Therapies
10 Commonly-Used Speech Therapy Terms Learn some general terms used by speech language pathologists that will help you during your therapy visit. and alternative communication includes all forms of communication and expression. AAC therapy may supplement verbal communication or be the primary form of communication. It may incorporate the use of pictures, gestures, voice-output devices or computers to help individuals express their thoughts effectively.
2. C hildhood apraxia of speech is a motor speech disorder that impacts a child’s speech clarity. Children with apraxia of speech have difficulty planning and producing refined movements of the jaw, lips and tongue needed for clear speech.
3. R eceptive language skills involve
attention, listening and processing the message to gain information.
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4. E xpressive language is a broad
term that describes how a person communicates their wants and needs. As both verbal and nonverbal communication, expressive language skills include: facial expressions, gestures, intentionality, vocabulary and semantics.
5. O ral motor skills are used in therapy
sessions to build oral motor strength for speech sound development and feeding skills. Therapy in this area typically encompasses oral awareness, oral stretches and oral exercises to improve strength and speed of movements needed for speech.
6. A rticulation or speech production
is how clearly a speech sound is produced. Children or adults may have errors in speech for one specific sound, or a group of sound classes. For example, a child may say “tat” for “cat.”
7. Feeding and swallowing therapy
focuses on the ability to bring food to the mouth, chew and swallow safely and efficiently.
8. D isorders of fluency are speech
disorders that impact speech fluidity. Fluency disorders, such as stuttering, are characterized by sound or word repetitions, pauses, or drawn out syllables, words and phrases. In more severe cases, groping or nonverbal symptoms (e.g. ticks, silent blocks) also are present.
9. D ysarthria is another motor speech
disorder that results from neuro-motor impairment to the muscles of speech production.
10. Voice disorders are considered to
be an abnormality of one or more of the three characteristics of voice: pitch (intonation), intensity (loudness), and quality (resonance).
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1. A ugmentative
