Speech & Language Therapy

What Is Speech & Language Therapy?

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Communication is more than words.

It’s the way your child connects, shares ideas, and builds relationships. At FirstRowe Speech & Feeding Therapy, we help children (and the adults who support them) find clear, confident, and joyful ways to communicate.

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Speech: The Sounds That Build Words

Speech is movement — a delicate dance between breath, voice, lips, jaw, and tongue. When all these parts work together, we get clear, fluent, and expressive words. Think of speech as having three key “building blocks”:

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1. Articulation — How We Form Sounds

Some sounds come early (like p, b, m), while others take more time (sh, ch, r). If a sound isn’t showing up when expected, or words are hard to understand, we take a closer look. Common examples:

a. “cat” becomes “ca” (dropping the final sound)

b. “elephant” becomes “ephant” (skipping a syllable)

These patterns are totally normal for toddlers — but if they continue past age 3–4, a speech evaluation can help your child catch up confidently.

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2. Fluency — The Flow of Talking

Fluency is the rhythm of speech. When it’s smooth, communication feels effortless. When a child gets “stuck” on sounds or repeats words (“I-I-I want that”), it can interrupt the flow. Some children go through natural periods of bumpy speech as they learn — that’s normal. If it lasts beyond several months, we may call it stuttering and provide gentle, supportive fluency therapy.

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3. Voice — The Sound of Our Vibration 

Your voice turns on when your vocal folds meet during exhalation. Try saying “aaaaa…” — that’s your voice in action! Whispering, shouting, or frequent throat clearing can strain it over time. Voice therapy helps restore balance through gentle exercises and vocal care habits — what we like to call a “voice wellness routine.”

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How We Help
Our therapists use evidence-based, hands-on methods tailored to your child’s needs, including: PROMPT, Cycles Approach, Straight Speech, Kaufman Protocol, Lidcombe Program, and Voice Monsters — always with play, connection, and progress in mind.

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Language: The Meaning Behind Words

Language is how we share ideas — through words, tone, gestures, and expression.
During the first five years, children grow rapidly across three areas:

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1. Receptive Language (Understanding)

This is how your child takes in meaning.

If your child struggles to follow directions or needs you to point or gesture often, they might be relying more on visual clues than verbal understanding.

💬 Parent reflection prompt:

Next time you give directions, notice — do you point or gesture a lot? Does your child wait for your cues before responding?

 

These small observations help us understand how your child listens and processes information.

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2. Expressive Language (Speaking)

This is how your child puts thoughts into words.
It’s not just about “talking” — it’s about expressing ideas clearly and confidently.
A strong expressive language system includes:

- Vocabulary (nouns, verbs, pronouns)
- Grammar (like plurals and tense)
- Sentence structure (word order and meaning)
 

Children with expressive language delays might understand more than they can say — and that’s a great place to start building from. 

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3. Social Language (Pragmatics)

This is how children use communication in real life — from greeting others to joining a game to telling a story.

Pragmatic skills include:

- Pragmatic skills include:
- Waiting for a turn

- Listening when others speak
- Knowing how to start and end conversations

Some children with strong vocabularies still find social interactions hard — especially those on the autism spectrum. Building these skills helps them connect more easily and confidently.

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Our Approach
After a comprehensive evaluation, we create a personalized therapy plan using methods such as:

- Visualizing and Verbalizing
- The Processing Program
- Story Grammar Marker
- Braidy the StoryBraid
- Read It Once Again
 

We combine proven techniques with creativity, play, and family involvement to make therapy meaningful and effective.

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Wondering If Your Child Might Need Support?

Every child develops differently, but here are some signs that a speech or language screening might help:

👉 Family history of speech or language disorders
👉 Your child is over 2 and not yet talking
👉 You rely on pointing or gestures to be understood
👉 Your child’s speech is unclear to others
👉 Your child gets frustrated when not understood
👉 Difficulty making friends or joining play

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, don’t worry; early support can make a world of difference.

Schedule a FREE consultation with one of our licensed speech-language pathologists to discuss your child’s communication goals.