Speech and Language Therapy

Students may be considered to have a communication disorder if there is a documented speech or language impairment such as stuttering, voice disorder, language impairment, or impaired articulation which adversely affects a student’s educational performance and requires specially designed instruction.

SLP Services for a Student with Language Delays

Remember:  A speech-language pathologist not only provides therapy for articulation, stuttering and voice problems, an SLP also specializes in language delays/disorders.  Just because a student’s speech doesn’t “sound funny”, a referral to the SLP should be made if you have a concern about him/her:

• Receptive language (what s/he understands) and/or;
• Expressive language (what s/he communicates verbally)

Teachers can be excellent judges as to whether there is a suspected language problem.  IF the student is performing well below his/her peers with respect to following oral directions, understanding and using vocabulary/concepts, and/or verbalizing appropriate sentence structure and grammar, there is a valid concern regarding the student’s language development. 

Speech Referral Implications:

This does not include English as a Second Language, unless the child demonstrates delays in his or her native language.  Children performing well below the average range of functioning on standardized language testing would be eligible for SLP services.

SLP Services for a Student with Articulation Development Problems

Speech Referral Implications:

Eligibility requirements for speech therapy depend on the age of the student, number of speech errors, and developmental inappropriateness of the error sounds.  Voiced and voiceless sound errors count as one sound error.  The articulation errors must have an educational impact.

• A kindergartner would have to mispronounce 5 different sounds that you would expect him or her to have mastered according to the above chart.
• Students aged 6 and 7 would have to mispronounce 3 different sounds that you would expect him or her to have mastered according to the above chart.
• Students aged 8 and older only need to mispronounce 1 sound that you would expect him or her to have mastered according to the above chart.
• Remediation of the /r/ sound generally is not addressed until the child is 8 years old.

SLP Services for a Student who stutters:

None of us speaks fluently 100% of the time.  For a young child, what may appear to be stuttering may actually be normal dysfluency.  Some signs to look for to determine a stuttering concern include:

Repetition of syllables (b-b-ball), part-word (tel-tel-telephone), whole-word (the-the-the ball) or phrases (The ball-the ball is on the telephone)

Prolongation of syllables within words (baaaaall)

Complete blockage of the flow of speech (The telephone--------is by the door)

The speech dysfluency causes undue/negative attention towards student.

Speech Referral Implications:

Eligibility requirements for speech therapy depend on severity of the stuttering, the number of speaking situations in which the stuttering occurs (stuttering only when giving presentations is not enough), and the stuttering must have an educational impact.

SLP Services for a Student with a Voice Disorder

The most common voice problem is vocal abuse which causes vocal nodules on the vocal folds leading to a hoarse or harsh sounding voice.  Before a speech evaluation can be made, a doctor must examine the child’s throat to determine if speech therapy is recommended.

Speech Referral Implications:

A student should be referred to the speech-language pathologist if s/he exhibits chronic hoarseness (2-3 weeks in duration), inappropriate volume (too loud/soft), and/or inappropriate pitch for age and gender and the voice quality interferes with communication.  Remember, the voice problem must have an educational impact.

Educational Impacts

When determining the educational impact(s) that a student’s communication disorder may have, consider the Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) in Communication:

Using listening & observation skills to gain understanding:

• Focus attention
• Listen/observe to gain and interpret information
• Check for understanding by asking questions and paraphrasing

Communicating ideas clearly and effectively:

• Communicate to a range of audiences for different purposes
• Develop content and ideas, sue effective speaking delivery
• Use effective language and style (vocabulary and grammar)

Using communication strategies and skills to work effectively with other:

• Use language to interact effectively and responsibly with others.