Oahe Special Education Cooperative

Speech-Language Therapy is available to children who exhibit a communication delay or disorder. Since South Dakota recognizes that children with disability ages birth to 21 deserve access to appropriate education services, these programs are provided at no cost. Children who qualify for speech-language therapy are provided with services through Hub Area Birth to Three Connections or the member school districts of the Oahe Special Education Cooperative.
 

Typically, infants or toddlers who receive Speech-Language Therapy do so because of a doctor’s referral. After an evaluation process, those children who qualify for speech-language therapy are provided with services through an Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) which states desired outcomes of therapy and the amount of services. Therapy most often in provided in the child’s home or daycare but it may occur at the local school as well. Not only is communication a concern for very young children with health problems; but, feeding and swallowing may also be affected. Feeding issues can be addressed through appropriate services by a Speech-Language Pathologist who holds a master’s degree and has passed a national board examination.

Children ages three and up are provided with services in their local school district. Following an evaluation, children who qualify for Speech-Language Therapy are placed on an Individual Education Plan (IEP) which states skills to be addressed, goals, and the amount of therapy to be provided. Children can qualify for Speech-Language Therapy in these areas: articulation, language, pragmatics, fluency, and voice. A description of each area is as follows:
 

• Articulation refers to how one says the sounds in words. An example of an articulation error would be saying ‘tat’ for ‘cat’ or ‘duice’ for ‘juice. Also, a distortion such as a lisp during production of the /s/ or omitting sounds entirely are considered articulation errors. Although all children tend to have errors in how they say words, various sounds develop at certain ages. Articulation becomes a concern if accurate production of sounds is not occurring when it should or if the child is very difficult to understand.

• Language refers to the development of sentence structure. While one expects a three-year-old child to use a sentence like “Me do it.”, it is not appropriate for a four or five-year-old to still use short sentences with many grammatical errors. Language therapy teaches children how to use correct word order and word endings that indicate tense and number such as ‘walked’ or ‘balls’.

• Fluency refers to stuttering. Some examples of stuttering are sound repetitions, “I wa wa wa want to go home.”; word repetitions, “I want want want to go home.”; prolongations, “I wwwwwwwant to go home.”; and blocking in which the child is unable to produce a sound. While most children go through a period of developmental stuttering around four years of age, some children do not stop stuttering on their own. These children benefit from Speech-Language Therapy to learn strategies to promote fluent speech.

• Voice refers to qualities such as pitch, hoarseness, loudness, and hyper-nasality. If a child consistently speaks in a manner that results in vocal abuse, vocal nodules can develop on the larynx. Children who are born with a cleft lip or palate require therapy in an effort to achieve less nasal speech. These children are usually referred for services by an ENT or referred to an ENT by a Speech-Language Pathologist as a medical diagnosis is sought before providing therapy in the area of voice.

• Pragmatics is a term that refers to social language. Children with delays in pragmatic language may not have learned conversation skills or how to interpret and respond to social cues. These skills are needed to develop and maintain peer relationships and respond appropriately to authority figures.