Program Overview

Speech and language skills are what we use every day to communicate our needs, feelings and ideas with those around us. When a child has a speech or language disorder  it has the potential to affect his/her social development, emotional development and academic development.   Speech disorders occur when a child has difficulty producing speech sounds correctly or fluently, or when a child demonstrates problems with voice or resonance. Language disorders occur when a child has trouble understanding others (receptive language), or sharing thoughts, ideas and feelings (expressive language). Language disorders may be spoken or written and may involve the form (phonology, morphology, syntax), content (semantics), or use (pragmatics) of language in functional and socially appropriate ways. Social communication disorders occur when a child has trouble with the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication. These disorders may include difficulty communicating for social purposes (e.g. greeting, commenting, asking questions), adjusting to talking in different ways depending on communication partner and setting, and following rules for conversation and story telling.    The role of the speech and language pathologist in the school setting is to provide speech/language therapy services to students, provide support for teachers in developing and adapting classroom activities, and to work cooperatively with families, other specialists and support staff to help the child to succeed typically through the development of an IEP (individualized education plan).   If you are concerned about your child's speech and language development, please contact the school Child Study Team to begin the referral process.