ÿþ<html> <head> <title>Speech -LanguageTherapy</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name="description" content="Merritt Speech & Learning specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders and processing disorders."> <meta name="keywords" content="speech, language, language pathology, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dylexic, dysgraphic, differential diagnosis, communication disorders, speech therapy, speech therapist, developmental delay, auditory processing disorders, visual processing disorders, phonics, american speech language hearing association, florida speech language hearing association, scientific learning, fast forward, 4WD, step 4word, interactive metronome therapist"> <meta name="language" content="English"> <meta name="author" content="Merritt Speech"> <meta name="copyright" content="2001, Merritt Speech and Learning"> <meta name="robots" content="ALL"> <meta name="reply-to" content="info@merrittspeech.com"> <meta name="document-class" content="Published"> <meta name="document-classification" content="Health"> <meta name="document-rights" content="Copyrighted Work"> <meta name="document-type" content="Web Page"> <meta name="document-rating" content="Safe for Kids"> <meta name="document-distribution" content="Global"> <meta name="document-state" content="Static"> <meta name="cache-control" content="no-cache"> <meta name="Abstract" content="Merritt Speech & Learning specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders and processing disorders."> <meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="EN-US"> <meta name="Publisher" content="Cordaxis"> <meta name="Publisher-Email" content="info@cordaxis.com"> <meta name="Placename" content="Jacksonville, FL"> <meta name="Contributors" content="Merritt Speech & Learning"> <meta name="Page-Topic" content="Medizin"> <script language="JavaScript"> <!-- function MM_swapImgRestore() { //v3.0 var i,x,a=document.MM_sr; 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On these two skills, teachers intend to build reading, writing, and arithmetic. Most children naturally acquire all the skills necessary for communication during the first few years of life. However, one out of ten children struggle in the development of these basic skills. </font></p> <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1" color="#000000">Why? Exciting new breakthroughs in research are pointing to the importance of timing in relation to auditory processing skills. Numerous studies have shown that ten percent of all children have a specific difficulty making reliable distinctions among speech sounds. These children hear the sounds, but new research shows that it takes a longer duration of the sound (100 to 500 milliseconds, rather than 10's of milliseconds) to discriminate the different speech sounds. This failure to make reliable discriminations interferes with receptive language skills and the learning of phonics. </font></p> <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1" color="#000000"><img src="art/speech-therapy-1.jpg" align="left" hspace="10">Auditory processing skills can be trained with a revolutionary auditory processing and language therapy through <a href="http://www.scientificlearning.com" target="_blank">Scientific Learning Corporation</a>. The "games" are especially designed to stretch out the consonant sounds and slightly increase their volume to enable the child to hear each unique phoneme (speech sound). As the child progresses, the computer alters the games in minute increments to continue the progression toward normal listening skills. This treatment produces permanent changes in the child's ability to understand spoken and written language. </font></p> <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1" color="#000000"><img src="art/speech-therapy-2.jpg" align="left" hspace="10">Once a child's listening skills are up to speed, then many children begin to self-monitor their own speech production. If the child does not start to self-correct, then traditional speech therapy is indicated. The exciting news is that the remediation of lisps, slurs, substitutions and reductions takes less time. </font></p> <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1" color="#000000"> What about children who stutter? The cause of stuttering has been argued for years and years. My approach for helping children who stutter is to remove  the stressors that can be removed. If the child has an Auditory Processing Disorder, or a Visual Processing Disorder, or a Motor Processing Disorder and those weakness are remediated, then the underlying pressure, strain, and anxiety is alleviated, and the child has more fluent speech. </font></p> <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1" color="#000000">What if a child has apraxia or dyarthria? The child will still need traditional speech therapy to obtain the highest level of intelligible speech possible. The correct diagnosis for the cause of delayed speech is critical. "A time to listen, a time to speak," found in Ecclesiastes 3:7, summarizes <b>Merritt Speech & Learning's</b> approach to speech therapy. <br> <br> <img src="art/threegates.jpg"/> <br> <br> <b>Merritt Speech &amp; Learning<br> Dana M. Merritt, M.S. CCC-SLP, IMT<br> 904-721-4122 </b></font></p> <p></p> <p><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="services.htm" target="_self"><img src="art/backservice.jpg" width="166" height="20" border="0"></a></font> <br> <br> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top">&nbsp;</td> <td>&nbsp;</td> <td align="left" valign="top"> <!-- PayPal Logo --> <form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" align="center"> <tr> <td align="center"><font face="verdana,arial,helvetica" size="2"><b>Pay for services securely through PayPal!</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_xclick"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="merrittspeech@bellsouth.net""> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Professional Services"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="0.00"> <input type="image" src="http://images.paypal.com/images/lgo/logo3v.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Pay me securely with any major credit card through PayPal!" title="submit"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><img src="http://images.paypal.com/images/icon_visa.gif" border="0" alt="Visa"> <img src="http://images.paypal.com/images/icon_mastercard.gif" border="0" alt="MasterCard"> <img src="http://images.paypal.com/images/icon_discover.gif" border="0" alt="Discover"> <img src="http://images.paypal.com/images/icon_amex.gif" border="0" alt="American Express"> <img src="http://images.paypal.com/images/icon_echeck.gif"alt="eCheck" border="0"></td> </tr> </table> </form></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top">&nbsp;</td> <td>&nbsp;</td> <td align="center" valign="top"><br> <a href="http://www.discovertec.com/" target="_blank"><img src="art/design_by.gif" width="188" height="39" border="0"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" valign="top">&nbsp;</td> <td>&nbsp;</td> <td> <table style="text-align:center;" cellpadding="20px"> <tr> <td> Copyright © - The Merritt Way- All rights reserved </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" align="center">&nbsp;</td> <td>&nbsp;</td> <td valign="top">&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> <script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? 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