Speech Therapy in the Public

Schools~Questions & Answers~

What is the role of the Speech Therapist?

A speech therapist may work with an individual on a multitude of problem areas.

These may include difficulty in the areas of: Articulation Language/Pragmatics Fluency Voice Auditory skills 

How is it determined if a child needs help in speech or language?

Either a parent or teacher may request that a child be screened for speech.

If it is determined that a child displays difficulty, then a Child Study meeting is called and the Child Study Team meets to determine a plan of action.

This may  include monitoring within the classroom, strategies for at home, or a request for evaluation.

Articulation The production of speech.

Good articulation skills are required for verbal expression in all curricular areas.

Multiple articulation errors can indicate a disordered phonological system which could impact on spelling and reading.

Noticeable differences in speech production can have a negative impact on:

Self-confidence

Peer relationships

vocational/career opportunities.

Language Language Form:

This refers to the grammatical structures present in connected speech. 

Language Content: This refers to the meaning of language. This area looks at how a child organizes and 

relates to language.

Language Use: This refers to how we use language in a social way.

*Another name for this is pragmatics.

PragmaticsSocial Language Skills

Good pragmatic skills include: Social appropriateness of interactions The ability to use nonverbal communication appropriately The ability to make inferences The ability to use executive functioning The ability to use critical thinking

Deficits in these skills affect: Listening skills

Problem solving skills Reading comprehension

Study skills Decision making

Oral and written languageSocial relationships

Below is a general list of pragmatic behaviors you would expect most children to have:

The child is able to appropriately:

Respond to greetings Make requests Describe events Take turns Follow commands Make eye contact Attend to tasks Maintain a conversational topic Initiate and ends conversations

Fluency (Stuttering) 

This refers to children who display disruptions or breaks in their speech patterns. Dysfluency can:

Inhibit participation in classroom and extracurricular activities

Affect peer relationships

May limit Vocational/career choices despite the individual’s competency levels in non-speech areas.

If a child presents with any of the following types of stuttering behaviors, please refer

them. 

There are 7 types of stuttering found in children and adults:

• Repetitions:  “What ta-ta-ta-time is it”?

• Prolongations: ” Ll-l-l-l-et me do it.”

• Interjections:  “I had a well- you know- a problem this morning.”

• Silent Pauses: ”I was going to the ______ store. “

• Broken Words:  “It was won___________derful.”

• Incomplete Phrases:  “I don’t know how to. Let’s go guys.”

• Revisions:  “I thought I would write a letter, card”… 

Voice 

This refers to abnormality in pitch, quality or loudness.

Many times, these children will be diagnosed medically rather then educationally.

Noticeable differences in vocal pitch, quality, and volume can affect self-confidence and peer relationships.

Poor vocal hygiene can lead to lasting physical changes of the vocal folds.

Voice differences can be a symptom of medical concerns.

Auditory Skills

Attention

Auditory memory

Auditory discrimination

Sound blending, & sequencing.

Deficits in these skills can affect performance in all academic areas that involve auditory reception and processing of curricular material and the following of oral directions.

Spelling and reading may be affected by difficulty analyzing and applying the phonemic code.

GRADE LEVEL EXPECTATIONS

KindergartenThe child should have all vowels plus:

P, M, H, N, W,B, K, G, D, F, & Y – The child is intelligible at least 50% of the time.The child should be speaking in complete sentences with an average sentence length of

4 words.

On average a child in Kindergarten is beginning to:Use prepositional phrasesUse Plurals, present progressive (-ing), Use Regular past tense (-ed)Use Possessive nouns & pronounsUse Future tense verbs The kindergartener is able to:Ask yes/no questions. Indicate the functions of objects Label all common objects in familiar environments

Understand basic positional, quantity and time conceptsSequence 2 steps visually/verbally.

First GradeAge 6-7

 

The first grade child should be able to articulate the T & NG sounds. (The child is intelligible at least 65% of the time.)

The child is able to understand and begin to use: Noun-verb agreement (is, are) Possessive pronouns Negatives Infinitive complements (“wants to go’, “wants to climb”) Conjunctions (because) Participles and simple “wh” questions. The child can make associations and categorize.

The child is able to verbalize how 2 objects are the same and different.

The child is able to understand complex positional, quantity and time concepts.

The child is able to sequence 3-4 steps visually and verbally.

Second Grade Age 7-8 :

  The child should be able to articulate the

L, SH, CH, & J sounds. 

The child should understand and begin to use: Past tense copulas (was, were)

Irregular past tense Co- joined sentences

Complex “WH” questions.

The child should understand and begin to categorize within a defined set.

The child should understand and begin to can sequence 4-5 steps visually and verbally. 

Third Grade Age 8-9

The child should be able to articulate R, S, Z, V, TH.

The child should understand and begin to use: Irregular past tense verbs

Passives with “was’ or “got” Reflexive pronouns (himself)

Negative “WH” questions

The child has a beginning understanding of multiple meaning words and uses attributes in complete thoughts to define words.

Fourth GradeAges 9+

Articulation & Language should not contain any errors.

Organization should be evident in work.

Caseload considerations include: SEVERITY of the speech or language problem

EFFECT of the problem on a student’s school performance and social skills

DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE of the problem

RELATIONSHIP OF THE PROBLEM to other conditions ( e.g. hearing loss, mental retardation, learning disabilities, physical or other health impairments)

TYPE OF SERVICE individual, small or large group, consultation, classroom support

Please note:

With the new special education laws,

a Speech and Language disorder is only recognized in the school if it

impacts the child’s ability to access their education. 

 If a child has a mild articulation delay but it doesn’t

impact their ability to read, spell or interact with peers socially,

then they will not be eligible for services. 

"Speech or language impairment”

“means a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired

articulation, language impairment, or a voice impairment, that

adversely affects a child's educational performance."