Language Development

In today's video episode, we will discuss the speech-language pathologist's role in helping families decide whether a tongue tie should be released or not.  A tongue tie, or Ankyloglossia, is a congenital abnormality that limits tongue mobility due to the fusion of the bottom of the tongue to the floor of the mouth.  It is thought to impact breastfeeding, impair speech, affect chewing and swallowing and even restrict the airway. Check out our website for additional information and article links!

In this episode, we discuss the common misconception that speech-language pathologists only treat speech sounds. Did you know, that there are actually nine competencies that we are trained and licensed to evaluate and treat? These areas are: Articulation (speech sounds) Fluency (stuttering) Voice and resonance (including respiration and phonation) Receptive and expressive language Hearing (including the impact on speech and language) Swallowing (oral, pharyngeal, esophageal, and related functions, including oral function for feeding; oral function for feeding; orofacial myofunction Cognitive aspects of communication (attention, memory, sequencing, problem-solving, executive functioning) Social aspects of communication (challenging behavior, ineffective social skills, lack of communication opportunities) Communication modalities (including oral, manual, augmentative and alternative communication techniques, and assistive technologies More information can be found on the 2020 Certification Standards and Implementation Procedures for the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology-Effective 1/1/2020. This is produced by The Council for Clinical Certification in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CFCC).  Check out our website!

In today's episode, we explore how stuttering, or disfluency, can be a normal part of language development, and even everyday language use, or it can be a speech-language impairment. Stuttering is a complex issue and requires speech professionals to collect information regarding several different factors. We reference a research article by Cara M. Singer, Sango Otieno, Soo-Eun Chang, and Robin Jones called Predicting Persistent Developmental Stuttering Using a Cumulative Risk Approach. We review the ways in which we review risk factors and behaviors to begin the determination of whether a child's dysfluency is a normal part of their language development, or if a Developmental Stutter diagnosis and speech-language therapy interventions are necessary.  Check out our website for more information, tools, and article links!

Word finding difficulties can be described as poor ability to retrieve known words on demand for labeling or conversation.  Although we all experience word retrieval challenges at times, which is expected, when it is clinically diagnosed in children, it can be a stand-alone deficit or a piece of a more global speech-language impairment that impacts academic and social functioning. In today's episode, we will take a look at research-based interventions to support the development of word-finding skills using the article, Intervention for children with word-finding difficulties: a parallel group randomized control trial by Best, Hughes, Masterson, Thomas, Fedor, Roncoli, Fern-Pollack, Shepherd, Howard, Shobbrook and Kapikan, published in the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.  

There are many known predictors of literacy skills, such as phonological awareness, oral language skills, vocabulary, and nonlinguistic cognitive skills (working memory, executive function, processing speech, inhibition, attention) and it is well documented that a language impairments place children at risk for reading disorders, but for students with a speech sound disorder, this is a little less clear. In this episode, we will use an article by Skebo, Lewis, Freebairn, Tag, Ciesla, and Stein, Reading Skills of Students With Speech Sound Disorders at Three Stages of Literacy Development to discuss how speech sound development is believed to be connected to a child's literacy development.   Check out our website for additional information, tools, and article links!

Schools, hospitals, and private practices that provide speech-language services are regulated by federal, state, and organizational laws, rules, and guidelines that vary significantly between settings. The differences between settings can cause a lot of confusion when children are referred for school-based speech and language services.  In today's episode, we attempt to outline some of the regulations that apply to the provision of school-based speech therapy, which impact eligibility for speech and language services in this setting. To do this, we reference Evaluation and Eligibility for Speech-Language Services in Schools, an article written by Marie Ireland and Barbara J. Conrad. Check out of website for more information, tools, and article links!

An introduction to our new podcast, The CCC Project. Our goal is to help you and your school team collaboratively create communicators!

Collaboration is key to increasing student achievement and generalization. This can be a daunting task, so we have broken it down to increase efficiency and effectiveness~ two of our favorite words!

Language development as it relates to student learning and how to determine if and when there is a problem.

The who, what, when, where, and why of school-based speech therapy for families.