Speech & Voice
What are Speech & Voice Disorders?
Speech and Voice Disorders
Speech sound disorders include articulation disorders, phonological processing disorders and any difficulty with speech perception and motor production that leads to speech that is difficult to understand. Neurological, structural, and/or sensory deficits can all lead to speech sound disorders. They may also have no known cause. Apraxia and dysarthria are examples of motor speech disorders with a neurological cause.
Dysphonias are voice disorders. They occur when voice quality, pitch, and loudness are inappropriate for an individual’s age, gender, cultural background, or geographic location. Voice disorders may be present when an individual expresses concern about having a voice that does not meet daily vocational or avocational demands. Teachers, preachers, singers and actors are particularly vulnerable to voice disorders because of the day to day demands on their voices. Voice disorders can occur throughout the lifespan. The most common voice disorder in chidlren is vocal nodules.
Speech Differences
Having an accent is considered a speech difference rather than a disorder. They are normal variations in speech pronounciation that are often influenced by the region in which we live and cultural or linguistic diversity. Although, accents can be a source of cultural pride they can also be a soure of psychosocial distress. People who want to reduce their speech differences seek out Accent modification. If you find that you are experiencing difficulty being understood, that you frequently need to repeat yourself, that attention is directed more toward your accent than your message or that listeners have negative attitudes toward your accent, you may benefit from accent modification.
Resonance Disorders
Resonance disorders occur when there is too much or too little air and sound energy in the oral and nasal cavities. They can result from structural and functional deficits in the speech anatomy such as a cleft palate or fistula. In this case they require surgical management or the use of orthodontic applicances. They can also occur from mislearning, in which case they are amenable to speech therapy.
Speech & Voice therapy
30 Minutes: US$90
45 Minutes: US$130
60 minutes: US$170
Accent Modification
45 Minutes: US$130
Assessment
Speech Sound Production: US$300
Speech Fluency: US$350
Behavioral & Qualitative Voice: US$300
Aerodynamic & Acoustic Voice: US$200