Speech Therapy for Articulation and Phonological Disorders
Is Your Child Struggling to Say Sounds Correctly?
Sometimes it is difficult for parents to know whether their child’s inability to pronounce or say a sound correctly is a speech-language issue or a typical struggle for all kids. If your child is trying to make a specific sound but can’t say it correctly, it can be an issue with tongue placement or articulation. If your child is substituting one sound for another, such as w for r or d for g, this is an issue with phonology, a branch of linguistics concerning systems of sounds. It is expected that kids under 2 years of age who are developing typically will have some sound errors or substitutions. However, parents should be able to understand their child at least 75% of the time. If you cannot understand your child most of the time and he makes more than a few sound errors or substitutions, then an evaluation is needed.
Does one of those issues describe your child’s current difficulty to say a sound, or sounds, correctly? If so, your child will benefit from speech-language therapy. The key to addressing issues with articulation and phonology is straightforward: repetition. In fact, the ideal maximum number of repetitions of a sound is 100 times in an hour. At Peak Potential Therapy, we recognize that no child wants to sit at a table and repeat a sound over and over—and if they are required to do so, they’ll never want to return to therapy! Our treatment for articulation and phonological disorders is rooted in play. We involve your child in many different games that incorporate repetitions of sounds, helping them reach the ideal maximum sound repetitions while having fun.
Peak Potential Therapy offers speech therapy services for your child in the Northeast Ohio area. We address issues with articulation and phonology as well as oral motor and sensory problems, fluency disorders like stuttering, or an inability to speak or make sounds. Our speech-language therapy services are offered at our Center, in home within a certain distance, and online for Ohio residents.