Pediatric Speech Therapy (ST)

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Speech Therapy
Speech-language pathologists work with children of all ages. For example, infants and toddlers may receive speech therapy if they have feeding and swallowing problems or need assistance in developing verbal communication. Preschool children also may require extra help to learn basic skills, such as communicating wants and needs. School-age children go to speech therapy to learn how to correct articulation errors and improve language skills.
Pediatric Speech Therapy STAreas of treatment include:

  • Articulation / phonological delay (sound errors)
  • Auditory processing
  • Augmentative and alternative communication
  • Autism or related disorders
  • Cognitive / language deficits
  • Dysarthria / Apraxia of speech (slurring or sound substitution)
  • Expressive and/or receptive language delays (using and/or understanding language)
  • Feeding / swallowing
  • Fluency / stuttering
  • NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) feeding/positioning
  • Pragmatics / social skills
  • Reading and written language
  • Tongue thrust
  • Tracheotomy
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Voice or resonance
Each patient is evaluated by a speech-language pathologist (SLP), a highly trained healthcare professional who develops a treatment plan to maximize speech and language functioning.  Our speech and language pathologists have obtained a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, a master’s degree in communication disorders and have a professional license to practice.

CHI St. Alexius Health Speech-Language Pathologists have additional training in the following areas:

  • Autism certification
  • Beckman Oral Motor Exercises
  • Braintrain computer program
  • Pediatric feeding
  • Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
  • Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets (PROMPTS)
  • Tongue thrust
  • Videoflouroscopy (swallowing evaluation)
  • Voice evaluation and treatment, including videostroboscopy

Frequently Asked Questions:

How do I begin the process of getting my child involved in CHI St. Alexius Health’ speech therapy services?
It’s important that you determine that you feel there is a problem with one or more areas of speech difficulties. Visit with your child’s pediatrician, and discuss those concerns.  Ask your pediatrician if they feel speech therapy would be beneficial. If so, it’s important that your pediatrician write out a diagnosis with an order to receive speech therapy. From there, contact CHI St. Alexius Health’ Rehabilitation Services at (701) 530-8200 to schedule an appointment.

How long can I expect my child’s speech treatment to take?
The length of time in any therapy depends on the individual’s needs.

What can I expect during my child’s speech therapy session?  
CHI St. Alexius Health therapists design a specialized program of activities to improve the targeted areas of speech, language and/or voice according to each patient’s needs. Therapy may focus on the ability to better comprehend language and to use language in a way others can understand. Patients receiving more than one therapy can expect treatment coordination of care between disciplines, like occupational and/or physical therapy. Home exercise programs or activities to reinforce skills are provided during treatment sessions. In addition, patients are encouraged to increase communication involvement in the home and community setting.

Will my health insurance cover the services provided by my speech-language pathologist?
Many healthcare plans cover speech therapy. Review your insurance plan, and contact your insurance provider to understand your plan’s benefits.

For more information on pediatric therapy services, contact us. For more information about speech language pathology, log onto asha.org.

 

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