What is Speech Therapy?

Speech therapy is an intervention service that focuses on improving a child's speech and abilities to understand and express language, including nonverbal language.

Speech therapists, or speech and language pathologists (SLPs), are the professionals who provide these services. Speech therapy includes two components:

Coordinating the mouth to produce sounds to form words and sentences (to address articulation, fluency, and voice volume regulation).

Understanding and expressing language (to address the use of language through written, pictorial, body, and sign forms, and the use of language through alternative communication systems such as social media, computers, and iPads).

The approach used varies depending on the disorder. It may include physical exercises to strengthen the muscles used in speech (oral-motor work), speech drills to improve clarity, or sound production practice to improve articulation.