Language & Speech Therapy in Durham, Raleigh & Cary

Speech therapy is an intervention service that helps both children and adults to be better communicators.  At Developmental Therapy Associates, speech pathologists evaluate a child’s overall communication in various areas of their speech and language skills. Our speech pathologists can help your child with articulation, apraxia, language development, social communication, fluent speech, and feeding/swallowing difficulties. Book an appointment with our speech therapists in Raleigh NC, Cary NC or Durham NC

Speech Therapy Durham, Raleigh Cary Nc

Our Speech Therapy Services in Raleigh, Cary, Durham & The Triangle Include…

Speech Therapy
  • How we make speech sounds using the mouth, lips, and tongue. For example, we need to be able to say the “r” sound to say “rabbit” instead of “wabbit.”
  • Signs of a speech articulation disorder:
    • Says p, b, m, h, and w incorrectly in words most of the time (1–2 years)
    • Says k, g, f, t, d, and n incorrectly in words most of the time (2–3 years)
    • Produces speech that is unclear, even to familiar people (2–3 years)
  • Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS):motor speech disorder that makes it
    difficult for a child to speak due to challenges with learning and carrying out
    complex sequenced movements necessary for intelligible speech

    •  Signs of CAS:
      • Does not always say the word the same way every time
      • Distorts or changes sounds
      • Can say shorter words more clearly than longer words
      • Delayed expressive language, but normal receptive language
      • Difficulties with fine motor, reading, spelling, and writing
  • Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC): Includes all the ways someone communicates besides talking.
    • May include:
    • Gestures and facial expressions
    • Writing, drawing, spelling words
    • Sign Language
    • High tech communication devices with softwarde on an iPad or tablet to communicate
  • This is the rhythm of our speech. We sometimes repeat sounds or pause while talking. People who do this a lot may stutter.
  • Signs of a fluency disorder:
    • Struggles to say sounds or words (2½–3 years)
    • Repeats first sounds of words—”b-b-b-ball” for “ball” (2½–3 years)
    • Pauses a lot while talking (2½–3 years)
    • Stretches sounds out—”f-f-f-f-farm” for “farm” (2½–3 years)
  • RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE: refers to the skills involved in understanding language
    • Signs of a voice disorder:
      • Struggles to identify common objects
      • Struggle to follow directions without multiple repetitions
      • Consistently misunderstands what is asked or said
      • Seems uninterested when people are speaking
  • EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE: refers to the skills involved in communicating ones thoughts, wants/needs, and feelings to others.
    • Signs of an expressive language disorder:
      • Struggling to put words together to formulate a thought or idea
      • Repeating or “echoing” another person’s words
      • Difficulty answering questions
      • Being unable to start or hold a conversation
  • PRAGMATIC LANGUAGE SKILLS: Pragmatics is the study of speaker-listener intentions and interactions, and all elements in the environment surrounding the message. It is often referred to as social language skills.
    • Signs of a pragmatic language disorder:
      • Difficulty with greetings
      • Inability to introduce or maintain topic
      • Struggling to make inferences or understand jokes
      • Difficulty taking turns in play or conversation
      • Trouble making eye contact when conversing with peers

Our Language Therapy Services in Raleigh & The Triangle Include…

Speech Therapy
  • What words mean. Some words have more than one meaning. For example, “star” can be a bright object in the sky or someone famous.
  • How to make new words. For example, we can say “friend,” “friendly,” or “unfriendly” and mean something different.
  • How to put words together. For example, in English we say, “Peg walked to the new store” instead of “Peg walk store new.”
  • What we should say at different times. For example, we might be polite and say, “Would you mind moving your foot?” But, if the person does not move, we may say, “Get off my foot!”
  • A language disorder may be spoken and/or written (reading and writing). It may also be receptive (understanding) and/or expressive (talking, reading, writing, or signing).
  • Signs of a language disorder:
    • Doesn’t smile or interact with others (birth–3 months)
    • Doesn’t babble (4–7 months)
    • Makes few sounds (7–12 months)
    • Does not use gestures (e.g., waving, pointing) (7–12 months)
    • Doesn’t understand what others say (7 months–2 years)
    • Says only a few words (12–18 months)
    • Doesn’t put words together to make sentences (1½–2 years)
    • Says fewer than 50 words (2 years)
    • Has trouble playing and talking with other children (2–3 years)
    • Has problems with early reading and writing skills
      • for example, may not show an interest in books or drawing (2½–3 years)

Speech & Language Developmental Reference Chart

  • Understands “no”
  • Uses 10 to 20 words, including names
  • Combines two words such as “daddy bye-bye”
  • Waves good-bye and plays pat-a-cake
  • Makes the “sounds” of familiar animals
  • Gives a toy when asked
  • Uses words such as “more” to make wants known
  • Points to his or her toes, eyes, and nose
  • Brings object from another room when asked

  • Identifies body parts
  • Carries on “conversation” with self and dolls
  • Asks “what’s that” and “where’s my?”
  • Uses 2-word negative phrases such as “no want”
  • Forms some plurals by adding “s”: book books
  • Has a 450 word vocabulary
  • Gives first name when asked
  • Holds up fingers to tell age
  • Combines nouns and verbs: “mommy go”
  • Understands simple time concepts “last night”, “tomorrow”
  • Refers to self as “me” rather than by name
  • Tries to grt adult attention: “Watch me”
  • Likes to here same story repeated
  • May say “no” when means “yes”
  • Talks to other children as well as adult
  • Solves problems by talking instead of hitting or crying
  • Answers “where” questions
  • Names common pictures and things
  • Uses short sentences like “me want more” or “me want juice”
  • Matches 3-4 colors
  • Knows “big” and “little”

  • Can tell a story
  • Has a sentence length of 4-5 words
  • Has a vocabulary of nearly 1000 words
  • Names at least one color
  • Understands “yesterday”, “summer”,”lunchtime”, “tonight”
  • Begins to obey requests like “put the block under the chair”
  • Knows their last name, name of street on wich he/she lives, and several nursery rhymes

  • Has a sentence length of  4-5 words
  • Has a vocabulary of nearly 1500 words
  • Uses past tense correctly
  • Points to to the colors red,blue, yellow, and green
  • Identifies triangles, circles, and squares
  • Understands “in the morning”, “next”, “noontime”
  • Can speak of imaginary conditions such as “I hope”
  • Asks many questions: “who?” and “why?”

Contact Us

Our Services

Contact Us With Questions Or To Schedule an Appointment For Speech Therapy Or Language Therapy Raleigh, Cary, Durham NC

The team at Developmental Therapy Associates provide speech and language therapy in Raleigh, Cary, Durham & the Triangle for both children and adults. We work with every individual to tailor a customized program to help them gain the speech and language skills they need to be successful. We also provide a number of other therapy services at our 3 locations in Cary, Raleigh, and Durham, including, but not limited to: Speech Therapy, Handwriting Programs, Interactive Metronome, Sensory Enrichment Therapy, Irlen Screening, Occupational Therapy, Autism Services, Bike Riding Lessons, Feeding Therapy, Therapeutic Listening, Safe & Sound Protocol, and Reading Therapy. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a free screening with a speech therapist or language therapist in Raleigh, Cary, Durham or the rest of the triangle, contact us online or call any of our offices.