Speech Pathology

Goal based activities – Our aim in every session is to help our patients be functional and successful. We plan sessions to meet the goals developed after the evaluation. This can vary from repetitive activities, conversational based tasks, or other exercises.

Hard work - if a patient needs speech therapy then there is a skill that is HARD for them. We take that hard skill and break it down to small steps, but we expect it to require great effort. Speech therapy is a process and requires time, energy and commitment to success.

FUN - One of the core values of Kingwood Speech is FUN. While speech therapy is hard work for an adult or a child, we make every effort to make sessions enjoyable. We incorporate toys for children and will incorporate games, books, and hobbies for patients of all ages.

Voice Disorder – Adults may experience breathiness, harshness, hoarseness, pitch too high, pitch too low or any other change in voice not typical of their age and gender. The first step is usually to be evaluated by an ENT and then a speech-language pathologist. The ENT will help determine if the voice difficulties are due to misuse or abuse or the voice. Speech therapy can benefit those patients with vocal nodules, vocal fold weakness, or vocal fold paralysis.

Swallowing Disorder - Dysphagia is the medical term for difficulty swallowing. This can be in the oral, pharyngeal or esophageal stage. At Kingwood Speech, we are able to provide patients with exercises and diet changes to assist patients in recovering from or adapting to a swallowing disorder. A Modified Barium Swallow test is required to ensure that the safest therapy with the best outcomes are achieved. Patients should ask their referring physician to order a MBS. Our SLPs need these results to provide the appropriate care.

What to expect in a therapy session:

Speech Sound Disorder – adults who have had a neurological compromise or disorder may have difficulty making speech sound or their speech may be slurred or difficult to understand. This can be apraxia, dysarthria or other articulation disorders.

Language Disorder – following a stroke, head injury, Parkinson’s disease, dementia or other neurological changes, an adult may have difficulty with word finding, answering questions, formulating sentences, reading, writing, memory or executive function such as keeping appointments, managing money or making a grocery list.

Fluency Disorder – Adults may experience stuttering since childhood which is a developmental fluency disorder. Other adults may have an acquired fluency disorder where speech rate is atypical and may have repetitions, frequent pausing and unusual rhythm.

Leaving off the first sound of a word such as “ook” instead of “look” or “at” instead of “cat”
Vowel errors such as “bite” instead of “bat” or “dod” instead of “dad”
Distorted sounds – the sound does not sound like any other sounds in the child’s native language
Lack of interest in playing with others
Not responding to name
Not babbling or making sounds
Stuttering accompanied by facial grimaces or body movements
Lack of voice
Repeating other people’s words
Drooling
Not understood by caregivers
Not using words by age 2

Our pediatric Speech-Language Pathologists are skilled in Articulation , answering questions, Apraxia, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Developmental Delay, Down Syndrome, echolalia, expressive language, few words, fluency, following directions, grammar, language, late talkers, making sentences, myofunctional therapy, pre-verbal skills, non-verbal skills, not understood, oral motor difficulties, phonology, pragmatics, receptive language, repeating others speech, responding to name, social skills, speech sounds, stuttering, tongue tie, understanding others, and vocabulary.

Common types of Adult Diagnoses include:

Childhood Fluency Disorder - Children with stuttering disorders typically stutter for more than 6 months. Usually there is concern if they begin stuttering after 4 years old as stuttering sometimes temporarily accompanies early language development. Stuttering with secondary behaviors such as eye twitching, stomping, hands moving or other body and face movements always indicates need for an evaluation.

Childhood Voice Disorders – Children may experience breathiness, harshness, hoarseness, pitch too high, pitch too low or any other change in voice not typical of their age and gender. The first step is usually to be evaluated by an ENT and then a speech-language pathologist.

Here are some general guidelines:

By age 2 – make p, b, t, d, m, n, h sounds , use at least 50 words and put 2 words together in phrases such as “Mama Look!” or “my shoe”, follow simple, common directions such as "get your shoes” or “put this in the trash”.

By age 3 – make k, g, w, f sounds, use hundreds of words, follow directions, answer simple questions, play simple games.

By age 4 – make s, sh, ch, l, j, z sounds, make 4- and 5-word sentences, use grammatical structures such as -ing verbs, pronoun (he/she) and tell a simple story; can attend to an activity with an adult for 4-5 minutes such as reading a book, playing a game or doing a craft.

By age 5 – all speech sounds should be developed with possible errors with r or th. Unfamiliar people should understand 100% of the child’s speech even though there may be errors. Children use a variety of words, grammatical forms and structures. Five-year-olds ask and answer many questions and retell events from the past and talk about future events.

Age 6 – speech sounds should all be used correctly and language should be developing toward reading and writing.

If your child is not meeting the above criteria, or you are concerned about your child’s ability to communicate in any way, an evaluation can answer your questions and help you decide if speech therapy is the right choice.

If you observe any of the following in your child, we always recommend an evaluation. These are unusual patterns that are strong indicators that speech therapy is warranted:

Common Types of Pediatric Diagnoses include:

Childhood Articulation Disorder – children substitute, add, omit or distort a speech sound. Common errors include /w/ for /r/ such as “wabbit” for rabbit. All children make sound errors as they are developing speech; however, some patterns and errors are not typical and may indicate the need for a speech evaluation.

Childhood Language Disorder – Children have difficulty engaging with others or challenges to have conversations. Parents may notice a limited vocabulary, difficulty “following” what a child is saying, poor grammar, inability to answer questions, trouble following directions, may seem “lost” in conversations or during book reading.

Children and Adults

What to expect at an evaluation:

Our speech-language pathologists are highly trained in a variety of standardized and non-standardized assessments. We will review the primary concern of the patient and family as well as review the other areas of communication. The evaluation appointment takes about one hour. Patients may be asked to engage with pictures, objects, and other stimuli as well as answer questions, as they are able. The examiner will likely look in the patient’s mouth and may ask the patient to perform various exercises to demonstrate the strength and function of the mouth. For children, play is incorporated into the assessment process as much as standardization and time constraints allow.

Speech is how we say things. This includes:

Saying speech sounds so others may understand.
Speaking fluently (with good rate and without hesitation or stuttering)
Speaking with a typical voice where pitch, loudness and quality are appropriate for the age and gender of the person.

Language is how we share ideas with other people. This includes:

Understanding the words others say and demonstrating understanding by responding to them by answering a question, following a direction, or taking a conversational turn.
Expressing ideas through speaking, writing, gesturing or using a device to generate words.
Socializing with others. Language is the primary method of engaging with others.