One Step At A Time Therapy Services, Inc.

Speech Therapy seeks to help the child communicate their wants and needs through various means. 

Speech therapy helps children improve their communication skills so that they can express their wants and needs to their caregivers and peers.  Speech-language pathologists address difficulties with language skills (receptive and expressive), articulation skills (speech sound productions), fluency, and voice.  Children may have problems in communication due to difficulties at birth, an injury or accident, learned behaviors, developmental delays, or medical reasons. 

Speech-language pathologists may use therapy strategies such as sign language, communication boards, picture schedules, or interactive participation activities to promote expansion of language skills.  During speech therapy for articulation, the child is made aware of what his oral motor mechanism needs to do to produce a particular sound.  The child develops an awareness of his lips, tongue, teeth, palates, and jaw in order to produce speech sounds.  Speech-language pathologists often use play-based approaches to help facilitate an increase in communication skills since children learn so much through play.  The ultimate goal for a speech-language pathologist is to help a client communicate as functionally as possible in all environments.