Articulation Therapy & Oral Motor Therapy
If your child has a hard time being understood or has difficulty saying a specific sound, he may need articulation therapy. Articulation therapy involves targeting one sound at a time, or perhaps a group of related sounds simultaneously.
In articulation therapy sessions, your child and I may look at his mouth in a mirror or through video to begin to correct mispronounced sounds. Your child may then watch how I say the sound correctly. I use a variety of tactile cues, also known as oral placement techniques on your child so he can feel where he should place his jaw, lips, and tongue. Sometimes, children can say a target sound in isolation, or a word, but have difficulty using the sound in conversation.
Oral motor therapy / Oral Placement Therapy involves determining if there is weakness in the jaw, tongue, and lips. Oral motor exercises may create muscle memory for target speech sounds. This helps bridge the gap between saying a sound in isolation (or not at all) and saying target sounds in rapid conversation.
Evaluations may consist of formal and/or informal testing. Stephanie can assign “just right” homework. Your child will find success with homework tasks. As a parent, you will likely not find the homework to be overwhelming.
For more details, please listen to Stephanie’s articulation podcast.
Language Evaluation & Language Therapy (For Children Through Age Six)
If your child is not talking, or if you feel like he doesn’t have the sophisticated language skills of his playground peers, a language evaluation may be appropriate.
A formal or informal language evaluation can reveal problematic language skills. Targeting these weak areas will help your child’s language skills flourish. In therapy, we may work on enhancing vocabulary and grammar, expanding sentence length, improving play skills, attention, verbal problem-solving, and thinking skills.
Formal reports are optional and these are at an additional cost to the language evaluation. Some children require simultaneous articulation therapy and/or oral motor therapy.
After a language evaluation, Stephanie will decide with you if weekly language therapy is appropriate for your child. As language therapy is provided in your Upper East Side Manhattan home, Stephanie arrives fully prepared for each session with a plan and tools to elicit the goals we establish at the evaluation. At the end of each therapy session, Stephanie will discuss your child’s progress with you (verbally or in writing).
Stephanie is always evaluating as she provides therapy and goals will advance as appropriate. Goals are typically met more rapidly when parents consistently use the prescribed language techniques Stephanie will teach you. One or two therapy hours a week are helpful but when your child engages in optimal communication all day long, great progress often occurs and speech therapy may indeed become no longer necessary!
Please listen to Stephanie’s language podcast for additional information.