Pediatric Speech Therapy
Causes of speech sound disorders in children may include:
Childhood apraxia of speech, a motor speech disorder that makes it hard to speak. This occurs when the problem is how the brain tells the mouth muscles to move.
Dysarthria (muscle weakness)
Developmental disorders (i.e. Autism)
Genetic syndromes (i.e. Down syndrome)
Hearing loss
Brain damage (i.e. cerebral palsy, head injury)
Most children can say almost all speech sounds correctly by 4 years old. A child who does not say sounds by the expected ages may have a speech sound disorder. This may also be called an articulation disorder or phonological disorder. Speech-Language Pathologists are able to test a child’s speech by hearing how they produce sounds and observing how their tongue, lips, and jaw move. Treatment of speech sound disorders for children may include learning the correct way to make sounds, learning to tell when sounds are right or wrong, practicing sounds in different words, and practicing sounds in longer sentences.
Nourished Roots Therapy Services is currently offering speech evaluations and treatment for speech sound disorders and early language development.