Do you have questions about your child's speech/language skills?
The secret to a child’s success is that they are having fun while they are learning!

When a child is enjoying what he is doing, great things happen! The therapists of Hummingbird Pediatric Therapies follow the child’s lead. We use your child’s strengths to build up their weaknesses within fun, play-based scenarios. 

Whether your child is getting help for articulation or language, we will always challenge your child’s processing skills, making them more independent thinkers.  Our speech sessions center around traditional activities such as playing with developmentally appropriate toys and board games to reading books and learning through fabulous apps on the iPad.

Many times, parents are active participants in the sessions, which ensures quicker follow through at home and thus faster progress for the child.  Siblings are often times incorporated into the play sessions as well.  We will give creative ideas for home-based activities, some of our popular activities include: bath-time fun, I-spy car games, making cookies, carving pumpkins, playing sous chef...turning everyday living activities into fun enriching therapeutic experiences!  Remember, sometimes it is the littlest changes that make the biggest difference! 
"I can't tell you how grateful I am to have you as partners in (my son's) care.  In an overwhelming world of therapy, your partnership is invaluable.  Thank you for your dedication and continuous care and concern. "
​-Diana, Parent
What should I do if I suspect my child has a speech/language delay?
First, it is important to discuss any suspected speech or language delays with your child's pediatrician. Your pediatrician should know general pediatric guidelines for speech and language development. However, pediatricians often have different opinions about when to make a referral to a speech/language pathologist. Some like to take a "wait and see" approach, while other pediatricians will make an immediate referral.  It is our belief that if you are concerned about your child’s abilities, an evaluation should always be completed.  If we feel that their skills are emerging, we will provide you with a home program and check in monthly.  If we feel your kiddo needs a boost, then the earlier we begin the better.  The earlier we intervene, the less frustration and/or behavioral difficulties associated with inability to communicate a child will present with.  To help you see if your child is developing on time, you may find our developmental milestones chart helpful.
What is a Speech/Language Pathologist?
A speech/language Pathologist is a licensed and certified clinician specializing in speech and language disorders. The speech pathologist will evaluate, diagnose, and treat a variety of speech/language disorders, oral-motor and swallowing disorders. The credentials include state licensure, which is generally obtained through completing a 2-year graduate level program in speech/language pathology from an accredited college or university to obtain a masters level degree or higher, followed by a 9-month certified fellowship year (CFY). The clinician will be directly supervised from a licensed certified Speech Pathologist. In addition, the clinician must pass a state and/or national examination. After all of this is completed, the clinician is eligible for the "Certificate of Clinical Competence" from the national organization "American Speech/language and Hearing Association" (ASHA). Recently, due to the increased demand and caseloads, a new sub-field has been established. There are now Speech/language pathology assistants. The assistants must be monitored by a speech/language pathologist, and can only implement a plan that an SLP has already developed. They are not eligible to evaluate or diagnose clients.  At Hummingbird Pediatric Therapies, we do not employ any speech language assistants.  You will have piece of mind knowing that your child is being evaluated and treated by a licensed and certified speech language pathologist  with many years of pediatric experience.  

Because of the variety of possible speech/language disorders and populations, many speech/language pathologists specialize in specific area's such as: fluency, voice, early intervention, swallowing disorders, oral motor disorder's, oral-facial myology (tongue thrust/orthodontic related), communication development, speech/articulation disorders, language disorders, hearing impairment, augmentative communication, cognitive-communicative disorders, pragmatic or social language disorders (i.e. autistic spectrum), auditory processing, traumatic brain injury, multiply handicapped, or motor planning disorders. Each of our therapists have different areas of specialty and once we determine your child’s needs, they will be connected with a therapist who is best suited to help them!  This approach is unique to Hummingbird Pediatric Therapies. 
What can I expect at my child's speech/language evaluation?
After our phone consult, we will email you an intake packet that includes important questions regarding your child’s development and health history. Just as no two children are alike, neither are our evaluations.  We tailor fit our evaluations based on the areas of concern you have for your child.  This will consist of both formalized testing where a child is shown and asked various questions from a test and informal observation completed by watching you and your child interact and also during play with the therapist.  Communication is both verbal and non-verbal.  Before a child can even speak, they communicate through their eyes.  These early forms of communication are called “mutual-engagement” and joint-attention”.  We will look at all these areas of communication.  Because it is not just enough to determine where your child’s skills are, we also spend a portion of the evaluation seeing how “stimuable” your child is for various speech sounds, or language.  This piece is critical for us to design their treatment plan and goals. Often the clinician will video or audio tape parts of the evaluation to have. These videos are always fun to watch later as they show how much your child has improved!
What causes a speech and language disorder?
Although this question is frequently asked, it is often not easy to answer. There are a number of possible "causes" for a speech and/or language disorder in children. Some are very obvious, and some are unfortunately still unknown, or at least uncertain. Some common causes are: hearing loss; chronic ear infections as an infant/toddler or child; congenital birth defects; brain injury before, during, or after birth; traumatic brain injury or stroke; syndromes; mental retardation; language or learning disabilities; auditory processing disorder; delayed development related to prematurity; oral-motor weakness or disorders; motor planning disorder; sensory processing disorders; physical deformities; and muscle disorders to name a few. There is a disorder called "specific language impairment" which means that there is no underlying cause for a language impairment (or the impairment is specific to language only). Some children are delayed in language/communication for no apparent reason. They may be developing in a typical progression, just delayed.
Will my child need speech therapy?
It is difficult to determine if your child needs therapy without an overall observation/evaluation of his or her abilities and difficulties.  We always begin with an in depth phone consult and will then follow through with an appropriate evaluation (as described above) that is custom designed for your child based on areas of concern.  Taking into account the results of the testing and how stimulable your child is in the areas of their weaknesses, immediately following the evaluation, we will let you know if we feel your child would benefit from speech therapy, why and how we came to this determination and if so recommended, the frequency of sessions.  Please remember that some of the standardized testing may take a couple days to complete/score and for those kids that are “borderline”, we may need to call you once scoring is completed to tell you our full recommendations.  We make every attempt to start your child in therapy within a week of the evaluation. ​
My child needs therapy, now what?
We know it is always hard to hear the words, “your child is delayed”.  Just remember, therapy does work and it is fun!  As the beloved Mr. Rogers once said, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning, but for children play is serious learning.” During our play-based sessions, your kiddo won’t even know he is being challenged!  Often times we are asked how long a child will need help.  It is difficult to determine the exact amount of time your kiddo will require therapy. This will depend on many factors. However, our goal is to always push individuals through therapy as quickly as possible. The faster they are successful in their communicative abilities, the faster the will be successful in other areas of their lives.  Graduation day from speech is a day that we are all proud of!