim to help children in treatment improve their swallowing skills through the teaching of compensatory strategies to prevent coughing, choking, or food or liquids entering lungs (penetration or aspiration). When a child experiences difficulty with various swallowing tasks, i.e., sucking, chewing, moving food or liquid into the throat, then he/she could benefit from swallowing therapy. We also offer Vital-Stim therapy, a specialized training, as an additional treatment option, for those children who medically qualify.
Oral Motor Therapy
Our Speech Language Pathologists use exercise in therapy sessions to increase jaw, lip, and tongue strength and coordination as well as breathe support required for feeding, swallowing, and speech. If your child experiences difficulty with moving parts of his or her mouth to speak, eat, and swallow, then they could benefit from oral motor therapy.
Our Speech Language Pathologists provide therapy to help the child increase their awareness of stuttering in themselves and others, learn and use relaxation techniques, and produce fluent speech via certain strategies. If your child continually inserts words/sounds (like, um, uh, hmm) in phrases, repeats sounds/words/phrases, and/or has difficulty “getting the words out,” then he/she could benefit from speech therapy.
Following a visit to an ENT physician, he/she may benefit from voice therapy with one of our speech language pathologists.
Language / Literacy Therapy
Early development of good speech and language skills is vital in the development of normal language and literacy. If your child has difficulty with language skills that are affecting his/her ability to sound out words, pronounce words or sounds, or comprehend what he/she has read, he/she may benefit from a language evaluation to examine his/her literacy skills.