Pediatric Speech Therapy

Goshen Speech and Hearing Center specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of child speech, language, and feeding disorders. Our goal is to accurately diagnose the disorder and provide or recommend treatment so that children can participate in academic, communicative, and feeding activities. Children can experience communication problems that may need to be addressed by a speech-language pathologist. Disorders of speech and/or language can be developmental or acquired. If identified early, treatment by a licensed speech-language pathologist can significantly improve communication and intelligibility. It is important for these issues to be identified early in order to prevent development and learning problems. Speech disorders occur when children have problems producing sounds or movements necessary for speech. Speech disorders include articulation, fluency, voice, and resonance.

• Articulation: inability to coordinate muscles and articulators required to produce speech sounds
• Fluency: difficulty starting and maintaining the flow of speech by stuttering or prolonging sounds, syllables, and words
• Voice and Resonance: problems with pitch, loudness, or quality of the voice

Treatment for speech sound disorders includes modeling correct sound production, teaching the rules of speech, practicing sound production, and learning to recognize correct and incorrect speech sounds. Language disorders refer to problems with understanding or expressing words for communication. Language disorders can be receptive, expressive, and/or cognitive.

• Receptive: difficulty understanding language spoken by others
• Expressive: inability to put words together to express language
• Cognitive: problems with memory, attention, organization, and problem solving

Treatment for language disorders might include playful interactions between the child and speech-language pathologist. Interacting with certain toys and books may expose the child to vocabulary and grammar in order to stimulate language development and strengthen language skills. Children can also experience difficulty feeding and swallowing. Feeding disorders occur when children have problems eating, drinking, chewing, or swallowing safely. Feeding issues can be caused by weak muscles in the mouth, missing oral structures, and sensory issues with texture and temperature. Treatment from a speech-language pathologist who specializes in feeding and swallowing can help the child to feed and swallow efficiently and safely. Therapy might focus on oral motor exercises, facial massage, and exposing the child to various food textures and temperatures. Goshen Speech and Hearing Center provides therapeutic techniques to diagnose and treat the cause of your child’s symptoms. We provide professional speech-language therapy and audiology services to the Orange County, NY and Greater Hudson Valley community as well as the surrounding areas of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Contact our office by calling (845) 294-0661 to schedule an appointment.