Reading, Writing, and Literacy

Literacy refers to any reading or writing skills. Children with speech and language difficulties also often have difficulties with literacy skills. Children who have difficulty pronouncing or understanding specific speech sounds may also have difficulty reading and writing those sounds. This can lead to difficulty decoding and sounding out words. Children with language delays may not fully understand all parts of language (i.e. grammar, vocabulary, syntax, etc.) which can lead to problems understanding text or putting their ideas into writing logically.

Therapy for literacy may work on improving phonemic (ability to focus on and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words) and phonological (identifying and manipulating units of oral language) awareness, reading fluency, reading comprehension, spelling, writing, and vocabulary development. We specialize in one-on-one services to ensure you or your child receive a specifically tailored plan to maximize reading, writing, and literacy success!

Social Skills

Social skills refers to a child’s ability to interact with other people.  Some of these skills include: understanding social rules, using appropriate language and body language, conversational turn-taking, understanding social signals, and perspective-taking.  Many children with language delays also have difficulty with social interaction. Social skills are important in allowing a child to have and maintain positive interactions with others.  Many of these skills are key in making and sustaining friendships. While social interactions may not always run smoothly, a child needs to be able to implement appropriate strategies when difficulties in interactions arise.

Some children require explicit teaching about how to interact and communicate with others as these skills may not come naturally to them.  In these cases, therapy sessions are important to:

• • Engage appropriately with others during conversation, interactions, and play
  • Develop friendships at school as well as extra-curricular activities
  • Behave appropriately during interactions with familiar and unfamiliar individuals
  • Maintain friendships with peers
  • Develop appropriate social stories to help teach the child about how to respond in specific social situations
  • Develop an awareness of social norms and to master specific social skills

English as a Second Language

Improve the pronunciation of words as well as the proper usage of grammar and language. More information coming soon.