Language Delay Therapy for Children in Los Angeles

It’s true that every child is different. There will be slight differences between when they reach certain milestones, but if your little one isn’t meeting certain speech milestones by a certain age, it’s a good idea to seek out speech therapy. If your child needs it, the earlier you begin speech therapy, the better the outcome! 

If you notice your child’s speech skills are delayed, don’t panic! Our LA speech therapy team has extensive training in early intervention and will help give your child the input, prompting, and practice they need to thrive. 

While language delays do not always indicate another condition such as hearing loss, global delays, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), our therapists have been trained to recognize early warning signs of these conditions. If we believe a referral is appropriate, we will provide you with a list of appropriate providers and help guide you through each step of the diagnostic process.

Social Skills Therapy for Kids

Pragmatic language refers to the ability to use socially appropriate language and communication in different social situations. We may not realize it, but we follow certain rules during every conversation we have and constantly change the way we communicate when talking to different people or when communicating in different settings. 

For example, we…

• Take turns while talking

• Stay on topic during conversations

• Use and understand nonverbal signals (like facial expressions, eye contact, etc.)

• Respect other people’s personal space

• Adjust the way we speak depending on who the listener is and the information they do or don’t have about the subject being discussed 

• Adjust our volume according to our surroundings (i.e. when in a library versus a playground)

• Use language differently for different purposes (knowing how and when to request vs. demand, state vs. inform, etc.)

For children who struggle with pragmatics or social skills, they may find it difficult to make and keep friends, get in trouble at school, or find themselves unable to communicate effectively. 

Our SLPs will help your child learn the unwritten rules of social communication, providing them with a safe and comfortable space to work through the complex world of social communication. 

Speech Fluency Therapy for Kids

We all experience occasional difficulty speaking fluently (who hasn’t had to use the occasional “um” during a presentation?). However, frequent interruptions during speech can make communicating difficult and even frustrating for your little one. 

Over time, this frustration can cause your child to develop “accessory” behaviors to try to hide their disfluencies.

This might look like:

• Avoiding speaking around new people

• Avoiding certain words they find difficult 

• Pretending to forget what they were saying

• Rearranging words in their sentences

• Using “filler sounds” such as “uh” and “um” during speech

• Covering their mouth

• Pretending to cough or yawn

Untreated fluency disorders can also cause your child to feel anxious, depressed, ashamed, or angry. 

There are two commonly recognized fluency disorders:

• Stuttering — the repetition of sounds or whole words or frequent pausing between words

• Cluttering — irregular speech rate (usually so rapid it’s difficult to understand the speaker), atypical pauses, omission of syllables, and/or excessive self-interruption (commonly referred to as revisions and interjections)

Our unique approach to stuttering targets the cranial nerves responsible for breathing and speech production to redirect the neurological flow of energy responsible for these processes. Want to learn more? Click here!