Speech Therapy For Impairments & Disabilities

When you hear the title “speech therapist” you might think the practice is mostly related to speech. That’s understandable.

However, the full name is speech-language pathologist, and the reason for that is that we treat more than just speech disorders.

As a result, a speech therapist might not be the first person you think of when you notice your child has a disability. But that doesn’t mean we can’t help.

Here at Voz Speech Therapy, one of the speech therapy specialty treatments we offer is speech therapy for impairments and disabilities.

Below, you’ll find some more information about the type of disabilities and impairments we can help with.

When babies learn to speak, they do so by observing the world around them. They observe you and the other older people in their life and begin to imitate them.

However, that becomes more difficult when a baby is born with hearing loss.

A child with hearing loss will miss out on some or all of the sounds they would otherwise hear when learning how to communicate. This can lead to:

• Delayed development of speech skills
• Delayed development of language skills
• Difficulty understanding others
• Difficulty constructing sentences
• Low self-esteem
• Learning disabilities
• Poor social skills

A speech therapist can help.

Your pediatric speech therapist will work with your child, observing and evaluating how their communication skills have developed, and where they’re falling behind.

Early intervention is incredibly important when it comes to speech therapy for children with hearing loss. So much of our speech and language skills are developed at a young age that if they fall behind, it can be difficult for them to catch up. As a result, if you discover your child has either full or partial hearing loss, see a speech therapist right away.

Book your appointment with Voz Speech Therapy today.

If you notice your child is struggling with reading, writing, or spelling, they may have a learning disability.

Of course, every child will mistake a b for a d when they’re first learning these skills. This isn’t generally a cause for concern.

However, if they show the following signs, it may signal a learning disability:

• Difficulty talking about their ideas
• Learning new words
• Learning left and right
• Learning the alphabet
• Learning to count
• Remembering the details of something they heard
• Following directions
• Understanding questions
• Remembering the words to songs
• Learning basic math
• Learning to use an analog clock

A speech therapist can help.

Your child’s speech therapist will build on what your child learns in school to help them work through their learning disability and build literacy and comprehension skills.

If your child is showing signs of a learning disability, speak to a speech therapist as soon as possible.

In most cases, a learning disability doesn’t reflect on your child’s intelligence. In fact, many children with learning disabilities tend to be of above-average intelligence. And speech therapy can help them learn to express their ideas effectively.

Book your appointment with Voz Speech Therapy today.

A written language disorder is a disorder where your child has significant issues with reading comprehension and written expression. This is more commonly known as dyslexia.

Children with dyslexia on average tend to be no more or less intelligent than children without — it’s an issue with understanding how words go together.

The most commonly understood symptom of dyslexia among the general population is writing letters backward. That’s true, but there are many other symptoms as well.

Before your child begins school, signs they may be dyslexic include:

• Delayed speech development
• Issues with pronouncing longer words
• Mixing up sounds – for example saying aminal instead of animal
• Not understanding rhymes
• Difficulty learning the alphabet

Once they reach school age, the symptoms tend to become more obvious. They include:

• Writing letters incorrectly
• Difficulty learning the names of letters
• Spelling errors that show up inconsistently
• Letters and words that seem to move around on the page
• Slow reading and writing
• Errors when reading out loud
• Difficulty learning days of the week
• Messy handwriting

This can cause major issues with your child’s ability to learn and develop their skills.

Dysgraphia, on the other hand, is related to an impairment in writing.

This is thought to be linked with a child’s orthographic coding skill – this is the skill that allows us to store written words in our working memory temporarily while we analyze them and figure out what they mean. Orthographic coding is often impaired in kids with dysgraphia.

This impairment can disrupt their process of learning how to read and write, causing significant delays and issues in school.

Note that dysgraphia is not a muscular disorder. However, kids with dysgraphia may occasionally have minor muscular issues related to sequential finger movement – the ability to touch their thumb to their fingers without looking.

Dysgraphia and dyslexia often occur alongside each other, but not always. They also occur alongside ADHD.

Voz Speech Therapy can help.

We’ll begin with a speech therapy evaluation. The goal is to get to the bottom of your child’s issues and determine whether it’s dyslexia, dysgraphia, or another disability. From there, we’ll work to understand how your child’s dyslexia or dysgraphia is affecting them specifically, and put together a treatment plan to help.

Dyslexia and dysgraphia can be frustrating conditions to live with, but speech therapy treatments can help.

Book your appointment with Voz Speech Therapy today.

Children with Down syndrome are born with an extra copy of their 21st chromosome. This has wide-ranging effects on their health and development, but it can particularly affect their speech and language development.

The following signs of Down syndrome can affect the way their speech and language skills develop:

• Low tone in facial muscles, which can lead to articulation disorders
• Frequent ear infections, which can cause issues with their hearing and make it difficult to build their spoken language skills
• A larger tongue, which can make certain sounds more difficult to create
• Cognitive impairments, which can impact learning and result in delays in speech and language milestones

As a result, children with Down syndrome often have issues with their speech and language skills. It’s not uncommon for their receptive language skills – what they understand – to be stronger than their expressive language skills – what they say or write.

The way Down syndrome affects speech varies from person to person. Some children with Down syndrome may have little or no difficulties with speech or language, while others may be unable to speak entirely.

Regardless, at Voz Speech Therapy, we can help.

We’ll begin with an evaluation of your child, taking the time to understand their speech and language deficits. From there, we’ll build a treatment plan to help. This may include:

• Speech therapy for articulation disorders and other speech sound disorders
• Feeding therapy to help them feed and swallow
• Teaching sign language
• Using AAC methods to communicate

With the help of speech therapy and other therapy providers, children with Down syndrome can grow up to be happy, productive adults who live fulfilling lives. We can help.

Book your appointment with Voz Speech Therapy today.

Does your child have a learning, reading, or developmental disability?

Are you concerned their hearing loss or frequent ear infections are affecting their language development?

If so, we can help.

Book your appointment with Voz Speech Therapy today.