Speech Therapy
Speech Therapy for Preschoolers & Primary School-Age Kids
Sound Literacy Speech Therapy offers speech therapy to children ages four and up. Speech therapy is available in person, by telehealth or onsite at schools.
Average age children learn to pronounce English consonants correctly (Based on 15 English speech acquisition studies compiled by McLeod and Crowe, 2018)
McLeod, S. & Crowe, K. (2018). Children’s consonant acquisition in 27 languages: A cross-linguistic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. doi:10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100. Available from: https://ajslp.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2701897
Speech therapy for speech sounds
Does your child’s speech sound unclear?
‘Speech’ refers to the sounds that children use to make words so they can be understood.
Speech sounds always develop in stages; however, there will always be individual variations of speech sound development between children.
As a licensed speech therapist, I can assess the following:
- An articulation disorder in which a child can not accurately make speech sounds.
- A phonological processing disorder in which a child is unable to organise their sounds into a system of patterns that can be understood (these children mix up their sounds in different word positions).
- A motor planning difficulty in which children have difficulty making and coordinating the precise movements needed to produce clear speech.
- I am also trained in oral myofunctional therapy and have used this to efficiently treat articulation difficulties.
Speech therapy for Language Skills
Children who have persistent difficulty with language might have a Developmental Language Disorder, which is known as a hidden disability affecting 1 in 14 children.
DLD can run in families and has significant impacts on the student, such as difficulty:
- Learning the meaning of words and how they are related
- Using grammar and structuring sentences properly
- Understanding the rules of conversation and social interactions
- Reading, writing, listening skills, and learning in the classroom.
Difficulty with language skills can cause difficulty with written expression and reading comprehension skills at school.
Speech therapy for written expression
Written expression skills become increasingly important as children progress through primary school.
Written expression involves foundational ‘transcription’ skills like handwriting, spelling, and punctuation. These skills need to be developed to automaticity so students can focus on ‘composition’ skills like grammar, vocabulary, word choice, and the organisation of ideas for a particular text type. Children with DLD often have difficulties with written expression.
Children with solid oral language skills who have persistent and enduring difficulty with written expression after explicit and targeted instruction may be diagnosed with a Specific Learning Disorder with written impairment.
Written expression is a complex cognitive task that requires explicit instruction and lots of motivating practice.