SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY IN JONESBORO AR

SPEECH AND LANGUAGE THERAPY

Speech and Language Therapy focuses on a child's ability to communicate both verbally and non-verbally; from simple gestures and one to two word utterances to more complex skills such as those necessary to sustain a conversation, to successfully engage in social situations, or to read and respond to non-verbal gestures and body language.

Speech and Language Pathologists emphasize receptive and expressive communication, articulation, social pragmatics, feeding, oral-motor skills, voice, fluency and augmentative/alternative communication methods. Our Speech and Language Pathologists are an integral part of our multi-disciplinary team so that language can be reinforced across all environments.

Reading is used throughout speech therapy to increase semantic, syntactic, morphological and phonological language skills.

Our speech/language pathologists specialize in the fields:

Autism
Apraxia
Speech and language delays
Articulation disorders
Non-verbal communication needs (augmentative communication)
Early intervention

Listed below are Developmental

Hearing and Understanding

Birth- 3 Months

Startles to loud sounds
Quiets or smiles when spoken to
Seems to recognize your voice and quiets if crying
Increase or decrease sucking behavior in response to sound

4-6 Months

Moves eyes in direction of sounds
Responds to changes in tone of your voice
Notices toys that make sounds
Pays attention to music

7 Months -1 Year

Enjoys games like peek-o-boo and pat-a-cake
Turns and looks in direction of sounds
Listens when spoken to
Recognizes words for common items like "cup", "shoe", "juice"
Begins to respond to requests ("Come here" "Want more?")

1-2 Years

Points to a few body parts when asked
Follows simple commands and understands simple questions ("Roll the ball")
Listens to simple stories, songs, and rhymes
Points to pictures in a book when named

2-3 Years

Understands differences in meaning ("Go-Stop", "Big-Little")
Follows two requests ("Get the book and put it on the table.")

3-4 Years

Hears you when you call from another room
Hears television or radio at the same loudness level as other family members
Understands simple, Who, What, When, Where and Why questions

4-5 Years

Pays attention to a short story and answers simple questions about it
Hears and understands most of what is said at home and in school

Milestones for Speech

Talking

Birth-3 Months

Makes pleasure sounds (cooing, gooing)
Cries differently for different needs
Smiles when sees you

4-6 Months

Babbling sounds more speech-like with many different sounds, including p, b, and m
Vocalizes excitement and displeasure
Makes gurgling sounds when left alone and when playing with you

7 Months-1 Year

Babbling has both long and short groups of sounds such as "tata, upup, bibibi"
Uses speech or non-crying sounds to get and keep attention
Imitates different speech sounds
Has 1 or 2 words (bye-bye, mama) although they may not be clear

1-2 Years

Says more words every month
Uses some 1-2 word questions ("What's that?")
Puts 2 words together ("no juice", "more cookie")
Uses many different consonant sounds of the beginning of words

2-3 Years

Has a word for almost everything
Uses 2-3 word "sentences" to talk about and ask for things
Speech is understood by familiar listeners most of the time
Often asks for or directs attention to objects by naming them

3-4 Years

Talks about activities at school or at friends' homes
People outside family usually understand child's speech
Uses a lot of sentences that have 4 or more words
Usually talks easily without repeating syllables or words

4-5 Years

Voice sounds clear like other children's
Uses sentences that give lots of detail
Tells stories that stick to topic
Communicates eaily with other children and adults
Says most sounds correctly except for a few like, l,s, r, v, ch, sh, th
Uses the same grammer as the rest of the family