Language Therapy For Children

Expressive Language

Expressive language skill refers to the ability to create a message that others will understand.  It involves accessing stored vocabulary, combining words to form sentences, and organizing sentences in a logical, cohesive manner so that listeners are able to understand intended messages. There are milestones for when a child should start talking, how many words they should have at given ages, or how long and complicated their sentences, stories or dialogue should be compared to peers.

Expressive language skills are assessed in conversations and play with the child, through the collection of information from parents, caregivers and educators as well as through standardized testing. Therapy for a child with expressive language delays varies depending on the child’s age and the nature of the difficulty. For children with emerging language or no verbal language at all, parents and our SLPs work closely together using a parent-coaching style of intervention.  For older children, individualized goals are set based on a child’s specific needs and new skills are introduced in sessions with our SLPs.  Homework activities are provided at the end of all sessions to solidify and generalize new expressive skills.