Dialogic reading is a way of sharing a picture book in which the adult asks questions, adds to what the child says, and lets the child become the storyteller, instead of reading the words straight through. It turns a few minutes of storytime into real language practice, and it is one of the easiest things
A pacifier does not directly cause speech delay in most children, but frequent daytime use in a toddler can reduce the practice a child gets with babbling, sounds, and words, and very long use can affect how the teeth and mouth develop. In other words, the pacifier itself is rarely the problem. How often it
Do Pacifiers Cause Speech Delay? What Vero Beach Parents Should Know About Weaning Read More »
Some children do grow out of a lisp and some do not, and the type of lisp is the best early predictor of which. A frontal lisp, where the tongue pushes forward between the teeth on /s/ and /z/, is common in young children and often resolves. A lateral lisp, where air escapes over the
Will My Child Grow Out of a Lisp? What Vero Beach Parents Should Know Read More »
A hoarse voice in a child is a change in vocal quality – rough, breathy, strained, or lower than usual – and when it lasts longer than about four weeks without a cold to explain it, it should be examined by an ear, nose, and throat physician rather than waited out. Persistent hoarseness is a
Why Is My Child Always Hoarse? What a Rough Voice Can Mean and When to Have It Checked Read More »
Tongue-tie, known clinically as ankyloglossia, is a shorter or tighter than typical lingual frenulum, the band of tissue under the tongue. It can restrict tongue movement, but the important point for parents is that a tongue-tie is only relevant to speech when it actually limits the tongue movements required for specific sounds, and many children
Tongue-Tie and Speech: What Vero Beach Parents Should Know Before Scheduling a Procedure Read More »
Phonological awareness is a child’s ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the sounds inside spoken words, and it is one of the strongest early predictors of how easily that child will learn to read. It is a listening skill, not a letter skill, and it develops before a child recognizes a single letter of the
Pragmatic language is the set of skills a child uses to communicate socially: starting and ending conversations, taking turns, staying on topic, reading tone and body language, and adjusting how they speak depending on who they are talking to. A child can have crystal-clear speech sounds and an impressive vocabulary and still find these skills
Selective mutism is an anxiety-based condition in which a child who speaks comfortably in familiar settings, such as at home, is consistently unable to speak in certain other situations, such as school, despite having the language ability to do so. It is not stubbornness, defiance, or simple shyness. It is a child who genuinely cannot
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Private speech therapy and school-based speech services both help children communicate, but they answer different questions: school services address whether a communication difficulty affects a child’s access to their education, while private therapy addresses the child’s overall communication development regardless of school impact. Understanding that distinction is the key to deciding what your child actually
Private Speech Therapy vs. School-Based Services: What Vero Beach Parents Should Know Read More »
Chronic ear infections can contribute to speech and language delay because the fluid and inflammation they cause temporarily reduce a child’s hearing, and children learn to talk by hearing the sounds of language clearly and consistently. When hearing comes and goes during the years a child is building speech, the foundation for those skills can