Language Therapy
Language has two halves, and they are not the same problem. We assess both — because treating the wrong one wastes months.
A child can understand everything and struggle to get words out, or talk constantly while missing much of what is said to them. These look nothing alike and they need different work.
Receptive language — understanding
What your child takes in. Difficulty here often looks like inattention or defiance, which is why it gets missed: a child who cannot process a two-step direction may appear to be ignoring you.
- Following directions, especially multi-step
- Understanding questions, stories, and classroom instruction
- Vocabulary comprehension and word knowledge
- Processing longer or more complex sentences
Expressive language — getting it out
What your child can convey. This is the half parents usually notice first, because it is audible.
- Late talkers and limited vocabulary
- Putting words together into sentences
- Grammar and word endings
- Word-finding difficulty — knowing it and not being able to retrieve it
- Telling stories and explaining events in order
Social and pragmatic language
The third piece: using language with other people. Taking turns in conversation, reading tone and context, repairing a misunderstanding, adjusting how you speak to a teacher versus a friend. A child can have strong vocabulary and grammar and still struggle here.
Why we assess both halves
Because the visible half is not always the affected one. A child brought in for “not talking much” sometimes turns out to have a comprehension difficulty underneath, and building expressive output without addressing that produces slow, frustrating progress.
Where language difficulty is significant enough that a child is regularly going unheard, AAC can run alongside language work rather than replacing it.
Common questions
Some late talkers catch up on their own. The ones who tend not to are those with limited understanding as well as limited speech, little gesturing, or a family history of language difficulty. An evaluation tells you which group you are likely in, which is more useful than waiting to find out.
Speech is how words are produced — the sounds. Language is the words themselves, how they are put together, and how they are understood. A child can have clear speech and a language disorder, or the reverse.
It can be, and it should be ruled out. If a child's understanding is affected we will want to know that hearing has been checked recently, because intermittent hearing loss from ear infections can look very like a language difficulty.
Yes. Language therapy is conversational and activity-based, and parents being present in online sessions often accelerates carryover, because you learn the strategies and use them through the week.
Not sure which half is the problem?
Sessions are available in your home across the Phoenix metro, or online anywhere in Arizona. The first conversation is a free 15-minute call — no pressure, just an honest read on whether we can help.
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