Articulation is the way we produce speech sounds. Articulation disorders can be caused by many factors. Some common articulation errors include sound substitutions, sound omissions, sound distortions, and sound additions.

Treatment of articulation disorders is dependent upon several factors, such as the individual’s age, types of errors produced, the severity of the problem, and whether the problem is due to organic or functional causes.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is the use of different communication methods to support, enhance, or supplement the communication of individuals who are not able to independently and verbally communicate their own thoughts, ideas, needs, and desires. Users of AAC vary, and may include individuals with autism, cerebral palsy, or brain injury, and can vary from toddlers to the elderly.

The therapists at Advanced Therapy Services are trained in the various types of AAC devices, and can help clients decide on which type(s) of device(s) are the most appropriate for their communication needs.

Autism Spectrum Disorder, or autism, is a neurological condition that affects the way a person experiences and interacts with the world. Characteristics include lack of responsiveness to others, deficits in language and speech development, stereotypic body movements (i.e.: endless rocking, finger waving), and insistence on routines.

The therapists at Advanced Therapy Services use various behavioral and sensory integration techniques in order to allow clients to learn most effectively. We employ a variety of strategies to allow clients with autism to adequately and appropriately interact with communicative partners, and express their needs, wants, and thoughts with greater ease.

In basic terms, language is the way sounds are sequenced to form words, how words are sequenced to form sentences, and the meanings that are applied to those words by the users of any specific language. Language is separated into two types, receptive and expressive.

Receptive language is the comprehension, or understanding of, spoken or written language.

Expressive language is the ability of an individual to adequately express his or her thoughts, ideas, wants, and feelings through speaking or writing.

Language use consists of how individuals use language in different contexts, or pragmatics. Pragmatics includes aspects such as eye contact with conversational partners, physical proximity to communicative partners, turn taking, body language, and using proper greetings. Individuals who demonstrate difficulty with following pragmatic/conversational rules, tend to also have difficulty with language use.

Fluency is the smoothness with which sounds, words, and phrases are put together verbally. Fluent speech should be void of hesitations, long pauses, or repetitions. Everyone is disfluent to a slight degree; however, disfluency becomes a problem when a speaker's message is overtaken by the disfluencies, and listeners focus on the speaker's sound and word production, versus the intended message. Dysfluency is commonly known as "stuttering". Stuttering is a disturbance in the normal flow of speech.

Treatment of fluency disorders is dependent upon several factors, such as the severity, the age of the individual, the presence or absence of secondary characteristics, and the profession (or desired profession) of the individual. Speech therapy for fluency disorders is not a "cure"; there is no "cure" for fluency disorders. Treatment focuses on teaching the individual strategies for fluency (such as breathing or relaxation techniques).

Oral-motor skills are the skills to carry out specific movements and functions of the lips, tongue, cheeks, and other various supporting muscles of the oral area. Oral-motor treatment is dependent on the needs of individual clients, but typically focuses on increasing the functional use of oral movements through oral musculature massage, and oral-motor exercises such as blowing, sucking, and chewing. Oral motor exercises help the muscles in the mouth and face for speech, eating, and saliva control.

Speech-language pathologists can help lay a solid emergent literacy foundation for clients by reading, working with letters, sounds, sound productions, and receptive and expressive language activities. They can also help increase literacy skills by focusing on the same emergent literacy skills, but incorporating academics into the therapy.