Communication Disorders
First Word Speech Therapy uses evidence-based approaches to address each child’s individualized communication needs. Here is a list of communication disorders that can be treated by one of our experienced Speech-Language Pathologists.
Language Disorder
Language disorders occur when a person has trouble understanding others (receptive language), or sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings (expressive language).
Articulation and Phonological Disorder
Articulation disorders occur when a person has difficulty producing speech sounds correctly. Phonological disorders occur when a person has difficulty organizing the patterns of sounds in the brain which results in an inability to correctly form the sounds of words.
Fluency Disorder
A fluency disorder is an interruption in the flow of speaking characterized by atypical rate, rhythm, and disfluencies.
Motor Speech Disorder
A motor speech disorder occurs when a person struggles to produce speech because of problems with motor planning or muscle tone needed to speak. There are two major types of motor speech disorders: dysarthria and apraxia.
Social Communication Disorder
Social communication disorders occur when a person has trouble with the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication including problems with communicating for social purposes, talking in different ways to suit the listener and setting, and following rules for conversation and story-telling.
Voice Disorder
A voice disorder occurs when voice quality, pitch, and loudness differ or are inappropriate for an individual's age, gender, cultural background, or geographic location.
Alternative-Augmentative Communication
AAC uses a variety of techniques and tools to help the individual express thoughts, wants and needs, feelings, and ideas, using the following methods: sign language, gestures, picture communication boards, letter boards and speech-generating devices.
Cognitive Disorders
Cognitive Communication Disorders is a difficulty with any aspect of communication that is affected by disruption of cognition (e.g. attention, memory, organization, problem solving/reasoning, and executive functions).