PEDIATRIC SPEECH THERAPY SERVICES

Speech Therapy works with children from birth to teens, including those with Autism, developmental speech sound and language disorders, voice, stuttering, feeding, swallowing and oral motor disorders.

If your child exhibits any of the following or you're concerned about their communication, feeding or swallowing skills, speech-language therapy may be able to help.

Meet Our Speech Therapy Staff:

Laura Varo, MS/CCC-SLP
(PRN) Emily Aanrud, MS/CCC-SLP

FEEDING/ SWALLOWING/ ORAL MOTOR

Weak, uncoordinated or ineffective suck
History of tongue or lip tie with poor weight gain
Uncoordinated rhythm of suck-swallow-breathe; may struggle, arch, infrequently pause to breathe, or exhibit increased or     inadequate tone
Frequent coughing, choking or gasping for air
Loses food or liquid while eating/drinking
Difficulty transitioning to new food consistencies
Excessive drooling
Picky eater/ Problem feeder

SPEECH-LANGUAGE

Speech is difficult to understand
Does not babble, no words by 12 months
No two-word phrases by 20 months
Becomes upset or frustrated when communicating
Stuttering or dysfluent speech to include "blocking" (getting "stuck" on words) or repeating part of a word; may be accompanied     by physical struggle behaviors
Struggles to form words; repetitive movements of tongue, cheeks, lips; groping
Difficulty understanding directions or simple questions (may repeat all or part of question or repeat "what"?)
Grammatical errors, difficulty using language correctly
Hoarse voice quality; exhibits signs of vocal abuse (i.e. yelling, screaming, noisemaking, loud voice, growling)

ADULT SPEECH THERAPY SERVICES

Our speech therapist sees adult patients with speech, language, voice, swallowing and cognitive disorders.

If you or your loved one exhibits any of the following or you're concerned about communication or swallowing skills, speech-language therapy may be able to help.

Swallowing problems (dysphagia) may include:

Coughing or choking on food and liquids
Wet or gurgly voice
Feeling of food getting stuck
Recurrent pneumonia

Dysphagia is usually caused by neurological disease or brain damage and head or neck surgery, cancer or injuries such as:

Stroke or brain injury
Parkinson's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Multiple and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Cervical spine fusion or injury
Head or neck radiation

Adults with speech, language, voice or cognitive difficulties may have a hard time:

Saying words clearly
Producing a loud, clear voice
Thinking of the right words to say
Understanding what others are saying
Reading and writing words or sentences
Remembering people's names or other information
Solving everyday problems
Planning and organizing day-to-day activities
Socializing with others