Speech-Language Pathology Services

Our speech-language pathologists provide evaluations for children from birth to age 21. Short-term treatment sessions may be available on a limited basis for specific diagnoses. Our team cares for a wide range of conditions, including the following specialty areas:

• Social communication disorders
• Autism spectrum disorders
• Cognitive communication deficits
• Motor speech disorders, such as apraxia (difficulty with skilled movements) and dysarthria (slowed or slurred speech)
• Voice disorders
• Vocal cord dysfunction
• Resonance disorders, such as speech problems that may occur for children with cleft palate
• Feeding and swallowing disorders
• Fluency disorders, such as stuttering
• Augmentative and alternative communication
• Transgender voice and communication
• Speaking and swallowing valve evaluations for patients with tracheostomies

It is also important to have your child’s hearing evaluated to rule out hearing loss. To schedule a hearing evaluation, please contact our Pediatric Audiology team.

Speech-language pathology waitlist and other resources

Unfortunately, due to high demand, some of our speech-language pathology services are experiencing wait times of up to 12 months between the date of the referral from your child’s pediatrician and the date of your child’s appointment.

We understand that this delay is difficult for your family, and we are working to fix it.

We are often able to see patients with an urgent medical need more quickly. Examples include:

• Patients requiring a device to communicate.
• Patients who are tracheostomy dependent and require a speaking and swallowing valve trial.
• Patients who have urgent feeding or swallowing needs.
• Patients who have a brain injury and require an evaluation of cognitive communication skills.
• Patients who require voice therapy before or after a surgery.

However, if your child needs a general speech-language evaluation, such as if your child has a problem pronouncing certain words, appointments are typically scheduled six to 12 months after a referral is made. In the meantime, there may be other providers available to help:

• Patients ages 0 to 3 years: Speech therapy through the State of California’s Early Start services, provided by your local Regional Center.
• School-aged patients: School districts offer speech and language therapy to students who qualify based on the initial evaluation.
• We would like to share information about two reliable companies that offer telehealth speech-language pathology services: Expressable and All Care Therapies. These companies can deliver high-quality therapy sessions remotely. Both companies have experienced and licensed speech-language pathologists who can provide personalized treatment plans tailored to your child's specific needs. While we cannot endorse any specific company or provider, we believe that exploring telehealth options may offer a viable solution to our delay. We encourage you to research these companies further and determine if telehealth could be a suitable alternative for your child's speech-language therapy needs.