Stuttering is a complex and variable communication disorder where the speaker experiences an underlying feeling of “being stuck”. This can cause significant tension and frustration while communicating, and can decrease one’s confidence interacting in academic and social situations.

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder that makes it difficult for children to speak and reduces their overall intelligibility (how well their speech is understood by others). The child knows what they want to say but has difficulty programming that plan into actual sound sequences necessary for speech.

All children develop differently and “normal” is relative. Even so, it can be helpful to know the ages that children typically master certain skills, or grow out of certain speech patterns, to help you decide whether to seek speech therapy for your child.

Put simply, when a speech sound disorder is present, your child’s speech is hard to understand because they’ve either mis-learned the rules for how and when to use their sounds (phonological disorder) or haven’t learned how to correctly move their mouths to make their sounds (articulation disorder).

Clients: don’t be afraid to shop around for the therapist that is right for YOU.

SLPs: don’t be afraid to focus your expertise!

Did your child just get referred for speech therapy? Are you a student considering the field? Keep reading if you are thinking to yourself, “but what do they even do???”.

Welcome to the Garden Speech Therapy blog!