Services
Expressive Language
Using single words and putting words together to form phrases and sentences that convey meaning to others. Difficulties could range from late-talking toddlers that are not producing words yet to school-aged children that are having trouble with grammar and sentence structure. Expressive language skills could include being able to label objects, describe events, put words together in sentences, use grammar correctly (e.g. “I had a snack” not “Me snacked”), retell a story, and answer questions.
Receptive Language
Understanding what is said. Receptive language skills could include gaining information and meaning from routine (e.g. we have finished our bath so next it is time to read books and then go to sleep), visual information from the environment (e.g. Mom is holding the leash so it is time to walk the dog), sounds (e.g. a siren means a police car is coming down the street), words (e.g. the word “pig” means a pink farm animal that says “oink”), concepts such as size, shape, colours and time, grammar (e.g. “one cat” vs. “many cats”) and written information (e.g. signs in the environment like “no running”).
Articulation
The ability to produce the sounds required to form words. Children might not be able to produce certain sounds (e.g., they say “baa” instead of “ball”) or substitute sounds (e.g., they say “tootie” instead of “cookie”). A child may be difficult to understand, even though they can talk in full sentences. Speech sound errors could be caused by an inability to physically manipulate the tongue, lips, teeth and jaw to produce sequences of sounds, underlying disorders, or a delay in development. Speech sound difficulties could also be classified as phonological disorders, or motor speech disorders (i.e., apraxia).
Fluency
Fluency is the smoothness or flow with which sounds, syllables, words and phrases are said when talking. Disfluencies (also known as stuttering) could include inaudible blocks (no sounds produced), sound prolongations (e.g., “ssssend it to me), sound syllable repetitions (e.g., “c-c-can I have some juice”), whole word repetitions (e.g., “I-I-I am ten years old”), and interjections (inserting words such as “like” and “uhm” into sentences).
Literacy
Literacy is the ability to read and write. Pre-literacy phonological awareness skills include the ability to rhyme, segment words into syllables and single sounds, blend sounds together, identify sounds in different positions in words and manipulate sounds within words.
Social Skills
We use social skills everyday to interact and communicate with others. Social skills could include verbal communication, such as speech and language, as well as non-verbal communication, such as gestures, facial expressions and body language. A child with social skills difficulties may have trouble making friends and joining peers in play, problem solving in social situations, taking turns, maintaining conversations, regulating emotions, and taking other people’s perspectives.
Cognition
Acquired cognitive-communication deficits may occur after a stroke, tumor, brain injury, progressive degenerative brain disorder, or other neurological damage. Difficulties could include social communication, reasoning, attention, memory, organization, planning, and awareness.
Children can also have developmental difficulties in all these areas which often become evident through academic struggles at school.
Voice
The sounds we hear when someone speaks refers to their voice. A child may have a chronically hoarse voice or "lose" their voice for extended periods of time due to misuse. A child may also have trouble regulating their vocal volume and/or pitch.
Adult Services
Speech therapy for adults focuses on the individual’s needs. This could include difficulty with word finding, language production and comprehension, motor speech, reading and writing, voice, as well as cognitive communication (memory, reasoning, problem solving, attention, executive functioning, orientation). These deficits could arise from traumatic brain injury, stroke, tumor, progressive disorders, or the natural effects of ageing. Other services that adult’s may seek out are accent modification as well as improvements with public speaking, stuttering, or voice misuse.