Check out the many ways speech-language pathologists help patients improve communications and more.
At Valley Medical Center’s Children’s Therapy clinic, our speech-language pathologists do so much! Better Speech and Hearing Month in May is a great time to understand the variety of areas these therapists offer assistance. In addition to providing evaluations, speech-language pathologists treat patients in the following areas:
Speech Production: speech sounds, intelligibility in conversation
Receptive: understanding
Expressive: using words
Language: concepts, vocabulary, following directions, sentence structure, asking/answering questions, word finding, describing, storytelling, predicting, inferencing, figurative language, idioms
Literacy: phonological and phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, spelling, writing words/sentences/stories
Social Interaction & Communication: joint attention, shared enjoyment, nonverbal communication: eye contact, body language, turn taking, shared imagination, theory of mind, perspective taking, jokes, sarcasm, humor, flexible thinking, emotions/feelings, relationship development
Executive Functions: organization, time management, planning, problem solving, goal setting, self-monitoring
Fluency/Stuttering: repetition of sounds, words, phrases, extraneous muscular tension, rate of speech, extraneous body movements, feelings/attitudes
Voice: breath support, volume, clarity, resonance, nose breathing, intonation/tone/pitch, stress and phrasing
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): picture communication boards, speech generating devices, hand signs
Feeding/Swallowing: breast/bottle feeding, swallowing, oral motor development, mealtime routines, transitions to solid foods, variety of foods and textures
