Speech Sound Disorders Specialties
At Beech Street Speech, we offer comprehensive treatment for speech sound disorders. Our team is here to provide the support and guidance you need to enhance speech clarity and communication.
What is a Speech Sound Disorder?
The term “speech sound disorders” encompasses a wide array of challenges related to word pronunciation.
If you've ever encountered difficulties with sounds like 'R' or been informed that your child has a motor speech delay, our services are tailored to address these concerns and more.
Understanding the nuances of speech sound disorders is key to effectively treating and managing these concerns. Find out more about the different types of speech sound disorders below.
Types of Speech Sound Disorders
In our years of experience at Beech Street Speech, we have found there are 4 types of speech sound disorders that are the most common in children.
Speech Articulation Delays
If your loved one is encountering difficulties with sounds like 'R,' potentially by pronouncing them as 'W,' that could be an articulation delay. This type of speech sound disorder impacts speech clarity if not addressed on time.
Fluency / Stuttering in Speech
Stuttering will usually present itself as a disruption in the motor speech pathways causing halted, ‘bumpy’ speech output. It can be developmental in nature and pass as quickly as it comes on, but it’s always good to inform yourself.
Motor Speech Disorders (Apraxia)
In this type, challenges arise in coordinating the lips, tongue, teeth, and voice to consistently produce accurate speech sounds. This can lead to a range of errors and issues with intelligibility and understandability.
Phonological Disorders
Unlike articulation disorders, phonological disorders are a misunderstanding of the rules in speech sound production. Distortions are predictable error patterns, such as the interchange of 'T' and 'D' with 'K' and 'G,' or vice versa.
Common Questions about Speech Articulation Delays
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Articulation is the formulation of clear, precise speech sounds.
Accurate articulation is the primary contributor to overall intelligibility in connected speech and allows us to understand the speaker clearly.
Articulation errors result from mislearning how to pronounce certain sounds, making them harder to understand.
We also know that articulation errors can negatively impact early literacy development, as sounding out and blending sounds is paramount to early reading.
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Most people associate articulation errors with speech therapy. Some of the most common errors we see in articulation are when /r/ is produced as a /w/, ‘th’ is swapped for /f/ or /d/, /l/ is turned into /w/, etc.
When these errors are present, it is common for the child to be misunderstood my unfamiliar listeners, though people closest to the child have a much easier time understanding them.
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General guidelines of intelligibility are as follows:
• By age 2, children should be 50% intelligible to unfamiliar listener
• By age 3, children should be 75% intelligible by unfamiliar listeners
• By age 4, children should be 80-100% intelligible
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Articulation therapy is about learning new ways to produce sounds and changing habits.
The earlier the child receives therapy, the faster the errors will resolve.
At Beech Street, we target errors, and systematically correct them, inserting the accurate sound into longer and longer syllables, words, phrases and sentences until eventually they are generalized into conversation.
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Since repetition and consistent practice are key to the resolution of speech sound errors, we definitely provide home programs and will collaborate with school providers to ensure continued progress.
Before you know it, your child will be easier to understand and will incorporate their new sounds and habits into their everyday speech without thinking!
It’s amazing how habits can change!
Common Questions about Fluency / Stuttering Treatment
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Stuttering disrupts the motor speech pathways, causing halted, ‘bumpy’ speech output. It can be developmental in nature and pass as quickly as it comes on.
It can also be a prolonged condition in which the speaker will always have bumpy speech, sometimes more severe than others, under different circumstances.
The person who stutters may be unaware/ unbothered by their speech. Other stutterers can experience extreme anxiety, self-consciousness, and increased tension around talking.
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• Quick onset: One day, your child has fluent speech, and they seem to wake up and “not be able to get a word out.” The faster and more severe it is at onset, the better the possibility that it is developmental in nature, meaning it will resolve with tips and strategies as quickly as it started.
• Increased severity: The child struggles to complete single words or sentences. Constant and consistent bumpy speech from repetitions of whole words to repetition of single sounds present. Possible ‘filler’ words including by not limited to “umm, yea, so” etc.
• Life changes: We see cases of developmental stuttering spike up around big life changes. Sometimes a new baby in the family, moving to a new home, attending a new school are all examples of when a child is most prone to present with Childhood Developmental Stuttering.
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• Persistent stuttering: Developmental stuttering usually clears within the first 3-6 months of onset. If stuttering persists beyond this timeframe, there is an increased chance the child will continue stuttering moving forward
• Hereditary impact: A history of stuttering in the immediate family increases the chances that the child will be a prolonged stutterer.
• Secondary behaviors: Because of the tension around talking, persistent stutterers often present with secondary behaviors, such as facial grimacing, tapping, stomping, and more.
• Self-consciousness: Prolonged stuttering can result in increased feelings of anxiety and self-consciousness around speaking, especially in groups, ordering at restaurants, making phone calls, meeting new people, and more.
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Stuttering therapy is twofold.
At Beech Street Speech, we can focus on fluency shaping techniques, tips and tools for increasing fluency.
However, addressing the anxiety around stuttering is often the primary goal in therapy.
We work on disclosure techniques, desensitizing to dampen the effect of stuttering on your psyche, and targeting especially challenging instances including phone calls, introducing yourself to others, etc. The goal in stuttering therapy is to get the speaker to the point where they can say exactly what they want, when they want, and be confident doing so.
With the gentle, trusting, therapeutic relationship with our therapists, these goals are achievable.
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No, speech therapy can often not resolve the stutter completely.
This is not possible with any therapy.
However, we can teach strategies to reduce stuttering; it will always be a part of the stutterers' lives.
This is why at Beech Street Speech we focus on enhancing confidence and acceptance of stuttering.
Common Questions about Phonological Disorders
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Unlike articulation disorders, phonological disorders are a misunderstanding of the rules in speech sound production.
These children often produce speech in erred patterns impacting intelligibility. They may be able to produce certain sounds but use them in incorrect contexts and patterns.
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Children with phonological errors often use consistent patterns in their speech.
Some of the most common ones include:
• Fronting: Substituting back sounds i.e., /k/ and /g/ for front sounds, /t/ and /d/. ‘tat’ for cat and ‘tider’ for tiger.
• Backing: Substituting front sounds i.e., /t/ and /d/ for front sounds, /k/ and /g/. ‘gog’ for dog and ‘kak’ for cat.
• Final consonant deletion: Despite being able to produce most consonant sounds, children with this pattern will leave off the final consonant in words, for example, ‘pi’ for pig and ‘ma’ for map.
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Kids produce many phonological patterns or processes, so it's not one size fits all.
Some are developmental in nature, so depending on the pattern and sound, most should be resolved by 2, 3, and 4 years of age.
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Here at Beech Street, we will first take an inventory of speech sounds and patterns the child produces.
We will then incorporate fun activities and motivating games to build awareness of sound production and correct pattern use to eliminate errors.
When multiple errors are present, we will identify and target them in developmentally appropriate order, following the research-driven natural emergence of sound and pattern production.
Building on the sounds the child already has, you will notice an accuracy and overall intelligibility improvement before you know it!
About Beech Street Speech
“Our clients finish speech when they graduate, not when they run out of sessions or benefits.”
At Beech Street Speech, we're dedicated to helping children of all ages and learning profiles to achieve their full potential in speech and language development.
Whether your child struggles with articulation, expressive or receptive language disorders, or orofacial myology challenges, we're here to make a difference in their journey to clear and confident communication.
Our Trifecta Quality of Care
We are dedicated to fostering enduring, sustainable therapeutic relationships, starting from the initial benefit check and culminating in the final graduation session.
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Board-Certified & Trained Therapists
We maintain a variety of skill sets and specialty training to meet all of your speech, language and learning needs.
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Dedicated Insurance Specialist
We accept all major health insurances, including United Health Care, Kaiser, Blue Cross & many others.
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Convenient, Comfortable Location
We are conveniently located in the heart of Sellwood, in Portland OR, while also providing tele-therapy services.
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Get Matched with an Experienced Speech Sound Disorder Therapist
You can trust Beech Street Speech to make progress and a meaningful impact on your child's speech and language development.
We're here to guide you every step of the way, promoting clear communication and self-confidence.