Does Your Child Need Our Services?

Welcome to TheraKidsInc.com

Does Your Child Need Our Services?

Are you worried about your child’s development? Do they seem to have trouble understanding or following directions? Are they having difficulty adjusting to school? Is your child frustrated with him/herself? You can ease your mind and help your child by having them evaluated and/or treated for speech, reading, writing and language processing deficits, including dyslexia, at TheraKids, Inc. The Speech-Language Pathologists at TheraKids are trained in the evaluation and treatment of special needs children, children with articulation and language disorders as well as learning disabled children. Here are some questions to determine if your child needs an evaluation:

How to know if your Pre-school-aged or School-aged child needs an evaluation:

Should your child have a speech evaluation?

·       Do they produce speech sounds appropriately for their age?

·       Are they 3 years old or older and still not understood when they speak?

·       Are they picked on by other children because of their speech?

·       Are they frustrated with their own speech?

Should your child have a language evaluation?

·       Are they having difficulty functioning in the school environment?

·       Are they falling behind in their assignments and/or having difficulty following directions?

·       Do they have difficulty learning new information?

Does your child have dificulty reading?

·       Do they have difficulty reading a simple sentence and interpreting the meaning of the sentence?

·       Do they have difficulty answering questions about the content of the story?

·       Do they have difficulty identifying the main idea and supporting details of information read?

Does your child have diffuculty with written language?

·       Do they take longer than average to complete written assignments?

·      Do they verbally express thoughts/ideas, but have difficulty writing the same thoughts/ideas?

·       Do they have difficulty determining or using appropriate punctuation and capitalization?

Do you suspect your child has dyslexia?

·       Do they have difficulty identifying the sounds that letters make?

·       Can they distinguish letters from the sounds that they make?

·       Can they blend sounds to make words?

·       Do they struggle with grade appropriate materials?

·       Do they have age appropriate spelling skills?

·       Are they performing well in school?

Does your child have a language processing deficit?

·       Do they have difficulty following directions?

·       Do they have difficulty learning when given only auditory information?

·       Do they have difficulty organizing information?

·       Do they shy away from school work?

Does your child stutter?

·    Do they produce speech sounds appropriately for their age?

·    Do they prolong or repeat “er” or “um”?

·    Do they prolong initial sounds in words (i.e. mmmmm-mommy)?

·    Do they have one of the above, accompanied by struggle and tension in their lips, tongue and/or throat?

·    Do they have one of the above, accompanied by avoidance talking or moments of fear when speaking?

At TheraKids we also specialize in treating children who have feeding and/or swallowing disorders including feeding aversions and swallowing deficits; children who have delays in early language skills: and children who have hearing loss.

If your child exhibits the following behaviors, they may have hearing loss and/or early language deficits:

· Newborn babies should cry or startle from sudden or loud sounds.

· By 2-3 months, babies recognize familiar voices

· By 2-3 months, babies have begun cooing.

· By 4 months, babies can localize sounds.

· By 4 months, babies should make non-speech sounds (“raspberries”, yelling, growling, etc).

· By 6 months, babies should be babbling.

· By 9 months, babies have begun imitating some vocalizations.

· By 12 months, most children have used their first word.

If at any time between birth and 12 months, your child does not make sounds, or begins making them and then stops, there is a problem.

If your infant exhibits the following symptoms, there may be a feeding problem:

· Your infant has difficulty latching on or staying attached to breast or bottle during feedings.

· Your infant fatigues very easily during feedings.

· Your infant has a lot of oral spillage of formula, breast milk, or saliva during or after feeding.

· Your infant has greater than normal amounts of vomiting or projectile vomiting after eating.

· Your baby is not gaining enough weight to maintain adequate placement on the growth chart.

· Your baby has significant difficulty transitioning from Stage 2 foods to Stage 3 and table foods.

· By the age of 6 months your child has not begun to nibble or munch.

Please contact us if you have further questions regarding the information you have read on this page.