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Speech and Language

Our Speech and Language team evaluates children and teens who have conditions that affect their ability to communicate. With our colleagues in Rehabilitation Medicine, we assess your child's unique needs and develop short- and long-term treatment plans. We work closely with experts in many of Seattle Children's clinics, including Neurodevelopmental, the Craniofacial Center, Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, and the Cochlear Implant Team. We also work with your family to ensure that you and your child find the services you need at school and in the community.

Meet the Speech and Language care team.

Conditions we treat

We evaluate children with a wide range of speech and language disorders, including:

• Receptive and expressive language disorders

  Children with receptive language disorders have trouble understanding speech, while those with expressive language disorders have trouble using language. Children may also have mixed receptive and expressive language disorders. They may have trouble both understanding and using language.

• Articulation and phonological disorders

  Articulation has to do with the way the mouth, tongue, lips and other body parts move to make sounds. Children with articulation disorders may lisp (for example, "yeth" for "yes"), substitute one sound for another ("wabbit" for "rabbit") or make other mistakes that make it hard to understand them. Phonology involves the rules that tell us how to put sounds together to make language. Children with phonological disorders have not learned these rules and are very difficult to understand. They may be able to make a sound correctly, but put the sound in the wrong place in a word or use the wrong sound, such as "doe" for "go."

• Voice and resonance disorders, including those associated with cleft palate or velopharyngeal dysfunction

  Voice and resonance disorders are problems with the way your child's voice sounds. For example, your child's voice may sound too high or too low (pitch), too loud or too soft (loudness), or too nasal (resonance). These disorders can be caused by problems with the structure of a child's face or skull.

• Oral-motor disorders, including problems with feeding and swallowing

  Children with oral-motor disorders have problems in the areas of the brain that produce speech. They may find it hard to use their lips, tongue and jaw, which also can affect their ability to swallow and eat. We provide videofluroscopic swallowing evaluations, which allow us to evaluate your child's ability to safely take liquids or solids.

• Autism spectrum disorders and social communication

  Autism is a disorder that can affect the way a child behaves, thinks, communicates and interacts with others. Children with autism are affected in different ways. Some have only mild symptoms and grow up to live independently, while others have more severe symptoms and need supported living and working environments throughout their lives.

• Cognitive-communication disorders

  Cognitive-communication disorders involve problems with your child's thinking processes that affect communication, such attention span, memory, reasoning and problem-solving.

• Reading, writing and literacy problems

  Speech and language disorders affect not only your child's ability to talk, but also the ability to understand, read and write.

Services we offer

We offer services that include:

• Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)

  Augmentative and alternative communication is all forms of communication, except oral speech. For example, AAC can include facial expressions, gestures, drawings or writing. AAC aids, such as picture boards or electronic devices, can help children with serious speech or language problems express themselves.

• Videofluoroscopic Swallowing Study (VFSS)

  VFSS is a test to look at how your child swallows foods and liquids. We make an X-ray "movie" of your child's mouth and throat while they are drinking and eating. A speech-language pathologist will work with you and your child, and an occupational or physical therapist may also help during the study.

Seattle Children's provides health care for the special needs of children regardless of race, sex, creed, ethnicity or disability. Financial assistance for medically necessary services is based on family income and hospital resources and is provided to children under age 21 whose primary residence is Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.