Articulation therapy helps children learn to produce specific speech sounds clearly and accurately. When a child has difficulty with sound placement—such as how the tongue, lips, or jaw move to create a sound—they may distort sounds, substitute one sound for another, or leave sounds out. Therapy provides direct teaching, modeling, and guided practice to help children master correct sound production and use those sounds confidently in words, sentences, and everyday conversation.

Phonological therapy helps children who use patterns of speech errors that make them difficult to understand—such as leaving off final sounds, simplifying sound combinations, or substituting one group of sounds for another. These patterns reflect how a child organizes and uses the sound system of language. Therapy focuses on teaching the rules of sounds, helping children learn new patterns, and guiding them toward clearer, more age‑appropriate speech. As children master these patterns, their overall intelligibility improves significantly.

Therapy for Childhood Apraxia of Speech focuses on helping children learn the motor plans needed to produce clear, consistent speech. In CAS, the brain has difficulty coordinating the precise movements of the lips, tongue, and jaw—even when a child knows exactly what they want to say. Therapy uses a structured, motor‑learning approach with frequent practice, visual and tactile cues, and carefully chosen targets to build accurate speech movements. Sessions emphasize repetition, sequencing, and gradually increasing complexity so children can develop smoother, more confident, and more intelligible speech over time.

Dysarthria therapy supports children whose speech is affected by muscle weakness, low tone, or limited control of the lips, tongue, jaw, or breath support. These challenges can make speech sound slurred, quiet, monotone, or difficult to understand. Therapy focuses on improving strength, coordination, and respiratory support while helping children use clearer speech patterns. Through targeted practice and functional communication activities, children learn to produce speech that is more precise, consistent, and easier for others to understand.

Feeding therapy for infants focuses on helping babies who struggle with sucking, swallowing, latching, or coordinating breathing during feeds. Challenges may include poor weight gain, difficulty maintaining latch, fatigue during feeding, or stress cues during bottle or breast. Therapy supports more efficient, comfortable feeding by improving oral‑motor skills, supporting regulation, and helping caregivers feel confident and connected during mealtimes.

Pediatric Connections helps children who are often described as “picky eaters”—those who avoid new foods, eat a very limited range, have strong preferences, or feel stressed at mealtimes. These difficulties may be related to sensory needs, oral‑motor challenges, developmental delays, or previous negative feeding experiences. Therapy emphasizes positive mealtime routines, gradual food exploration, sensory support, and helping children feel safe and successful as they try new foods.

Some children struggle to move from purees to soft solids, chewable foods, or age‑appropriate textures. Therapy helps children develop the oral‑motor skills needed for chewing, tongue movement, and safe swallowing. Feeding sessions at Pediatric Connections guide families through gradual, supported steps to introduce new textures, improve chewing efficiency, and build confidence with more complex foods.

Pediatric Connections dysphagia therapy supports children who have difficulty safely managing liquids or solids due to challenges with swallowing coordination, oral‑motor control, or airway protection. Therapy focuses on improving oral strength and coordination, supporting safe swallowing strategies, and helping families understand how to modify foods and liquids to keep mealtimes safe and enjoyable.

For children who react strongly to textures, smells, temperatures, or the look of foods, therapy supports sensory exploration in a safe, playful way. The goal is to reduce stress, increase tolerance, and help children gradually accept a wider range of foods.

Supports a child’s ability to understand language—following directions, understanding questions, processing vocabulary, and making sense of spoken information.

Helps children learn to use words, phrases, and sentences to communicate their thoughts, needs, and ideas clearly and effectively.

Targets foundational communication skills such as joint attention, gestures, play skills, early vocabulary, and simple sentence building—ideal for toddlers and preschoolers.

Focuses on conversational skills, turn‑taking, understanding social cues, perspective‑taking, and using language appropriately in different settings.

Orofacial myofunctional therapy focuses on identifying and treating patterns of muscle use that affect speech, swallowing, breathing, and oral resting posture. Children may present with tongue thrust, open‑mouth posture, incorrect tongue placement for sounds, or difficulty coordinating the muscles of the face and mouth. Therapy works to retrain oral and facial muscles, establish healthy resting patterns, and support efficient swallowing and clear speech. This specialized approach helps children achieve better alignment, improved function, and more confident communication.

Oral motor therapy supports children who have difficulty coordinating the movements of the lips, tongue, jaw, and cheeks for speech. These challenges may be related to low muscle tone, limited range of motion, or difficulty sequencing the movements needed for clear sound production. Therapy focuses on building strength, coordination, and precision to help children achieve more accurate speech movements and improved overall intelligibility.

Oral Placement Therapy supports children who need help developing the strength, stability, and coordination of the oral muscles used for speech and feeding. Using guided, tactile cues, OPT helps children learn how to move their lips, tongue, jaw, and cheeks in more accurate and efficient ways. This approach is especially beneficial for children with motor‑based speech disorders, low tone, oral‑motor coordination challenges, or difficulty achieving the movements needed for clear speech. Therapy builds the foundational oral skills that support improved speech sound production, feeding, and overall communication.