Remember that feeling whenever you’ve struggled to find the right words or if someone simply didn’t understand what you were trying to say? We’ve all been there and it’s frustrating. However, for a child learning to engage with friends, family, and the world around them it’s doubly so. That’s where pediatric speech therapy can help.

Ultimately, pediatric speech therapy is about helping children communicate more easily, whether it’s expressing their basic needs and wants, or sharing their uniquely creative ideas.

Goals towards this can include:

• Improving articulation, like being able to pronounce “r” or “th.”
• Improving language fluency: helping with a stutter or anything that interrupts their speech “flow.”
• Strengthening the speech muscles (which can also help in feeding).
• Overcoming delayed or unintelligible speech.
• Easing voice disorders, like a raspy or hoarse voice.
• Helping them better understand language, like how to follow directions, comprehend stories, and use words/phrases to express themselves. This also helps them with both reading and writing comprehension.

Here’s an overview of what speech therapy at No Limits can provide.

For a child, gaining a better mastery of language and speech skills is a gateway to improved relationships and a richer engagement with the world around them. 

Tell them that, just like practicing music, baseball, or math, speech therapy is about practicing skills around words and sounds.

Let them know that the time they’ll spend with their therapist will be fun, more like play. We use games and activities built around the things that they love to get results.

On that note, it’s helpful for us to have a conversation before the first session to tell us more about your child’s personality, what interests them, and how they deal with challenges or frustrations. This helps to ease any anxieties they may have over this new experience.

We’ve worked with so many kids; if you still need some help explaining the process, feel free to get in touch. We’ll give you the right words to make it easy for your child to understand this new adventure.

A lot depends on the goals we’ve set together for your child. Some of these speech goals can be reached within a few sessions that are conducted over several weeks. Others may require a longer period.

Our therapist closely monitors your child’s progress and keeps you informed about every milestone. Additionally, we provide simple exercises that he/she can do at home to keep things moving in a positive direction and reinforce what’s being learned. 

As with anything, regular practice is essential to achieving real success. We recommend doing these fun exercises at the same time each day, like right before bedtime.

All these things come together to determine just how long your child should remain in pediatric speech therapy.

Children dealing with autism often have some trouble communicating their wants and needs or expressing their emotions.  

These include not responding to their name, not using gestures (like shaking their head for “no”), or being uninterested in connecting with others. Pediatric speech therapy can help them more fully engage with the world.

Kids are all unique and grow at their own pace. However, there are some particular indicators that speech therapy may prove useful.

• Your child has some trouble articulating certain sounds or words.
• Your child only uses a small number of words (less than 20 or so) or uses the same word for different things.
• Your child has trouble understanding simple statements or directions.
• Your child has a stutter.
• Your child becomes unusually quiet in social situations.
• Your child has difficulties with swallowing (speech muscles are closely associated with feeding).
• Your child has (or had) a cleft lip or palate. Even once corrected, their speech may still be affected.
• Your child’s speech is unintelligible.

Of course, some kids grow out of these difficulties. But if you’re unsure whether your child would benefit from speech therapy, we’re here to answer your questions.

We think it’s important for your child to have a consistent relationship with their therapists. We believe that children should have exposure to a variety of talented therapists that can best help your child achieve their goals.  Each client that comes more than one time per week, will be comfortable seeing different staff members.  This allows them access to all of our staffs’ talents, and allows their skills to generalize to multiple adults. It also allows staff members to take a vacation, and your child does not have to miss any appointments, as they are familiar with our team and comfortable continuing their plan of care with any therapist!

We do our very best to maintain an ongoing relationship between your child and the same therapists. Of course, there may be times when a last-minute change comes up; but, your child will feel comfortable with all therapists at No Limits and be able to adjust.

The short answer is, “yes.” This is mainly for insurance purposes.

You should know that while most speech therapy for kids is typically covered, there may be some exceptions. These aren’t always so clear, so it’s a good idea to check with your carrier.

Every day, we deal with insurance companies and pediatricians. That experience has proven very useful for our clients, so we’re happy to talk with either you or your pediatrician if there are questions or concerns.

Essentially, there are two parts to the process. A “screening” is an informal, get-to-know-you session where we discuss your concerns plus your child’s overall speech and language skills. We’ll want some basic medical history and background. Based on this first meeting, we may suggest a more thorough “evaluation” to better determine if pediatric speech therapy is warranted.

If it is, a speech therapy evaluation is a more in-depth meeting. At this meeting, we’ll observe your child’s oral skills like how they pronounce words or if they struggle to speak in any way. 

We’ll also check physical actions like swallowing (the muscles for speech can be closely tied to those used in eating). We’ll also examine their comprehension abilities. Don’t worry: all of this is done in a very low-key, natural way, such as via conversation or play. We want your child to have a positive association with any treatment.

Please share details of anything you’ve observed around your child’s language and speech. It’s helpful to note any particular instances when issues occur (such as if your child becomes unusually quiet in social situations).

If you’re uncertain about how to best prepare for an evaluation, we’re happy to walk you through it ahead of time.

Most insurance plans cover pediatric speech therapy. However, as with almost every policy these days, there may be “exclusions” in which certain things are not covered. For example, if a child’s speech issues are related to autism or ADHD, the claim may be denied as the carrier assumes the child will “grow out of it.” 

Talking to your carrier first is a wise precaution to get more detailed specifics. However, we deal with various insurance plans every day and can be very helpful in clearing up any questions or confusion. Call us at (479) 250-9838.

We’re in-network with these carriers:

• AETNA
• Arkansas Medicaid
• Arkansas Total Care
• Blue Cross Blue Shield
• CareSource 
• Arkids A
• Arkids B
• Cigna
• Empower
• QualChoice
• Summit Community Care
• TEFRA

Speech therapy can be useful for any child (of any age) if they struggle to express themselves or effectively communicate their needs. We meet your child exactly where they are now and give them the tools to more fully and joyfully participate in their world.

Here are some things we can help your child with:

• If they tend to use a very small vocabulary (less than 20 words)
• If they have challenges making certain speech sounds
• If they avoid communicative gestures (like nodding for “yes”)
• If there’s some difficulty understanding simple commands or directions
• If they’re dealing with a stutter

If you’re uncertain about how speech therapy could help, we’re happy to share our insights with you. 

As with many forms of therapy, starting treatment sooner rather than later is optimal. But we work with kids of all ages and at all stages. It’s never too late!

Your child is their own person and grows at their own pace. But if you have any concerns about their development, we’re happy to share our insights with you. 

As with many forms of therapy, starting treatment sooner rather than later is optimal. But we work with kids of all ages and at all stages.  It’s never too late!

Pediatric speech therapy sessions last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. 

As our therapist gets to know your child better, they’ll have a better idea of what’s an ideal length of time to work with them during the appointment.

Depending on the goals we’ve set together, your child may be working on particular speech goals (like pronunciation) or activities that stimulate their language development. The therapist is constantly engaging with them through activities, games, or repetition. While we’re building their skills, we don’t want to overload them. Sometimes, shorter sessions are most effective. Other times, a child will be deeply into what they’re learning and can go a little longer. 

The point is to keep the sessions stress-free and moving forward in our nurturing, supportive setting.

One essential component for success is for your child to practice at home. We’ll provide you with simple, fun exercises to do that keep building on their achievements. Making these exercises part of their daily routine is an important part of our work together.