Waiting Lists/Contact Us

If you would like more
information regarding our
schools, would like to
schedule a tour of a facility,
or would like to put your
child on our waiting list,
please contact:

Teddy Bear Treehouse
Poway
(858) 748-5600
Email

Teddy Bear Treehouse
Rancho Penasquitos
(858) 538-4800
Email

Westminster Presbetarian Preschool
Point Loma
(619) 224-7403
Email

Please be sure to include
your name, your phone
number, your child's age
and when you would be
interested in attending one
of our schools

Speech and Language Development
by Shannon Karo, MS, CCC-SLP

A Speech-Language Pathologist is a specialist in the assessment, treatment and prevention of communication disorders. Speech Pathologist have a Master’s Degree in Speech Pathology, are licensed by the state of California and certified by the American-Speech-Language-Hearing-Association.

A Speech-Language Pathologist performs speech, language and hearing screenings on children of all ages. Screenings take approximately 15 minutes and provide the therapist, family and caregivers a brief overview of speech, language and hearing skills. Screenings detect whether speech, language and/or hearing difficulties exist. If speech, language and/or hearing difficulties exist they may affect a child’s language art skills, social skills, self esteem, test scores and grades. Research has shown early intervention leads to increased success in school and that speech-language development is indicative of academic success. If a screening indicates speech, language and/or hearing difficulties, a full comprehensive evaluation may be recommended.

A comprehensive evaluation is a detailed look at speech, language and hearing skills. The caregiver completes a questionnaire regarding medical and developmental history. The Speech Pathologist utilizes standardized tests, parent interview and clinical observation to identify specific communication disorders. The evaluation provides a diagnosis and recommendations. If it is determined intervention is necessary, the Speech Pathologist guides the family to appropriate referrals. Recommendations may include public and private programs throughout the county.

Pediatric Speech and Language Disorders include the following:

Articulation Disorder or Phonological Disorder – The child has difficulties producing certain speech sounds or combinations of sounds. These difficulties persist longer than is developmentally appropriate. There are many causes such as an underlying oral-motor weakness or delayed oral-motor development.

Receptive Language/Auditory Processing Disorder – Difficulties may be observed in one or more areas including the child’s ability to understand others, follow directions, answer “wh” questions, and/or listen with background noise.

Expressive Language Disorder – Difficulties may be observed in one or more areas including difficulty with vocabulary, sentence formulation and/or sentence structure.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD or ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder) - Symptoms of ADHD include: difficulty following directions, answering questions before the teacher or others have finished asking a question, saying sentences with incorrect grammar or relating stories that are disorganized and difficult for the listener to follow what is being said.

Developmental Apraxia of Speech – The problem is in the brain’s planning to move the lips, jaw, or tongue to produce words. The child knows what he/she wants to say, but the brain is not sending the correct instructions to move the body parts of speech correctly. Symptoms include having difficulty combining sounds to produce words, simplifying words by deleting some sounds, and there may be feeding problems.

Voice Problems – Voice is a problem 1) when the pitch, loudness, or quality calls attention to itself rather than to what the speaker is saying, or 2) if the speaker experiences pain or discomfort.

Stuttering – Stuttering is a disorder of speech fluency that interrupts the flow of speech. All individuals are disfluent at times, but what differentiates the person who stutters from someone with normal speech disfluencies is the kind and amount of the disfluencies.

Pragmatics (social interaction) Disorder – Difficulties may be observed in on or more areas including the child’s verbal turn-taking skills, use of eye contact, use of language socially, initiating/engaging in conversation, difficulty understanding how to use communication, getting stuck on topics/ideas, and/or difficulty moving from one topic/activity to another.

If you would like further information and/or have questions, please feel free to call Accent on Speech at 619-871-1323.