What Is a Speech-Language Pathologist? 

A speech-language pathologist is a highly-trained professional who evaluates and treats speech and language skills. These skills may include: correct pronunciation of words, understanding and correctly following directions, expressing wants, needs, thoughts, and ideas in a clear and meaningful way, and appropriately communicating with peers in social situations.
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​What is Speech?

Speech refers to the way our mouth coordinates its movements to pronounce each sound that makes up a word. For example, a child may have difficulty pronouncing /r/ and would say 'wabbit' instead of 'rabbit.'
 Articulation disorders, phonological disorders, fluency disorders and childhood apraxia of speech all impact speech.
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What is Language?

Language refers to the ability to understand what is said, and the ability to express the right words in an organized and meaningful way to communicate to others.  There are two categories of language - receptive and expressive.
 
Receptive Language - our ability to understand what is spoken to us:  following directions, understanding a story and questions people ask us.
 
Expressive Language - our ability to state our wants, needs, thoughts, and ideas in an orderly and meaningful way.
 
Language skills (receptive or expressive) can be impacted by Autism Spectrum Disorders, Developmental Delays, or Problem Solving Difficulties.  A child who has difficulty understanding language might be referred to as having a Receptive Language Disorder.  A child who is having difficulty using language correctly might be referred to as having an Expressive Language Disorder. 
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