BUZZ Words

Aphasia: A type of communication disorder caused by injury to the brain. Aphasia can impact language expression or comprehension, as well as reading and writing.  

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Articulation: How we use our lips, tongue, teeth, and mouth to produce words or sounds. This refers to the motor movements required for speech. 

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Articulation Disorder: When a child has an articulation disorder, they produce a sound in error, or make a consistent substitution. Articulation disorders are motor-based. The cause may be unknown, or known (i.e., muscle weakness, physical delays, neurological disorder, etc.). For example: A child produces /w/ for /r/ ("wed" for red) because the /w/ is easier and requires less tongue motion. 

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ASHA: The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association is a national organization that certifies and regulates Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists. ASHA provides public resources, professional development opportunities, and holds a national conference each year. 

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Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): Means of communication outside of traditional speech. AAC can be low-tech (paper, picture symbols, etc.), or high-tech (speech-generating devices, applications, etc.).  

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Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): A speech disorder characterized by difficulty executing the muscle movements required for speech. A child with CAS knows what they want to say, but their brain has difficulty making the muscles move accurately.  

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Communication: The ability to convey a message. This can be through spoken messages, written messages, gestures, eye contact, and more. 

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Cue: A type of assistance that helps a child achieve their speech/language target. Cues can be verbal (i.e., verbal reminders like "don't forget to close your teeth"), visual (i.e., picture prompts or reminders), or tactile (i.e., touching the child's mouth to prompt them). 

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Echolalia: A child demonstrates echolalia when they repeat words or phrases that they hear. They may repeat what they hear familiar people say, or lines from their favorite movies or television shows. Echolalia may be immediate (repeated as soon as they hear it), or delayed (repeated later, often out of context). Echolalia is often an indicator of a language delay, because it suggests the child may be having difficulty producing words or phrases independently or spontaneously. 

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Evaluation: A speech-language evaluation is a comprehensive assessment of a variety of speech and language skills conducted by a certified Speech-Language Pathologist. Skills evaluated include receptive language, expressive language, social skills, articulation, oral-motor movements, voice, fluency, and more. An evaluation typically consists of a case history interview, medical history review, hearing screening, child observation, and standardized and/or non-standardized measures. After the evaluation, the SLP will score these measures and write a detailed report compiling all of this information. Treatment will be recommended, if necessary. 

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Evidence-Based Practice: Evidence-Based Practice consists of clinical expertise, client/caregiver perspectives, and scientific/clinical evidence. SLPs at Honeybee Therapy Services participate in continuing education to stay up-to-date on clinically proven therapy and evaluation techniques, to ensure all of our treatments and evaluations are evidence-based. 

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Expressive Language: How a child uses language to communicate. This can include spoken language, gestures, AAC, written language, and more. Expressive language skills may include using words/vocabulary, combining words into phrases/sentences, and writing. 

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Fluency: This refers to the smoothness or flow of a child's speech. A child may have a fluency disorder if they demonstrate interruptions in flow, effortful speech, or sound/word repetitions. Stuttering is the most common fluency disorder. 

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Functional Communication: The ability to communicate basic wants and needs. 

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Generalization: The ability to demonstrate a skill in multiple settings. For instance, once a child can produce their speech sounds in speech therapy sessions, in their classroom, and at home, they have achieved generalization. This is also sometimes referred to as "carry-over." 

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Gestures: Physical movements that convey a message (i.e., reaching hands up to communicate "pick me up," waving to communicate greetings or farewell, pointing to show or request, shrugging shoulders to communicate "I don't know"). 

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Intelligibility: The amount or portion of a child's speech that is understood by a listener. By age 2, a child is typically 50-75% intelligible. By age 3, a child is typically 75-100% intelligible. 

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Intonation: How the voice rises and falls in pitch during speech. Intonation is an important piece of message communication. For instance, when children ask questions, they should use "rising intonation," meaning they raise their pitch at the end of the sentence. Without pitch variations, a person can sound "flat" or "robotic."

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Joint Attention: Attending to the same thing as another person, and coordinating eye contact with that person. Joint attention goes beyond just looking at the same object as someone else. It is a beginning step to intentional communication, and an early predictor of social skills. When demonstrating joint attention, a child may look at a toy, look at their caregiver, and then look back at the toy. Joint attention assures children/babies that their caregivers are paying attention to, or enjoying the same thing they are. 

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Jargon: A natural part of speech/language development that consists of unintelligible babble with adult-like intonation. Babies demonstrate jargon when they spontaneously produce, or respond to caregivers with babble as if they are producing real words. 

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Language: How we understand and use words. This includes both receptive and expressive language. Language is brain-based.

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Non-Verbal Communication: Conveying a message without the use of spoken words. This could include gestures (pointing, reaching, etc.), facial expressions, eye gaze, and behavior. 

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Oral-Motor Assessment: This evaluates the structure and movement of the lips, tongue, jaw, cheeks, teeth, and other physical components of speech and swallowing. This quick assessment will likely be part of your child's speech/language evaluation.  

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Phoneme: The smallest parts or sounds of speech. For example, the word "bat" has 3 distinct phonemes: the consonant /b/, the vowel /æ/, and the consonant /t/. When evaluating articulation, your child's speech therapist will use the International Phonetic Alphabet to transcribe their speech sounds, and determine if they are producing phonemes correctly.  

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Phonological Process: When a child has a phonological disorder (or process), they produce an entire system or class of sounds in error. Phonological processes are brain-based, and involves the organization or pattern system in the brain. For example: A child who produces all consonants typically produced in the back of the mouth (like /k/ and /g/) in the front of the mouth (/t/ or /d/), demonstrating a phonological process called "fronting." Other phonological processes include backing, gliding, stopping, deaffrication, final consonant deletion, weak syllable deletion, cluster reduction, and more. 

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Pragmatics: This refers to the social aspects of language. It may include demonstrating appropriate eye contact, the ability to respond to one's name, the ability to participate in conversational or play-based turn-taking, the ability to provide relevant answers to questions, demonstrating joint attention, and more. 

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Receptive Language: How a child receives or understands language. This can understanding pictures or gestures, reading, and more. Receptive language skills may include following directions, identifying pictures/objects when named, being able to listen and understand, and reading. 

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Screening: A quick assessment of your child's speech/language skills, which allows the Speech-Language Pathologist to determine if a complete evaluation is necessary. Screenings receive a score of either "pass" or "fail."

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Shared Enjoyment: Enjoying the same thing as another person, and/or demonstrating a desire to communicate It is a beginning step to intentional communication, and an early predictor of social skills. When demonstrating shared enjoyment, a child may laugh and make eye contact during a game or social routine like "peek-a-boo" or tickling. 

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Speech: this refers to the way we say or pronounce words. Speech is motor-based, using the teeth, lips, tongue, and other muscles. 

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Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP): An individual trained to evaluate and treat speech, language, communication, social communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults. 

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Spontaneous Language: Speech that is produced without prompting or cues. This does not include repeated language, or echolalia. 

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Standardized Assessment: An evaluation tool that compares the results of individuals. These assessments are empirical developed with statistical reliability. 

Wh- Question: A question that begins with "who," "what," when," "where," or "why." Questions that begin with "how" are also often included in this category. These questions can be answered verbally, or by using gestures like a point. Understanding and responding to wh- questions is an early receptive language skill. 

Yes/No Question: A question that can be answered with "yes" or "no" verbally, or by nodding/shaking one's head. Understanding and responding to yes/no questions is an early receptive language skill. 
 

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