Therapy

Speech Therapy for Children

It can be tough when your child is having difficulty communicating. Sometimes, they just need the right support to build confidence and express themselves more clearly. Speech therapy helps children develop the skills they need to connect with others, share their thoughts, and feel understood.

With the guidance of a qualified pediatric speech therapy team, children can make meaningful progress—improving communication, strengthening relationships, and gaining confidence in everyday interactions.

Establish Speech and Language Skills for Effective Communication

Our speech therapists help children develop speech and language skills needed for effective communication. This is achieved through the evaluation and treatment of expressive and receptive language, speech production skills (articulation), social skills, and dysfluency (stuttering). We also facilitate augmentative or alternate communication skills through the use of an AAC device or PECs.

We strive to help your child find his or her voice. And we never forget that a kid is a kid by ensuring speech therapy is fun, safe, and inviting. Our expectation: life-changing results.

Benefits of Pediatric Speech Therapy

Many parents wonder what really changes when their child begins speech therapy. Does it support a child’s overall development, or is it simply a tool to improve pronunciation?

Pediatric speech therapy services or children’s speech therapy services make communication easier, yes, but they also prompt other significant changes in children, both inside and outside the classroom. Here’s how it can help:

• Improves speech clarity and articulation
• Enhances listening skills and comprehension
• Helps build stronger language skills (both vocabulary and sentence structure)
• Boosts social interaction, especially with peers
• Supports academic growth
• Increases self-esteem and confidence

Progress may happen gradually, but it’s meaningful and lasting. As children build these skills, they often begin to communicate more comfortably in everyday situations—at home, in school, and with peers.

Our Speech Therapy Specializations

It may not always be easy to outline the speech challenges a child faces. Sometimes, the difficulties aren’t entirely obvious. It’s common for parents to find it hard to pinpoint the reasons for their child’s communication delays and troubles. A comprehensive evaluation (and subsequent treatment) can help in such cases. We support children to overcome:

  • Speech/Language Disorders

  • Receptive/Expressive Language Disorders

  • Central Auditory Processing Disorders

  • Language Processing Disorders

  • Articulation/Phonological Disorders

  • Social Communication/ Pragmatic Disorders

  • Voice Disorders

  • Fluency Disorders (Stuttering)

  • Autism

  • Apraxia

  • Group Therapy

  • Deaf/Hard of Hearing Services

  • Sign Language

  • Augmentative and Alternative Communication

  • Dysphagia (Swallowing Disorders)

  • Oral-Motor/Feeding Concerns

What Speech Therapy at Westside Looks Like

Evaluation

Evaluations begin with a one-hour session, led by a licensed therapist, in a private room. A summary report of therapy recommendations will be provided. At the conclusion of the evaluation, a summary of findings and recommendations will be provided. Any parent questions or concerns will be addressed during this time, as well.

Sessions

Therapists guide your child through goal-based activities and track progress throughout. At the end of each session, parents receive feedback on their child’s progress.

Achieving Outcomes

Your child’s progress is carefully tracked, with measurable goals guiding each step of therapy. Our goal is to help every child reach their milestones and, when ready, proudly graduate from speech therapy.

Find a Speech Therapy Location Near You

Locations

FAQs

  • What is pediatric speech therapy?

    Pediatric speech therapy focuses on helping children communicate more effectively. The therapy process is designed to take individual needs into account and address specific language and speech delays. The goal is to improve overall communication skills and ensure lasting progress. Therapists at Westside work to improve speech clarity and promote language development through structured techniques and play-based learning.

  • Who is speech therapy for?

    Determining whether your child requires speech therapy can be challenging with limited information. If you’re wondering whether you should schedule a consultation, note that children with the following conditions might benefit from speech therapy:

    • Delayed speech development
    • Difficulty understanding language or expressing themselves
    • Fluency or stuttering challenges
    • Difficulty communicating in social situations
    • Feeding or swallowing concerns
  • Why is Westside a leading provider of children’s Speech Therapy?

    There are many reasons for having over 1,000+ pediatricians refer to us for our children’s speech therapy services. The most important include our parents’ feedback and the provision of quality therapy services.

    Every parent is sent a survey at the beginning, middle, and end of their therapy services. It asks: “On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to refer your family or friends to Westside?”

    Here is what parents say:

    Average Beginning Score: 9.71/10
    Average Middle Score: 9.83/10
    Average End Score: 9.89/10

    This is exactly why Westside is deemed the best.

  • What does Speech Therapy cost?

    While cost varies by insurance plan, number of therapy hours, and other factors, we still inform you on what you’ll expect to pay.

    We have built a sophisticated cost calculator that looks at 19 factors that impact cost. When we run it, it shows you a week-by-week prediction of cost.

    This estimate occurs after your evaluation, once we know the frequency of therapy. All you do is provide us with your insurance plan details, and we handle the rest.

  • Which insurances do you accept?

    We work with a wide variety of insurance companies and HMO networks. We are always expanding our network – click here to view the list of our currently accepted insurances.

  • How long will my child be in therapy?

    Graduating kids from therapy is our goal. It means that we did our job and that the child’s communication difficulties have been addressed. We do everything we can to achieve progress as quickly as possible. There is ongoing communication between the family and the therapist about the child’s progress throughout the therapy process. When it is agreed that the concerns have been fully addressed, it is time to graduate AND celebrate!

  • Which age ranges do you treat?

    At Westside, we generally treat children 0-18 years old. Our therapists are trained to work with kids, toddlers, and teens.

    Similarly aged children typically come to therapy at the same time frames, too. For example, many of the teens come after school and socialize with each other as part of speech therapy.

  • How often will my child need therapy?

    Most Speech Therapy treatment sessions occur 1-2 times per week in the clinic. The frequency of treatment sessions is determined by the clinical recommendation of the speech therapist and is based on each child’s individual needs.

    Our therapists teach the parents and the child how to carry over the skills at home and facilitate generalization of skills in other environments. This complements the in-clinic treatment and leads to lasting change.

  • How long are Speech Therapy sessions?

    Speech therapy evaluations are 60 minutes in length, and regular treatment sessions are 45 minutes long. The therapist will speak with the parent at the end of each session to provide a brief update on what was worked on. Often, outside exercises or practice ideas are provided at the conclusion, as well.

Getting Started

If you are interested, submit an inquiry below. Our Patient Coordinator will call to help you determine a plan forward. If you are still unsure, you can call us anytime at (815) 469-1500 for more information.