Articulation

10 Tips to Promote Speech and Language Skills in Your Child
Research in Speech and Hearing Sciences recognizes the communication skills of newborns and even the developing fetus during the last trimester of pregnancy. The following are ten ways you can nurture the five different areas of speech and language development in typically developing infants and toddlers.

Exploring Language Through Song and Play
I want to introduce a wonderful CD and activity book set designed to listen to and engage your child in orde to help enhance speech and language skills in a very indirect way. This CD and activity book set was created by Karin Howard, MA, CCC-SLP, a fellow speech/language pathologist, along with Alan Riva (Captain Al).

Will Using A Pacifier Interfere With My Toddler's Speech Development?
As a speech therapist who works with kids, I've been asked this question on more than one occasion so I thought I would address this issue here on this blog. From my own experience, I think this is not true and maybe just one of those things that you heard from your mother and she heard from her mother and so on.

Can Childhood Ear Infections Impact Speech & Language?
When a child has a middle-ear infection, fluid accumulates in the middle ear. The middle ear space behind the eardrum is typically filled with air - not fluid. This fluid can actually remain even after the infection has cleared. The presence of this fluid can cause a temporary hearing loss or reduction in hearing. And of course children with repeated infections or fluid build up have a higher likelihood of speech and language delays.

Does Your Child Have Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)?
Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), is synonymous with developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) and dyspraxia. This is a motor speech disorder. Children with developmental apraxia have difficulty coordinating and sequencing their articulators (mouth, lips, jaw, tongue) to produce sounds, syllables and words. This is not at all due to muscle weakness, but rather it is due to poor communication between the brain and the muscles that are needed for speech. In other words, the area of the brain that is responsible for telling the muscles what to do and how to move to make partiuclar sounds is not fully developed or possibly damaged. In adults, apraxia of speech is caused by a stroke or other brain damage. In children the cause is not so clear. Speech apraxia is only related to speech activities and so non-speech activities that use the same muscles such as coughing, chewing and swallowing are performed just fine

Imitation Is Vital For Speech and Language Development
Imitation begins early in infancy and continues throughout childhood. (…)

Speech Development: Typical Guidelines
Speech development is a very gradual process that begins in infancy and sometimes continues until the age of 7 or 8. (…)