Language & Speech Therapy
I provide language and speech therapy for school age children and young adults. Services include, but are not limited to:
LANGUAGE THERAPY
IS YOUR CHILD HAVING DIFFICULTY WITH . . .
-
Understanding spoken or written language? Or
-
Using words to express knowledge, ideas, and/or feelings? I can help.
​
Skills that are assessed and treated include, but are not limited to:
​
COMPREHENSION: the ability to understand words and relate to them in some way. Listening comprehension allows you to understand, remember, discuss, and retell a story in your own words. It also includes the ability to follow verbal directions. Comprehension makes learning fun and is needed for success in school, work, and life in general.
​
VOCABULARY: acquiring and using new vocabulary, including curriculum-related vocabulary, roots, prefixes, suffixes, and figurative language.
​
SYNTAX: correct word order to form phrases and sentences; includes the ability to understand and use more complex sentence structures (i.e. compound sentences and complex sentences).
​
VERBAL REASONING: includes the ability to think, reason, problem solve, infer, classify, associate, predict, determine causes, sequence, and understand directions.
​
WRITTEN LANGUAGE: content, grammar, and mechanics.
​
PRAGMATICS/SOCIAL SKILLS: understanding the social rules of communication; includes rules for turn taking, opening, maintaining, and closing conversations, staying on topic, learning what to say and what not to say, "hidden rules" of communication, nonverbal communication, and perspective taking.
​
These skills have a strong relationship to reading comprehension and written language. They are critical for success at home, school and at work.
​
At West Orange Language & Literacy, treatment is tailored to meet the needs of each client. Programs such as: Visualizing & Verbalizing for Language Comprehension by Nanci Bell and Social Thinking by Michelle Garcia Winner may be used, in conjunction with other strategies as appropriate.
SPEECH THERAPY
IS YOUR CHILD HAVING DIFFICULTY WITH . . .
ARTICULATION: Clear pronunciation of speech sounds.
​
ORAL MOTOR/MOTOR SPEECH SEQUENCING:
Refers to the function, use, and coordination of the mouth muscles which support speech.
VOICE: Refers to a person's quality of voice such as breathy, hoarse, or overly loud.
FLUENCY/STUTTERING: Is a disruption in the forward flow of speech. The client may repeat words, parts of words, prolong speech sounds, or experience a complete blockage of speech when no sound comes out at all.
​
Parents know their child best. However, they also spend the most time with him or her and may become habituated to the child's speech pattern.
If you are concerned about your child's speech, contact West Orange Language & Literacy at
407-850-8346 for a speech evaluation and to confirm or rule out the need for therapy.
TEAM APPROACH
​
Parents that practice homework given by their clinician on a consistent basis, will help their child move through the therapy process at a faster rate to reach his or her goals.
​
​
​
