At SMILE, our Speech Language Pathologist helps children with most aspects of communication and feeding. Being that communication can come in many forms, such as body language, eye gaze, vocalizations, language, AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) and other expressions, these are all areas that our SLP explores with clients. When it comes to assisting with feeding, many strategies are utilized, including Oral Placement Therapy, which is also used for speech.

At SMILE we support all children whom are struggling with communicating their needs and wants. Most speech disorders fall into the following categories:

• Speech delays and disorders including articulation, phonology and motor speech disorders.
• Language delays and disorders, including expression and comprehension in oral and non-verbal contexts
• Voice and resonance disorders.
• Cognitive-communicative disorders including social communication skills, reasoning, problem solving and executive functions.
• Pre-literacy and literacy skills including phonological awareness, decoding, reading comprehension and writing.

Oral Placement Therapy (OPT) utilizes a combination of: (1) auditory stimulation, (2) visual stimulation and (3) tactile stimulation to the mouth. It is used to help children and individuals to improve speech clarity and feeding skills. OPT can be used with clients of many ages and ability levels. It can be incorporated into program plans for many types of speech disorders. Clients with motor and/or sensory impairments benefit from the tactile and proprioceptive components.