Does your child seem to be falling behind in their development?

Do they seem to have difficulties with speech, language, or feeding?

Has your doctor suggested you or your child be screened for a speech or language disorder?

If so, we’re here to help.

Here at Voz Speech Therapy, one of the speech therapy services we offer is speech therapy screenings and evaluations.

If your child is falling behind, it can be alarming. But a speech therapist can help you uncover the root cause of their developmental delays. From there, you can get your child the treatment they need to catch up to their peers and have the best shot at developing their ability to communicate.


What Is A Speech Therapy Screening & Evaluation?

If you’re like most people, you’ve never experienced a speech therapy screening or evaluation session. It might even sound a little intimidating to you. So let’s take a closer look at how speech therapy screenings and evaluations work.

Speech therapy screenings and evaluations are usually, but not always, done with children. This is because adults who need speech therapy have often either already gotten a diagnosis at a younger age, or are already pretty clear on what their issues are.

As a result, most of the language on this page is geared toward how screening and evaluation works in speech therapy for children. But if you’re seeking speech therapy for adults, the screening process works in a similar manner – just remove the parental involvement and toys.

When you first come to the clinic for your evaluation, your speech therapist will greet you and your child, and spend some time making sure you both feel comfortable. Your therapist may request some time alone with your child, which helps them to see how your child behaves without relying on you.

After that point, they will begin the speech therapy screening and evaluation process. The approach they take will depend on what type of symptoms you have described for your child.

Following the screening, your speech therapist will chat with you about the preliminary findings. The next step from here may be to order further testing, or it may be to begin speech therapy treatment.

Here are some of the speech therapy screenings and evaluations we offer here at Voz.


Speech & Language Screenings

A speech & language screening is used to assess your child’s speech and language abilities, like the name suggests.

During this screening, your child’s speech therapist will assess your child’s ability to:

  • Pronounce sounds
  • Follow directions
  • Answer questions
  • Process information
  • Socialize
  • Read and write (if applicable)
  • And more

The point of this is to help your child’s speech therapist get a better idea of where your child is at developmentally. It’s sort of an introductory evaluation, your first step toward assessing your child’s development.

At this point, your child’s speech therapist may recommend further evaluations, either through speech therapy or through occupational therapy if necessary. Depending on the results, however, they may simply recommend your child begin speech therapy treatment.

If your child seems to have a speech or language issue and you’re not sure how to proceed, a speech and language screening might be the best option.

Book your appointment today with Voz Speech Therapy to find out more.


Comprehensive Speech & Language Evaluation

If your child has had a speech and language screening and your child’s speech therapist has recommended further testing, they may recommend the comprehensive speech & language evaluation.

We may also recommend it if your child’s pediatrician has referred you to us.

During the comprehensive speech and language evaluation, we will assess your child to determine their developmental strengths and weaknesses.

We’ll also interview you to find out more about your child’s daily life and activities. Further, we’ll review their health history, the developmental milestones they have reached, and any other assessments or observations that have been done.

The approach we take depends on your child’s age. If they are a toddler, we mostly use play based evaluations. For older children, we use more structured tasks.

Depending on your concerns, we may evaluate:

  • Their expressive and receptive communication abilities
  • Their understanding of complex sentences
  • Their understanding of directions
  • Their use of various speech sounds
  • Their speech fluency
  • Their ability to socialize while using language
  • Their understanding of grammar
  • The overall quality of their voice
  • Their ability to coordinate muscles in their mouth

Based on what we find in this evaluation, your speech therapist will generally have the information they need to put together a treatment plan for your child.

Book Your appointment with Voz Speech Therapy today to find out more.


Speech Therapy Autism Screenings

Autism spectrum disorder can be diagnosed at a fairly young age, sometimes as young as 18 months.

If you suspect your child may have autism spectrum disorder, it’s a good idea to go for a speech therapy autism screening as early as possible. This is because speech therapy early intervention for autism spectrum disorder is important. The sooner your child can begin speech therapy for autism, the better their speech, language, and communication skills will be.

Even more so, however, autism spectrum disorder affects everybody differently. Your child may not have any speech or language difficulties at all. Or they may be completely unable to speak altogether. Naturally, most autistic children fall somewhere between these two extremes.

A speech therapy autism screening will evaluate your child’s abilities in the following areas:

  • Memory
  • Joint attention
  • Planning and decision-making
  • Describing ideas
  • Describing how they feel
  • Verbal and nonverbal communication skills
  • Listening skills
  • Social and interpersonal skills
  • And more

The results of an autism screening can help you understand the next steps for your child. Book an autism screening appointment with Voz Speech Therapy today to find out more.


Screenings & Evaluations For Articulation Disorders

Speech therapy screenings and evaluations for articulation disorders are designed to get a better understanding of what’s causing your child’s articulation concerns.

Every child gets words wrong at first, and in some cases there is no cause for concern. However, broadly speaking there are certain milestones every child is expected to reach.

In general, children should be able to make simpler speech sounds like b, d, g, k, m, n, p, and w by age 3. By age 6, they should be able to make all sounds correctly. As well, they should be able to be understood about 90% of the time by the time they reach age 4, and should be able to piece together phrases of 2 words or more by age 2.

If your child hasn’t met these milestones, it could be that your child needs speech therapy for articulation disorders.

A speech therapy articulation evaluation can help. During this evaluation, your speech therapist will:

  • Evaluate your child’s speech during play
  • Talk with your child to see how they produce different sounds
  • Ask your child to name a series of pictures
  • Ask your child to read, if applicable
  • And more

If your child has an articulation disorder, it can cause significant issues with their ability to communicate later in life. If you suspect your child may have an articulation disorder, it’s a good idea to book a speech therapy articulation evaluation as soon as possible, since early intervention is key.

Book your appointment today with Voz Speech Therapy to find out more.


Orofacial Myofunctional Screenings & Evaluations

If your child has an orofacial myofunctional disorder, speech therapy treatments can help. However, first we need to determine what the root cause of the issue is.

A speech therapy orofacial myofunctional screening is a good place to start.

During a speech therapy orofacial myofunctional screening, your speech therapist will begin with your child’s medical history. This can include a history of any conditions that may have affected your child’s oral functions, including:

  • Respiratory infections
  • Allergies
  • Chronic ear infections
  • Injuries
  • Sleeping habits
  • Any previous oral or facial surgeries
  • Dental and orthodontic treatments

Your child speech therapist will also review your child’s speech and language development, ability to feed, respiratory habits, and whether or not they used a pacifier or suck their thumb.

From there, your speech therapist will assess your child’s orofacial complex, which includes things like checking for symmetry, tongue abnormalities, tonsil size, hard and soft palate configuration, coordination of articulators, and more.

After examining all of this, as well as your child’s ability to swallow and to speak, Your speech therapist will let you know what the best next step is.

If you suspect your child may have an orofacial myofunctional disorder, book your appointment with Voz Speech Therapy today.


Book Your Appointment With Voz Speech Therapy Today

If you suspect your child has a speech, language, or feeding disorder, we can help.

With our screening and evaluations services, we can determine if your child has disorder.

From there, we can develop a course of action to help treat them to overcome it.

Book your appointment today with Voz Speech Therapy to find out more.

Clear, confident communication is possible. Voz Speech Therapy can help. 

Book a consultation today to find out how.