Language vs. Speech (and more)

If you reach out to me about your child’s communication, I might let you know that I’m not the right fit for your family. Yep. You read that right. I don’t do it all. I did…for several years. What I found during those years was that it was hard to be good at everything when you don’t have time to really focus on training for everything. So, when I opened my practice, I decided to focus on 3 specific types of therapy: feeding, orofacial myofunction, and speech.

So, you may wonder, what don’t you do?

Language:

As opposed to speech, which pertains to the sounds in words and how they are produced, language (very simply put) encompasses our use and understanding of words, themselves, to convey messages. For example, a child with speech difficulties might say He wan to the stoh instead of He ran to the store. A child who has difficulty with language might, instead, say Him run or Him go at the store. As you can see, speech and language are 2 different communication domains.

So, why don’t I provide language therapy? It was my experience, over 6+ years at the hospital, that I could work and work with a child on prepositions, or grammar, or vocabulary until they were really comfortable with it in my treatment room. However, the moment they left, they’d default to their previous language use. This happened even when parents were great at carry-over practice. What these children weren’t getting was wrap-around support everywhere they went. It is this universal support that makes such a difference for children with language difficulties. This is why I believe children’s language needs are best supported by school-based SLPs who have the opportunity to work with classroom teachers to support a child’s skill development across classroom activities.

Stuttering, voice, and cognition:

OK. Here’s the point where I get real. Are you ready?

I’m not good at these therapies. I’ve studied them. I’ve provided them. I’ve spent money and time on continuing education to get better at doing so. I didn’t get any better. If anything, I just got more frustrated. And I have no doubt that a child sitting across a table from me can tell if I don’t feel confident with what I’m doing. Frankly, I don’t want to put either of us through that. I’ll stick to what I love and let others do the same. The good news is that there are SLPs out there who LOVE providing therapy for stuttering, voice, and cognition. When people call looking for these, I’m more than happy to direct them to someone I believe will serve their family better.

Do I ever make exceptions?

The answer is sometimes. If I have a toddler working on feeding who is also not developing language, I will evaluate and provide parent coached therapy for emergent language. I actually enjoy helping families with this—occasionally. Similarly, I will help a child acquire and learn to use an AAC device, if their ability to communicate is severely impacted by Childhood Apraxia of Speech, Cerebral palsy, or similar motor challenges.

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If you have questions about feeding, speech, or myofunctional concerns, I’m 100% available to chat about how I can help your child and family. And if we need to broaden our lane just a little bit, we can talk about that, too.