At Susan L. Pike & Associates, we help you find out if your child needs help by completing a diagnostic evaluation. Then, if the answer is yes, we will work with you to determine the best course of therapy.

Early Language Development/Language Delay and Disorders:

• Does your two-year-old still use jargon or have fewer than 50 words?
• Does your three-year-old still use one- to two-word sentences or appear uninterested in conversation or listening to stories?
• Is your four-year-old not speaking in full sentences or having trouble acquiring grammatical forms such as pronouns and verb tenses?

While difficulty acquiring language can be caused by specific developmental disorders or impairments, as many as half of all “late talkers” have persisting language weaknesses that may come to light with the school-aged demands of reading and writing. Other cases of language delay and/or disorders include children with genetic syndromes, pervasive developmental delay, neurological impairments, hearing loss, or specific language impairment. When a child’s language development seems to lag, parents need to know what steps to take to foster their child’s language growth.

Articulation Disorders:

• Does your three-year-old have frequent trouble being understood?
• Is your four-year-old’s speech not clearly understood by teachers and peers?
• Does your five-year-old still have difficulty pronouncing several sounds?
• Does your six- to twelve-year-old still have a certain sound or sounds that are not pronounced correctly?

A child may be bright and have lots of ideas to communicate, but if others can’t understand his speech, he can become frustrated and angry. An older child whose mispronunciation was once considered cute can become painfully self-conscious about her speech once she reaches the upper elementary grades. Articulation disorders range from simple developmental cases to more involved disorders such as dysarthria and developmental apraxia which involve underlying oral-motor issues.

Language-Based Learning Disabilities:

• Is your school-aged child having greater than expected difficulty learning to read?
• Is your child having difficulty paying attention and following directions in the classroom?
• Does your child have difficulty remembering specific words, making his connected speech sound choppy or slow and halting?
• Does your child have difficulty recalling or telling stories or giving well-organized explanations?

Language development and learning to read and write are closely intertwined. A child who has trouble understanding others or expressing himself will have difficulty in the academic world of school. Possible challenges include central auditory processing disorders; phonological processing and early reading skills; comprehension and/or production of spoken and written language.

Orofacial-myofunctional Disorders:

• Does your child generally have his lips open at rest and during chewing?
• Does your child thrust his tongue between his teeth (front or side) during swallowing of foods and liquids?
• Does your child have an abnormal bite (e.g., position of some teeth too far forward)?
• Did/does your child have a prolonged or frequent sucking habit (finger/s, pacifier, bottle)?
• Did your child’s teeth move back to their old position after braces were removed?

An incorrect swallow pattern and/or tongue-jaw resting position can be an underlying cause of articulation difficulties and can also interfere with orthodontic treatment. Training of new muscular patterns used in swallowing and maintaining the correct resting position of the jaw and tongue can be an integral part of orthodontic treatment, as well as a necessary step in the correction of a speech disorder.

Consultations:
Sometimes a parent wants a second opinion, a quick screening, a review and discussion of an evaluation, or an observation of their child’s functioning in a classroom. Our consultation services also include:

• Speaking with another specialist to discuss diagnostic findings or collaborate in treatment goals,
• Attending a meeting with members of an educational team, and
• Conferencing on the telephone with parents to discuss a recent evaluation or treatment issues.