New for 2021: Speech Therapy with Strides Speech Therapy

What is Speech Therapy and who can benefit from it?

Speech therapy can improve communication skills in kids with language issues. Pediatric speech therapy addresses concerns for expressive and receptive language skills, oral motor impairments, pragmatics, auditory processing, and social skills.

Many people think that speech therapists only work with people who have trouble making certain sounds (articulation) or who have stutters or lisps. While speech therapists do handle those speech issues, they also help kids with other kinds of issues and disorders with spoken and written language, such as:

• Reading and Spelling
• Receptive Language Disorder (difficulty understanding or receiving language)
• Expressive Language Disorder (difficulty speaking or expressing language)
• Pragmatics (difficulty using language in socially appropriate ways)

A speech therapist is more accurately called a speech-language pathologist (SLP). SLPs have a Master's degree and are licensed therapists. They assess and evaluate children to determine what kind of language disorder or issue exists and then create the best treatment plan. SLPs may help kids build skills by working with them one-on-one, in small groups, or in the classroom. Other developmental issues that can be treated with pediatric speech therapy include:

Articulation problems: Not speaking clearly and making errors in sounds
Fluency problems: Trouble with the flow of speech, such as stuttering
Resonance or voice problems: Trouble with voice pitch, volume and quality
Oral feeding problems: Difficulty with eating, swallowing and drooling

If you would like to request an evaluation with an SLP, please contact Kinera kate@kinera.org or call 443-249-3126.

Learn more about the SLPs providing therapy at Kinera Foundation's Stevensville location.

Learn more about Strides Speech Therapy.