FAQS

If you have concerns about your child’s speech and/or language development please refer to our developmental charts. If your child is missing two or more of the milestones for his or her age, then it is best to seek an evaluation. Also seek the advice of your child’s pediatrician and teachers.

Please refer to our developmental page to identify any red flags you may be noticing in your child’s development. If your child is missing two or more of the milestones for his or her age, then it is best to seek an evaluation.

The results of your child’s evaluation are discussed with you and a report is written to include scores, strengths and weaknesses, diagnosis, and recommendations. If therapy is recommended, the frequency and duration is discussed openly with you, and the most appropriate plan for your family is determined together.

These are two very different things. A screening is a very basic “glimpse” of a child’s abilities. Think of it as a snapshot. A screening can be conducted very quickly. It takes anywhere from just a few minutes to as much as 15 minutes or more. It takes a broad look at the child’s receptive and expressive language skills as well as speech (articulation) skills or motor coordination and sensory processing. A screening is done to identify any child who may need further testing. A failed screening does not necessarily mean a child needs therapy; however, it does mean the child needs additional testing.

An evaluation is a much more in-depth look at a child’s abilities. Think of it as a video. An evaluation takes much longer to administer. The length of an evaluation depends on the child’s age and the skills being assessed as well as other factors. An evaluation typically lasts about one hour or more. It will assess many aspects of the child’s development. A speech-language evaluation will assess a child’s ability to produce all of the sounds of the English language in each position of the word (initial, medial, and final) along with a thorough explanation of their receptive and expressive language development. An occupational evaluation will assess a child’s gross motor coordination, fine motor skills, posture, balance, and sensory processing. An evaluation must be completed before a child can enroll in a program of speech-language or occupational therapy.

Yes, it is possible. You or your child’s teacher may feel that your child needs additional testing even after passing a screening, based on information that the screener may not have been able to detect.

Screenings need to be conducted regularly; a child may develop problems over time. A child can pass a screening at the age of 4 and fail it the next year.

The results of your child’s evaluation are discussed with you and a report is written to include scores, strengths and weaknesses, diagnosis, and recommendations. If therapy is recommended, the frequency and duration is discussed openly with you, and the most appropriate plan for your family is determined together.

• PROMPT Therapy
• Hear Builder Programs
• Earobics
• SoundSmart (BrainTrain)
• Ellar Programs
• SPELL/SPELL Links
• SQ Write
• Interactive Metronome
• Lindamood-Bell Techniques
• SRA Specific Skills Series
• Compton P-ESL
• S.M.I.L.A.
• Linguisystems Publications

OT Interventions

• Learning Without Tears handwriting program (formerly known as Handwriting Without Tears)
• Safe and Sound Protocol (Integrated Listening Systems)
• Focus Program (Integrated Listening Systems)
• Interactive Metronome (IM)
• Zones of Regulation
• Social Thinking/We Thinkers programs
• The Interoception Curriculum
• The Alert Program

Yes! We prefer to have your child’s teacher’s name, phone number and email so that we may collaborate.

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to answer that question. Each child is unique therefore, it is impossible to say how long the therapy process will take. ASHA NOMS * data has determined that for speech disorders it generally takes 20 hours of therapy for a child to improve one functional communication level.

For some children the process goes very quickly; for others it takes longer. This varies depending on a number of factors which typically include the severity of the disorder; length and frequency of therapy sessions; whether or not a home program is used consistently; and maturity of the child.

You can help the process along by ensuring that your child attends sessions regularly and by following all the suggestions given by your child’s therapist.

*Please visit the ASHA website for more information on NOMS data.

You know your child better than anyone so if you have concerns please seek an evaluation. Your child may behave differently in the doctor’s office, so your doctor may not see exactly why you are concerned. If you need a referral keep bringing it up to your child’s pediatrician. Cite for the doctor the specific things that your are concerned about. Keep a record of the behavior that is concerning you and take it in at your next doctor’s appointment. After you do this, if you are still getting nowhere, seek out a second opinion from another pediatrician. In any case, we advise you not to wait more than a few months, since early intervention can truly make a big difference in the life of a child. Further, it will not hurt to get an evaluation and find out that nothing is wrong. However, if you have developed these concerns recently or if your child is under 2 years of age, you may take a few months to see if your concerns persist.

While both tutors and therapist often work with children individually or in small groups, the goals of each are very different. Tutors often work with children to reteach the same material that the child’s teacher is covering in school. The goal of therapy is to retrain or remediate the child’s speech or language skills. The work a therapist does with a child should improve his or her functioning in the classroom environment, but the focus is not to reteach the material presented by the child’s teacher. Also, tutoring is often done for short periods of time, while therapy is typically ongoing over a period of months or years.

Strategies for Listening and Memory**

ATTENDING SKILLS:

*Recognize your teacher’s alerting words.

*Establish eye contact when a listening cue is heard. This helps you focus on what is being said, and looking at the speaker is the polite thing to do.

*Recognize external distractions and put them in the background. Some external distractions can be solved. If it’s noisy in the hallway, shut the door, etc… Ask the teacher to speak louder or move away from the source of distraction if possible.

*Recognize internal distractions (daydreaming!) and stop. Think of it as turning off the T.V. in your mind. Think, “Oops, I’ve got the wrong channel on. It’s not time to watch that. I’ve got to turn on the ‘teacher channel’.” Then look at the teacher and try to repeat what the teacher is saying in your mind. Remember…daydreaming is a great way to pass the time if you’re riding in the car or waiting in line. Daydreaming is inappropriate in the classroom, however, and causes you to miss important things your teacher is saying.

*Maintain a good listening position (maintain eye contact and full body control). Eyes: Look at the speaker most of the time. Hands: Keep still and away from distractions. Feet: Do not move them unless you are shifting to view the speaker.

*Wait for verbal direction to be completed before beginning a task.

REMEMBERING WHAT IS BEING SAID:

*Subvocalizing (repeating key information silently) to hold on to information long enough to complete a task or write it down.

*Chunking (grouping pieces of information together)

*Visual imaging

**Taken in part from A Metacognitive Program for Treating Auditory Processing Disorders by Patricia McAleer Hamaguchi

An Auditory Processing Disorder, which may also be known as a Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), is used to describe a special type of hearing problem which can be found in children as well as adults. Typically the individual has normal hearing acuity, but functions as though he/she has a hearing loss.

An Auditory Processing Disorder, which may also be known as a Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), is used to describe a special type of hearing problem which can be found in children as well as adults. Typically the individual has normal hearing acuity, but functions as though he/she has a hearing loss.

“Very simply auditory processing is what the brain does with what the ear hears” (Katz, 1994).

Students with auditory processing disorders (APD) are a heterogeneous group. They display a multitude of symptoms varying in number and degree of severity. Other disorders such as language disorders, word retrieval difficulties, dyslexia, and attention deficit disorder may co-exist with APD. Statistics show the prevalence of APD to be in two to three percent of children, with a 2:1 boy to girl ratio (Chermak and Musiek, 1997).

How speech sounds are made (e.g. children must learn how to produce the “r” sound in order to say “rabbit” instead of “wabbit”). 

The ability to understand words and language.

The ability to put thoughts into words and sentences in a way that makes sense and is grammatically accurate.

Smoothness or flow of which sounds are joined together when speaking.

Use of the vocal folds to produce sound. Does the voice sound hoarse, breathy, or raspy?

A cursory examination of the mouth is completed to identify any structural differences that could be contributing to speech sound errors. 

Language Processing is the ability to attach linguistic meaning of increased complexity to auditory information received and then formulate a response. The population at risk for language processing disorders demonstrates normal intellectual potential and is approximately age-commensurate in language acquisition measurements. A language processing problem is difficulty in accessing language ability already acquired and efficiently integrating those basic foundational language skills to formulate more complex thoughts and responses. Indications of language processing disorder can be subtle and often exist as a component or subtype of learning disabilities and other language impairments. (Richard 2001).

Occupations for a child include play, leisure, and social participation, self-care, school and school-prep tasks. 

Grasping, dexterity, and higher level manipulation of objects using coordinated movements between small muscles of the body including the fingers, hands and eyes (eye-hand coordination). This may include manipulating clothing fasteners, drawing, using scissors, and copying pre-writing shapes, depending on your child's age.

Movements performed by large muscle groups including bilateral coordination (using both sides of the body together or for alternating actions). This may include crawling, jumping, running, climbing, catching, and throwing depending on your child's age.

The ability to sustain an upright position without additional support. Postural control is the foundation for precise movement of arms and legs, attention and performance with table top tasks. 

The ability to maintain a controlled body position during a stationary or movement task. This is a prerequisite skill for optimal coordination.

The way the central nervous system receives and responds to messages from the senses and the production of functional/appropriate motor and behavior response. In addition to the 5 basic senses, we also have 3 special senses: touch (tactile/proprioceptive), balance and movement (vestibular), and body position (proprioception).