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Is Speech Therapy Needed?

Recommendation for a Speech and Language evaluation is not solely based on these characteristics and there may be other factors not listed below.  

​Feeding and Swallowing:

  • Keep food in their cheeks when eating

  • Weak oral muscles

  • Excessive drooling 

  • They push their tongue forward past their teeth creating a "tongue thrust" when speaking or eating

  • Overbite or Underbite

  • Difficulty with taking a bottle

  • Difficulty consuming meals or fatigue when eating

  • Difficulty closing lips around straw, spoon, or when chewing

Medical conditions:

  • Cleft Palate

  • Cleft Lip

  • Down's Syndrome

  • Autism

  • Cerebral Palsy

  • Hearing Loss/Deaf

  • Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

  • respiratory issues

  • Vocal Nodules or Polyps

  • Apraxia of Speech

  • Dysarthria

  • Learning Disability

  • Selective Mutism

  • Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

  • tracheostomy 

  • Muscular Dystrophy

  • Vocal fold paralysis

  • Premature birth

Language and Hearing:​

  • Chronic ear infections

  • Not babbling

  • Not responding to name

  • Little to no eye contact

  • Not responding to loud noises

  • Does not watch things as they move

  • Increased frustration when they are not understood

  • Not speaking as well as other children their age

  • Do not put words together

  • Less than 50 words at 2 years of age

  • Do not follow simple directions at 1 to 2 years of age

  • Does not play with other children

  • Difficulty with early reading and writing skills

  • Has difficulty comprehending humor or common sayings/phrases (idioms)

  • Does not pick up on social rules

Speech and Voice:​​​

  • They are hard to understand when they speak

  • Increased frustration when they are not understood

  • Stutter when speaking

  • Presents with "slurred" or "mumbled" speech

  • Speaks with a lisp

  • Difficulty verbalizing specific sounds

  • Drops the ends of words or chops multi-syllabic words

  • Strained or hoarse voice

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