Speech & Language Therapy
Pediatric Speech Therapy
Some families come to us because their two-year-old has not started talking.
Others come because their nine-year-old can hold a conversation just fine, but cannot follow the three-step directions their teacher gives, or keeps losing friends without understanding why.
Both belong here.
Birth through 18. More than 20 clinics across Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee. Speech, occupational, physical and feeding therapy under one roof since 2007.
The question most parents are really asking
How do I know if my child needs speech therapy?
Get the evaluation. If your child is on track, you will know, and you can stop wondering. If your child is behind, you have started support early, and the research on early intervention is consistent. The earlier we begin, the better the outcomes and the faster children tend to progress.
We are not a wait-and-see practice. Some children who are a little behind do catch up on their own. The problem is that nobody can tell you in advance which children those are.
Given that, we would rather give your child the support most children in their position need than wait to find out which group your child is in.
The signs worth calling about are grouped by age below. If you recognize your child anywhere in them, that is reason enough.
By age
What speech therapy looks like at every stage
Most families picture a toddler who is not talking. That is a large part of what we do. It is not all of it.
0-3Infants & toddlers
Where most of our families start
The largest group of children coming through our doors arrives between one and two, usually because they are not talking yet or are not putting words together. Therapy at this age looks like play, because play is how children this young learn anything.
- Not babbling, or has stopped babbling
- No words by around 12 to 15 months
- Not putting two words together by around 2
- Cannot be understood by family members
- Does not respond to their name or simple directions
- Feeding difficulty, gagging, or a very limited diet
3-6Preschool
Sounds, sentences, and telling you about the day
This is where speech sound work often begins in earnest, along with vocabulary, grammar, and being able to tell you what actually happened at school.
- Hard for people outside the family to understand
- Frustration or meltdowns trying to communicate
- Stuttering that is worsening or upsetting to them
- Cannot follow directions with more than one step
- Cannot answer questions or recount an event
6-18School age & older
The group most often missed
The children who sound completely fine
You would meet one of these children and wonder why they are in speech therapy at all. They hold a conversation. They answer your questions. Then school starts asking more of them, and it shows up somewhere a conversation never would.
Seeing a child at nine is just as worthwhile as seeing a child at two. It is simply for different reasons.
- Struggles with written language or reading comprehension
- Cannot follow multi-step directions in the classroom
- Trouble organizing thoughts or telling a story in order
- Coming across as too blunt with friends
- Telling friends what to do rather than asking
- Losing friendships without understanding why
What to expect
What actually happens at an evaluation
Parents tell us the not-knowing is the hardest part. So here is the whole thing, start to finish.
You check in, and we bring you both back
You will not be separated from your child.
We talk about your concerns
Your therapist may call you before the appointment to talk this through, because what you tell us shapes which assessments we choose.
Your therapist assesses your child
Age appropriate, which means a two-year-old is not sitting down to drill work. From your child’s side of it, they are playing with toys and looking at pictures.
We sit down and talk about what we found
The results and the recommendation, whether that is starting therapy, trying things at home, or coming back in six months. Many of our therapists share their impression the same day. If yours needs to score the assessment first, they will tell you when to expect the call.
Then you decide. We make a recommendation. What you do with it is your call.
How this works
Speech therapy is not something we do to your child
One of the most common things we correct on day one: a parent hands their child off at the door and heads for the waiting room.
Come back with us.
Your child may see a therapist once or twice a week for 30 minutes. You have them for everything else. The strategies your therapist uses are ones you can use at dinner, in the car and at bedtime, and ones you can hand to a grandparent, a daycare provider or a classroom teacher.
Practice is often the difference between a week and a month on the same goal.
Areas of care
What our speech therapists treat
Late talkers & early language
First words, first word combinations, and the reasons a child is not using them yet.
Speech sound production
Articulation and phonology, so people outside your family can understand your child. Apraxia
Receptive & expressive language
Vocabulary, grammar, following directions, telling a story, answering a question.
School-age & written language
Multi-step directions, reading comprehension, and the classroom demands a casual conversation never reveals.
Social communication
Asking instead of telling, reading a room, keeping a friendship going.
Fluency & stuttering
Including the confidence that goes with it. Stuttering
Gestalt language processing
Language that arrives in whole phrases before it breaks into single words.
Communication devices (AAC)
For children who need another route to be heard. When a device goes home, parents stop guessing at gestures and start hearing what their child wants.
Feeding & swallowing
Chewing, swallowing safely, and eating a real variety of food.
Coordinated care
Diagnoses we commonly work alongside
Speech and language difficulty often travels with another diagnosis. Speech therapy is rarely the only support these children need, which is why our speech, occupational, physical and feeding therapists coordinate on the same child rather than working in separate lanes.
- Autism and developmental disorders
- Down syndrome
- Cerebral palsy
- Hearing loss
- Auditory processing disorder
- Traumatic brain injury
- Cleft lip and cleft palate
- Genetic conditions
- Learning difficulties
Before your first appointment
Things you can do tonight
Get on the floor
Not next to the toys. On the floor, in the play.
Back and forth beats batteries
Stories, imaginative play, peekaboo and tag hold your child’s attention better than a toy that does the work for them.
Practice whatever came home
Even a few minutes daily. This is the single biggest thing families control.
Watch screens together
Screens are not the enemy, and every parent needs a break. What matters is what is playing, how much, and whether you are in it with them.
Communication Milestones Checklist
Free download. There is a separate feeding and swallowing checklist, also available in Spanish.
Why families stay
Built for the child who has to walk in the door
Rooms a two-year-old will actually enter
We think about what it is like to be two years old and walk into the building. Gray walls and a room with nothing in it do not invite a small child to play with a stranger, and play is how this work gets done.
Your child’s therapists talk to each other
Speech, occupational, physical and feeding therapists collaborate on the same child, and we will tell you when someone else on the team should be involved.
Therapists who have somewhere to go when a case is hard
Every discipline has an advisor responsible for evidence-based practice, continuing education and clinical mentorship. You will not see it from the waiting room. You feel it in the quality of your child’s plan.
Find a clinic
Let’s find out together
An evaluation is the fastest way to answer the question you have been sitting with. More than 20 clinics across Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee.