MANHATTAN, NYC SPEECH LANGUAGE EVALUATIONS

Craig Selinger

At Brooklyn Letters, we offer a variety of evaluations for all ages including:

• Speech Disorders– These can occur when an individual has difficulty producing speech sounds and putting them together to form intelligible words. Speech disorders include articulation or phonological disorders, apraxia of speech (childhood apraxia speech assessment and childhood apraxia of speech treatment), and dysarthria.
• Literacy Assessments/Tutoring- We offer literacy testing by licensed language therapists and literacy specialists. We also provide online literacy assessments. Please note that most neuropsychological evaluations do not include decoding and encoding (spelling goals); they mention the need for decoding and spelling intervention. If literacy goals are not included in the neuropsychological evaluation, our first session(s) will produce these goals. Also, many public and private schools use commercialized products for teaching literacy. Many commercialized products are not up-to-date with current scientific standards (it’s Corporate America). The good news is that we use reliable and valid literacy and language measures to determine how to best help the families we serve. If you want a dyslexia diagnosis, we will personally refer you to local neuropsychologists who perform neuropsychological evaluations (starting prices are above 5k). Here are lower- cost neuropsychological options. New York State considers dyslexia a learning disorder, not a Communicative Disorder, so the language therapists/pathologists we work with cannot diagnose dyslexia.
• Voice or Resonance – Voice or resonance disorders refer to problems in how one’s voice sounds. One may sound hoarse, lose voice easily, talk through the nose or too loudly, or be unable to make sounds.
• Social Communication – This refers to the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication. This includes how one communicates socially, how well one follows conversation rules and story-telling (aspect of expressive language called narratives), tells jokes, and how one speaks with different people in varied situations.
• Cognitive-Communication – Someone with a cognitive-communication disorder may exhibit problems with organization, memory, attention, problem-solving, and other thinking skills. This can be a result of traumatic brain injury, a stroke, dementia, and may also be congenital.
• Feeding Disorders –A feeding disorder/delay can occur alongside developmental delays or medical conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, or respiratory disorders. It can also happen in isolation. Young children with feeding difficulties typically demonstrate a delay in or difficulty swallowing, sucking, chewing, and display food aversions, food refusal, texture selectivity, and food selectivity. Many factors can cause a young child to become a picky eater. Feeding therapy involves improving the child’s oral motor and underlying feeding skills and eating habits. We assess the child’s sucking, swallowing, chewing patterns, diet, behavior, and the home environment during meal time. Once we pinpoint the underlying problem(s), we create a family treatment plan. Many children require additional one-on-one feeding therapy, and we demonstrate and guide parent(s) on how to modify and tackle these mealtime challenges.