Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) evaluate, diagnose, and treat the following:

  • Speech disorders occur when a person has difficulty producing speech sounds correctly or fluently, or has problems with his or her voice.
  • Language disorders occur when a person has trouble understanding others (receptive language), or sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings (expressive language). Language disorders may be spoken or written and may involve the form (phonology, morphology, syntax), content (semantics), and/or use (pragmatics) of language in functional and socially appropriate ways.
  • Social communication disorders occur when a person has trouble with the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication. These disorders may include problems (a) communicating for social purposes (e.g., greeting, commenting, asking questions), (b) talking in different ways to suit the listener and setting, and (c) following rules for conversation and story-telling. All individuals with autism spectrum disorder have social communication problems. Social communication disorders are also found individuals with other conditions, such as traumatic brain injury.
  • Cognitive-communication disorders include problems organizing thoughts, paying attention, remembering, planning, and/or problem-solving. These disorders usually happen as a result of a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or dementia, although they can be congenital.
  • Swallowing disorders (dysphagia) are feeding and swallowing difficulties, which may follow an illness, surgery, stroke, or injury. Babies and young children may have feeding and swallowing disorders due to prematurity, physical or sensory impairment, illness, or injury. This may result in difficulty drinking from the bottle or breast, difficulty biting and chewing, gagging, choking, refusals, or negative feeding behaviors. 
  • Aural rehabilitation is intervention for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.
  • Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) are systems for individuals with severe expressive and/or language comprehension disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder or progressive neurological disorders. SLPs can complete comprehensive assessments to determine the most appropriate system of communication for an individual.