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Communication is one of our most vital, life-long skills. Speech therapy can help children reach developmental communication milestones, articulate their thoughts clearly, comprehend the language of others, and develop social skills. The ability to communicate clearly contributes to a child's academic success and emotional well-being.
The first step is to schedule an evaluation with a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) otherwise known as a Speech Therapist. They will assess your child's overall communication development and make a professional recommendation as to whether your child could benefit from speech therapy.
There is no minimum age.
Communication skills begin developing in infancy. Building strong language skills in very young children can set the foundation for strong communication and literacy skills later on. Speech therapy is particularly important for children who aren't reaching age-appropriate communication or oral motor/feeding milestones, or who are experiencing difficulties such as stuttering or a lisp. Because speech and language patterns become more ingrained over time, the earlier speech errors can be corrected, the better the outcomes are likely to be.
Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy consists of neurological re-education exercises that assist the normalization of craniofacial structures and function.It is related to the study, research, prevention, evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of functional and structural alterations in the region of the mouth (oro), face (facial) and regions of the neck (oropharyngeal area).
Yes! People of all ages are referred to my practice for Myofunctional Therapy, and remediation of maladapted oral patterns. When treating teenagers and adults with ankyloglossia (tongue tie), the process typically involves treatment BEFORE the frenectomy procedure as well as AFTER the procedure. This allows for the best long term outcome. For more information regarding Myofunctional Therapy, please visit the Myofunctional Therapy page under "Assessment Areas".
Any child or adult that has been recommended to have a frenectomy should be undergoing tongue training or Myofunctional therapy for at least 4 weeks before even considering the frenectomy. This is because it will minimize the risk of reattachment of the frenectomy site. Training the tongue to position on the palate and stretching the tight connective tissue around the lips and tongue will create a more successful procedure and better outcome. It is similar to going to physical therapy for your knee before arthroscopic knee surgery. You wouldn’t want to cut into an area that is weak and tight. You would want to stretch the tissues and strengthen the muscle before surgery. Same thing with this procedure.
We also recommend that you continue training the tongue to function properly after the procedure with its new range of motion. Training the proper oral posture position of the tongue in order to initiate a proper swallowing and breathing habit is critical. Just because the tongue-tie is released, doesn’t mean that the tongue will know how to functional optimally with this new flexibility and increased range of motion. We recommend that you continue tongue training until you have successfully attained the proper head and neck posture, good “oral” posture (tongue to palate, teeth gently meeting and lips together but completely relaxed), proper relaxed initiation of swallowing position and function, and functional nose breathing. This may take 4-6+ months post frenectomy procedure.
Infants:
Infants will have a small diamond open wound at the undersurface of their tongue which will begin to have white granulated tissue form as it is healing. Some infants are able to latch better on day one. Some infants, still have problems latching and may need some therapy post procedure. After 2 weeks, there may be some thickness in the lingual scar that is left post frenectomy. Parents are trained by Speech Therapist to soften this scar as the baby continues to heal.
At 2 months, the scar will be more flexible and nursing may improve even more. We recommend that intra-oral techniques continue to be performed by the parent for 2 months post frenectomy. I can typically train parents in 1-2 sessions, depending on comfort level. The first 2 weeks post frenectomy (especially the first 3 days) can be be challenging because the parent will be required to perform the intra-oral stretches and baby could be fussier than usual. We also recommend using homeopathic remedies for pain and swelling. Some parents will choose to use infant pain meds.
Children and Adults:
One should know that the 24-72 hours post frenectomy will be uncomfortable. We would not recommend scheduling anything very important during that time period. You will want to use either homeopathic remedies for pain and swelling or over the counter pain meds during that period. It is best to begin lingual exercises that initial day of the procedure so that the tongue toes not reattach or heal tight and low in mouth. After 2 weeks, stitches will fall out if stitches were used. If no stitches were used, the incision site will fill with white granulated tissues which slowly goes away leaving a healthy flexible scar. Many adults have stated that they feel much lighter in the head and less tension in the face, neck and shoulders after the procedure is performed. Many also state that they don’t feel that they are clenching all day.
At two months, the undersurface of your tongue and the frenulum is much more flexible and not painful anymore. Many patients go from being able to put 1 finger width between their teeth while performing the cave to being able to put 2 and even 3 finger widths stacked on top of each other inside the mouth during this exercise.
The duration of speech therapy is different for everyone, and it depends on several factors. This includes the type of speech disorder or communication challenge, the frequency of speech therapy sessions, how often you and your child practice the skills taught in speech therapy at home, your child's age, any underlying medical conditions, and more.
An evaluation allows a speech therapist the opportunity to assess your child’s development. This assessment may include a standardized test, observation through play, medical history information, teacher report and/or parent report. In most cases, it includes all of the above. Through the evaluation, it will be determined if treatment is warranted. Treatment cannot be prescribed or initiated unless a full evaluation has been completed.
Most children love online speech assessments and therapy! Many become more attentive with online learning, and they prefer the interactivity of online exercises and communication. Plus, there are many effective strategies that speech therapists use to engage children online. Additionally, many children perform better in the comfort of their own home environment. We will work with parents prior to the assessment, to ensure a quiet area free of distractions. We also may need parents to help facilitate some portions of the assessments.
Unfortunately we do not. We are an out of network provider.
Payment is made prior to the assessment. After the assessment, you will be provided with a Superbill invoice to submit to your insurance company. It will contain the necessary information including: diagnosis and treatment codes, session times, fees paid, description of services provided, as well as pertinent practice information (tax id, license number, etc). We will also provide you with assessment and therapy progress reports to submit to your insurance company along with the invoice. We do not assist in contacting insurance companies.
Our assessments are varied and highly individualized. Assessment fees are based on our hourly rates and are dependent on a number of factors (e.g., time spent with the client, time required to administer assessment, report writing time, etc). Prior to assessment parents are asked to fill out detailed intake and referral forms for their child in order to help determine which clinical testing instruments need to be administered.
Assessments are conducted in office, at the child's school or virtually via Telehealth. Treatment is scheduled based upon availability.
We try to accommodate all our busy customers by offering weekday afternoon and evening, as well as weekend hours.
Please call us for a free consultation at the number listed on our website. Once we determine that our services are right for your child, you will receive a password to download the appropriate forms and releases.
Comprehensive assessments for younger children (infants, toddlers, preschoolers and early school age children) typically last between 2-3 hours and are performed during 1 visit. Comprehensive assessments for older school age children may last between 4-5 hours and are usually broken into 2 sessions over a period of several days. All assessments are highly individualized and are dependent on the client’s unique needs (i.e., assessment needed to qualify the child for in district school therapy services, parents seeking an independent evaluation etc).
Two weeks subsequent to the last assessment date you will receive a Comprehensive Speech Language Report detailing your child’s performance on administered formal and informal testing, as well as all subjective clinical observations.
It will contain:
We offer comprehensive assessments and reassessments for out of state and out of county clients. Our subsequent recommendations within the body of the report are very detailed, supported by the latest evidenced based research, and are very easy to follow. Out of state comprehensive re/assessments are often requested by parents due to the absence of qualified and highly trained professionals in their specific geographic area.
We perform the necessary testing based on presenting symptoms and then we provide you with a comprehensive report detailing the subsequent requirements for treatment/referrals (if needed), which other therapists can then implement in the child’s home state/county.
In most circumstances testing will only need to be repeated if it’s significantly outdated. Typically if the assessment was done within the past year, and the results are still accurately representative of the child’s present performance, therapy may be initiated immediately.
However, there may be a number of instances when the clinician may suggest a reassessment. Below are some examples:
In such instances a partial/full reassessment may be recommended in the context of initial therapy sessions, in order to establish a baseline for intervention provision.
Average therapy frequency is 1 time per week for a duration of 1 hour. Select clients receive higher therapy frequency and lower therapy duration; still others come in on biweekly or monthly basis to maintain skill level/abilities. Speech therapy is usually provided individually, however group sessions are offered based on availability.
Therapy duration is dependent on a number of factors:
Client progress is charted on an ongoing basis. Frequent reassessments of deficit areas are administered during the course of treatment.
Yes. Once an evaluation has been scheduled, our office will provide you with a link to a series of documents that Speech Language Spot needs to be completed prior to your child’s evaluation. It includes a case history form that gives us the background information pertinent to your child’s development. We request that all paperwork be completed in full and returned to us three days prior to your first appointment. If there is a delay in filling out the paperwork, your appointment may have to be rescheduled to a more convenient time.
Speech Language Spot is available to provide screenings to children at daycare centers, private schools, religious preschool programs or our office. Screenings are abbreviated evaluations to determine if a child could benefit from further evaluation or if a child’s level of performance is age appropriate and no further evaluation is needed. If your child is found to have mild difficulties yet a full evaluation is not recommended, home programming ideas will be discussed so parents can facilitate these skills at home. If an area of concern is identified, a full evaluation will be recommended. Contact me now to schedule your speech and language screening.
**Group rates available for mass school screenings - Contact us now for more info
For more information, please visit the Gender Affirming Voice Modification Training page or Contact Me for more info.
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