A school-based speech-language pathologist works with children who have problems with speech, language, or both.
Speech refers to the physical (motor) act of producing sounds in meaningful combinations using the lips, tongue, teeth, palate, vocal cords, and lungs for communication. Children who have speech difficulties may have weak lip or tongue muscles, or struggle with coordinating the movements of these structures for making speech (called oral-motor difficulties). They also may have difficulty pronouncing the sounds of speech, which is called an articulation disorder.
Language is the understanding and production of the rule-based code we use to communicate with one another. Language involves combining words into sentences, understanding the meanings of words, and making new words, as well as intonation, facial expression, and other "social" aspects of communication.
Some areas in which children with language problems may have difficulty include
Some areas in which children with language problems may have difficulty include
• Putting words together in the correct order
• Using correct word forms
• Learning word meanings
• Understanding verbal directions
• Categorizing words
• Associating words
• "Finding" the appropriate word
• Use of language
(requesting, answering questions, conversation)