Speech-language therapy is based upon individualized goals and objectives. Each child’s learning rate is different and therefore, a specific time period of therapy cannot be predicted.

1. Speech Therapy Baton Rouge

2. When will my child be discharged
from therapy?
Speech-language therapy is based upon
individualized goals and objectives. Each
child’s learning rate is different and
therefore, a specific time period of
therapy cannot be predicted.
You and your speech-language
pathologist will communicate closely
about your child’s progress, and will plan
carefully for his or her timely discharge

3. Is it a good idea to take a break from
speech therapy?
Each child’s intervention program is
uniquely designed for his or her
particular needs. The more consistently
the child attends speech therapy Baton
Rouge, the more rapidly progress will be
seen. However, your child’s speech-
language pathologist may suggest to you
when and if a short break in the program
would be beneficial.

4. Although the summer months seem like
a natural time to take a break, children
may regress or require lengthier
intervention programs overall as a result
of this time off.
The summer can actually be a great time
to make more rapid changes as fewer
academic demands are placed on
children during that time.

5. What is Auditory Processing Disorder
(APD)?
APD may be associated with difficulties in
listening, speech understanding,
language development and learning. In
its pure form, however, it is
conceptualized as a deficit in the
processing of auditory input. In other
words, it is “what we do with what we
hear.” APD occurs in 2-3% of children.

6. Some characteristics include: has
difficulty understanding spoken language
in competing noise, often
misunderstands messages, frequently
requests repetitions, says “what” and
“huh” frequently, exhibits difficulty
paying attention, has poor auditory
memory, may have poor receptive and
expressive language,

7. confuses words that sound alike, exhibits
behavior problems, difficulty following
complex auditory directions, difficulty
localizing sounds, associated learning
problems, is easily distracted, gives
inconsistent responses to auditory
stimuli,(often delayed), has difficulty with
phonics and speech sound discrimination
and has reading, spelling or other
academic problems.

8. The diagnosis of APD should include a
language assessment by a speech-
language pathologist and an audiological
assessment by a licensed and certified
audiologist.

9. What is “Disfluency”?
A disfluency is any interruption in the
normal flow of speech. If you child has
difficulty speaking, in that he hesitates or
repeats certain syllables, words or
phrases, he may have a fluency or
stuttering disorder.

10. Although some children experience
normal disfluencies as they develop, a
speech language pathologist can
determine if your child could benefit
from therapy.
For more information on stuttering, visit
the Stuttering Foundation of America’s
website at: http://www.stuttersfa.org.

11. Will my insurance pay for speech
therapy?
You may have a health care plan that has
coverage for evaluation and treatment of
communication and related disorders.
Because each health care plan is
different, it is suggested that you check
your health care plan policy by looking
for coverage of all health related services
under the major medical section.

12. If you are in doubt about coverage for
speech-language pathology services, you
may call, visit or send a letter to your
employee benefits manager, HMO office,
PPO office, or insurance company.
If possible, request clarification of your
coverage in writing.

13. When making your initial appointment
with Access to Better Communication,
our office manager will be glad to assist
you in understanding this process. It is
suggested that you review any questions
regarding your health plan coverage with
the office manager at that time There
may be deductibles and co-payments to
pay even if most charges are covered.
If services are not covered by your
health care plan the fees services
rendered become your responsibility.

14. How long does it take to schedule an
evaluation? And how long after the
evaluation does it take to make the
first appointment?
An evaluation can usually be scheduled
within a two week period upon your first
contact with our office. However, if
insurance pre-authorization is required, a
slight delay may occur while awaiting
insurance confirmation.

15. If the results of the evaluation indicate
that your child would benefit from
speech-language therapy, the first
therapy appointment is most often
discussed at the end of the evaluation
session and scheduled within the next
one to two weeks.

16. What is the difference between
speech and language disorders?
A language disorder is the ability to use
and/or understand words and their
meanings properly. Children may exhibit
inappropriate grammatical patterns,
difficulty with word retrieval, language
organization difficulties, difficulty
formulating or recalling sentences, or
difficulty following directions.

17. A language disorder can lead to a reading
disability characterized by poor reading
comprehension, poor decoding skills, or
difficulty with the knowledge of the
sound system.
A speech disorder is characterized by
difficulty producing sounds (articulation),
dysfluent speech (stuttering) or voice
difficulties.

18. My child speaks just fine, so why
does he need speech therapy?
Speech-language pathologists evaluate
and treat many disorders other than
articulation (how sounds are produced).
These include language, fluency
(stuttering), reading, writing, auditory
processing, phonemic awareness, social
skills, voice, and resonance.

19. For speech, language and hearing
development milestones, visit the
American Speech-Language-Hearing
Association’s website at:
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/deve
lopment/chart.htm

20. What do Speech-Language
pathologists do?
A clinical speech-language pathologist
conducts comprehensive evaluations and
formulates specific individualized goals
based on the testing results.
These goals are then implemented in a
speech-language therapy program
involving the child, speech-language
pathologist, family, school and often
other related professionals.

21. Read more about dyslexia treatment baton
rouge here:
http://www.batonrougespeechtherapy.com/