The purpose of a screening is to look for red flags in the general areas of speech (articulation), receptive, or expressive language. A screening does not provide a diagnosis; instead, it tells you if a full evaluation is warranted. A screening can be completed in as little as thirty minutes. This is a great place to start if you have concerns about your child but are not sure that a full evaluation is warranted. The cost is much less than a full evaluation.

An evaluation is an in-depth look at specific areas of concern (speech, articulation, receptive and/or expressive language, written language, pragmatic language, feeding, stuttering). Multiple tests are given over several hours. Standardized scores and percentiles are compared to children of the client’s chronological age. The speech language pathologist will also collect background information from the parent and often from teachers as well. The pathologist will then interpret the results of the testing and the background information in order to provide a diagnosis (if applicable) and recommendations. The parent is given a comprehensive report including an interpretation of the results, a diagnosis (if applicable), and recommendations for therapy or home program as needed. 

For pre-school age children, a screening is a great way to identify speech and language delays early. Early detection of these delays provides opportunity for therapeutic intervention allowing a child with delays to catch up with peers and prevent social, cognitive and emotional problems later in childhood or adolescence. For older children, a screening is a great place to start if you have concerns about your child but are not sure a full evaluation is warranted.

A full language evaluation is conducted by a speech language pathologist and assesses the areas of receptive, expressive, written and pragmatic language.

A psycho-educational evaluation is completed by a psychologist who uses achievement tests and intelligence tests to assess cognitive abilities. A psycho-educational evaluation will provide IQ scores and look for discrepancies between achievement and intelligence in order to establish areas of weakness.

In the field of speech language pathology, the area of language includes receptive, expressive, written and pragmatic language. Receptive language is the ability to understand oral and written language as well as gestures and facial expressions. Expressive language is the ability to use oral and written language, gestures and facial expressions to communicate. Pragmatic language is the social use of language including conversational skills, body language, voice regulation and eye contact.

Receptive language is the ability to understand oral and written communication as well as gestures and facial expressions. Expressive language is the ability to use oral and written language, gestures and facial expressions to communicate.

Does your child have difficulty initiating conversation with peers, looking at others when talking, regulating his or her voice, or monitoring body language? If so, your child may have difficulty with pragmatic language. Pragmatic language is the social use of language. Cultural differences and specific situations may account for certain pragmatic issues, however if your child’s social language issues occur frequently or are inappropriate for the child’s age, a pragmatic language disorder may be the cause.

Pragmatic Language includes the following skills:
Greetings, Initiating Conversation, Making Introductions
Maintaining Eye Contact
Monitoring Body Language
Developing personal space recognition
Facial Expressions
Expressing wants/needs
Accepting Suggestions
Listening to Others
Asking Questions, Sharing Ideas
Repairing Miscommunication
Identifying Emotions

For more information, visit, http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/Pragmatics.htm

Speech therapy addresses students who have a diagnosed language learning disability and/or speech issues. Initially, a full speech and/or language evaluation is completed and those test results are then analyzed. If a child’s standard scores are questionable, then therapy is recommended. Goals are then established based on speech difficulties, expressive and receptive language, social language, voice, hearing and stuttering concerns. Curriculum material is often used in therapy to teach a child a strategy for comprehension and or expression. Speech and language pathologists usually work from a neuroscience/ clinical approach. Our practice also provides cognitive therapy which includes organization, study skills, note taking and executive function (problem solving, initiating a task, planning, attention to detail).

Tutoring is designed to help struggling, average and gifted students to succeed in their academic environment. Tutoring usually focuses on a specific school-related subject or skill. Tutors usually have an educational background.

At the time of evaluation, a therapy plan of care is established. The length of therapy depends on the client’s progress and achievement of goals, motivation for therapy, and cognitive abilities as well as the nature and prognosis of the disorder.

If a child achieves therapy goals and meets the developmental guidelines for his or her age, therapy may end. However, development is fluid and as a child ages, other developmental and academic demands occur which may require additional therapy.

Both speech language pathologists and occupational therapists see children for oral motor and feeding issues. Speech language pathologists will look at the feeding issue from a physiological standpoint while occupational therapists will work with sensory feeding issues.

Often antibiotics take the infection out of the fluid in the middle ear. Even though the infection is gone, the fluid may remain. Repeated infection and the resulting fluid may give a child the impression that he or she is hearing underwater. Under those conditions, a child may only be hearing a percentage of speech sounds leading to difficulties with acquiring speech and language. A child may be unable to match an adult’s model because they are not hearing the model accurately.