If you have concerns about your child’s speech and language development, we provide comprehensive evaluations and customized therapy services to maximize growth and progress
A child’s speech and language skills begin developing at birth. A baby recognizes his/her mother’s voice and calms when it is heard. A baby responds to interactions by smiling and cooing at her caretaker. This development continues and becomes more sophisticated as the baby grows. Babbling, laughing, and smiling transform into games of peek-a-boo and form the foundation for turn-taking skills and reciprocal interaction.
Around a child’s first birthday or shortly after, she should begin using words such as mama, dada, or hi. A child’s receptive language skills (e.g., how she understands language) will grow and she will begin to understand simple, routine directions such as “come to mama” or “sit down.” The number of words and phrases she understands will continue to grow as will her ability to express herself by using more and more words each month.
By her second birthday, she should be combining 2 word phrases. By age three, she should be asking and answering simple “wh” questions, and using 3-4 sentences to talk at a time. By age five a child should be using all speech sounds at the word level. Some errors in sounds that are harder or more typically later developing may be present (i.e., errors or distortions with l, s, r, v, z, ch, sh, & th).
If you notice that…
- your child’s speech is difficult to understand
- your child is not understanding your directions
- your child is not acquiring/using new vocabulary
- your child is not combining words or building longer phrases/sentences
- your child struggles with language and literacy based school assignments
- your child requires a lot of extra time or support to complete assignments that peers are able to do independently
We are here to help. We offer private, customized speech and language therapy programs for each client who enters our office that utilize each child’s strengths and target areas of need.
Some students who demonstrate weaknesses in speech and language development will qualify to receive speech and language therapy services via an individualized education plan (IEP) through their school district; however, for a child to receive services through their school district,
- they must be demonstrating a speech and language impairment AND
- it must be adversely affecting their educational performance.
In other words, for a student to receive speech therapy services at school, they most often need to be demonstrating moderate to severe deficits. That is why, sometimes, students who may benefit from speech and language therapy do not qualify and receive the therapy services they need to improve their skills under the school-based model. Unlike school-based services, private based therapy seeks first to identify areas of strength and weakness and then targets deficits to improve those areas in which the student struggles, regardless of severity of the disorder or educational performance.
If you have concerns about your child, but they did not qualify for school-based speech therapy services, your child may benefit from private based speech and language services. Additionally, your child may benefit from private speech and language services either as a starting point or while you wait for the lengthy process of school based special education services to begin.
Some students who are already receiving school-based speech and language services may also benefit from supplemental, private based services. While school districts do their best to provide quality speech and language therapy to students, they are often constrained by time and resources. Although receiving speech and language therapy during the school day is beneficial for students demonstrating a speech and language impairment, it may not be enough to really see the improvement in skills that parents are hoping for.
If your child:
- Does not qualify for school-based speech therapy services because they are demonstrating mild weaknesses or because their deficits are not directly impacting their educational performance
- Is not making the progress that you had hoped from the school-based services they are currently receiving
- Is demonstrating speech and language deficits and you wish to have an outside, private evaluation report to present to your school district in the hopes of potentially receiving school-based services in the future
We are available to help. We can offer a private evaluation report, and subsequent private and customized speech and language therapy services either in conjunction with current school based services to supplement those services, or in place of school-based services.
Speech and Language Evaluation
An evaluation examines a child’s speech and language abilities and allows us to determine areas of strength as well as areas of need. Normative data (e.g., information from a standardized speech and language test) as well as informal data may be collected to help us form a complete picture of your child’s skills. Using this data, and information gathered through parent questionnaires and interviews, will help us develop a treatment plan tailored to your child’s individual therapeutic needs.
A typical evaluation will take 60-90 minutes of one on one time with your child in addition to information gathered from the parent questionnaire and intake forms. Following the completion of the evaluation, an evaluation report will be provided and will include background information, assessment data, areas of weakness to be targeted, recommendations and next steps. This is provided at a rate of $250 and includes both the individual evaluation session and a written report.
Speech and Language Therapy
Our practice provides individual, parent-child, and group therapy services in the Dayton area to target articulation, receptive language skills, expressive language skills, pragmatic/social language skills.
Our therapy goals will be based on areas identified in our evaluation and a customized treatment plan will be developed.
If desired, your therapist will collaborate with other providers (e.g., occupational therapists, physical therapists, school based speech therapists) to promote generalization of skills as well as consistency across home and school settings.
We offer 30 minute individual therapy sessions at a rate of $50 or 45 minute individual therapy sessions at a rate of $65.
Lemon Tree of Dayton is a private pay practice. We accept payment in full at the time of service via cash, personal check, or bank transfer. We also accept vouchers from the Family Support Services Program through the Department of Developmental Disabilities. Please inquire for more information regarding these vouchers.