Speech-language therapists assess, diagnose, and manage speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, swallowing and feeding difficulties in children and adults.
Speech difficulties occur when a person struggles to produce speech sounds intelligibly e.g. “wed” for “red,” or “thoap” for “soap.” Speech difficulties also refers to fluency e.g. stuttering, or can be a result of voice or resonance difficulties.
Language difficulties occur when one is not able to understand others (receptive language), or not able to express their thoughts and feelings (expressive language). Language difficulties often relate to vocabulary (semantics), sentence structure (syntax and morphology), and/ or the social use of language (pragmatics).
Social communication difficulties arise when one is not able to communicate for social purposes e.g. greeting or asking a question. It also relates to following the rules for conversation e.g. turn taking and telling a story. Social communication difficulties are often seen in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Cognitive-communication disorders include difficulty with attention, recalling information, planning, and problem solving.
Swallowing (dysphagia) difficulties may follow an illness, surgery, stroke, or injury.
Feeding difficulties are behaviours perceived as problematic e.g. fussy eating.