Speech and Language Therapy

Speech and Language Therapy

A Speech and Language Therapist is a clinician educated in the study of communication, its development, and its disorders. Mind Institute is a licensed therapy center that offers an evaluation of speech and language to children and adults to determine if communication problems exist and decide on the best way to treat them. We identify, evaluate, and treat a wide range of speech, language, and swallowing disorders for individuals of all ages.

At Mind Institute, we help individuals of any age having problems with the following:

Speech Sounds:

How words come out and how words sound. This is known as articulation or phonological disorders, Apraxia of Speech, or Dysarthria.

Language:

How do we understand what others tell us what we read and what we hear. For adults, this is referred to as Aphasia.

Literacy:

Difficulty reading, writing, and spelling. Specific difficulties in reading, spelling, and comprehension

Social communication:

Social skills like taking turns, standing in line, talking to people, and how far to stand away from people. This is also called pragmatics. Pragmatic language: appropriate use of language in social situations, for example, initiate greetings, be a good listener, maintain topic..etc

Voice disorders:

How we sound; hoarse, too loud or no voice.

Fluency:

Also called stuttering. Many young children will go through a stuttering stage, but most outgrow it.

Cognitive-communication:

This is related to thinking skills, memory, organization, focus, and attention.

Feeding and swallowing:

How well chew, suck, swallow food and liquid. This is also called Dysphagia.

P.E.C.S. for children and adults

According to Pyramid educational consultants, “PECS is a unique alternative/augmentative communication system developed in the U.S.A. in 1985 by Andy Bondy, PhD, and Lori Frost, MS, CCC-SLP. PECS was first implemented with preschool students diagnosed with Autism at the Delaware Autism Program.” Since then, PECS has successfully been implemented worldwide with thousands of learners of all ages who have various cognitive, physical, and communication challenges. PECS can be used for children and adults, and Mind Institute’s clinicians are trained and certified in PECS.

Speech Therapy for children

Your school-age child could be facing demanding speech situations daily from reading aloud and speaking in groups, to show and tell, socializing during lunch, and many other situations. Your child needs to be able to talk fluently, which puts a lot of pressure on your child, leading him/her to avoid complicated words, situations, or even speaking. Further, strong communication skills for children are the single best predictor of reading success.

Children often implement their own strategies to cope with stuttering, including forcing words out, switching words, or making excuses to skip verbal activities altogether, worsening the impact of stuttering and causing feelings of shame, anxiety, and helplessness.

Mind Institute has a professional team of speech therapists trained in pediatrics. Our team will work with your child to increase expressive and receptive language skills, improve sentence construction and grammar, and help your child overcome difficulties in interpreting complex sentences or thoughts.

Comprehensive Speech and Language services

Our speech and language department will conduct comprehensive evaluations to examine how your child understands and uses written and spoken language. We do a standardized assessment of receptive and expressive language, plus additional testing in reading and writing, executive functioning, social language use, and phonological processing. Our S.L.P. team can help you with the assessment and treatment of the following:

Speech Disorders:
  • Apraxia/Dyspraxia; verbal and non-verbal apraxia
  • Dysarthria due to impairment in speech muscles
  • Speech sound disorders/articulation disorders including phonological processing disorder
  • Dysfluency disorders; stuttering/stammering and cluttering
Voice Disorders; Organic and Functional:
  • Vocal fold cyst
  • Vocal fold nodules
  • Vocal polyps
  • Muscle Tension Dysphonia
  • Acid laryngitis
  • Puberphonia
  • Vocal fold paralysis/ paresis
  • Vocal cord dysfunction
Language Disorders:
  • Preschool Language Disorders
  • Learning Disabilities Difficulties; related to Reading, Spelling, and Writing
  • Selective Mutism
  • Developmental Language Disorder (previously known as Specific Language Impairment) includes receptive and expressive disorders.
  • Language delays
  • Aphasia; traumatic brain injury
Medical and Developmental Disorders:
  • Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
  • Autism
  • Cleft Lip and Palate
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Global Developmental Delay
  • Hearing Impairment
  • Genetic Syndromes
  • Epilepsy
Communication Disorders:
  • Augmentative and Alternative Communication
  • Social-communication Disorders / Semantic Pragmatic Disorders
Swallowing Disorders (dysphagia):
  • Oral Apraxia

Mind Institute also provides hearing screening services for early hearing detection and consultation with other professionals to provide comprehensive care programs. As a parent or caregiver, you are an integral part of the success of your child’s or teen’s treatment. In addition to participating in his or her therapy, you will learn strategies to help your child communicate effectively. Our therapists at Mind Institute will always make time for a brief discussion after each session to ensure that strategies learned in therapy are consistently applied and are working in your child’s natural environment. Parents will also be taught how to track their child’s progress at home and school.

Summary

Your child’s academic performance can be directly affected by his/her ability to communicate effectively. You must reach out to qualified speech and language pathologists who are licensed to help your child with his/her fluency, voice, articulation, and cognitive abilities. At Mind Institute, we ensure that our services fit your needs, and we will help your child reach his/her optimal social, academic, and vocational integration.

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