As in most specialized professions, speech therapists have their own set of frequently-used terms and acronyms that you don’t hear in everyday conversation.
Most therapists try to use layman’s terms or describe what their jargon means when writing reports or talking to parents. It’s important for you to understand all the details related to your child’s care.
Unfortunately, some terms get used so often that therapists forget that other people don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.
When this happens, the easiest thing to do is to ask your therapist what something means. Even if you think you should already know, just ask. That way they can explain the term in the context of your child’s situation.
But I know that doesn’t always happen. That’s what this list is here for.
I want to make sure you understand everything about your child’s report, goals, plan of care, and any other information you receive.
This list is a work in progress. If you don’t understand the explanation or come across a term that isn’t on the list, let me know in the comments so I can help you and other parents who have the same question!
AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication): Devices that supplement or replace verbal language for communicating. This can be as simple as a happy and sad face drawn on a piece of paper, to an iPad or specialized device with thousands of images.
Articulation: How sounds are produced. If your child has trouble clearly producing a sound, like “R” or “S”, they have trouble with the articulation of that sound. When they make the sound correctly, it is being accurately articulated.
Articulators: The structures in the mouth, like the tongue and teeth, that are used to produce a certain sound.
Childhood Apraxia of Speech: A neurological disorder where the brain and muscles aren’t communicating correctly. A child will know what they want to say and have the physical ability to say it, but the brain isn’t always sending signals to the muscles like it should, which causes inconsistent speech sound patterns and can make it difficult to understand the child’s speech.
Communicative/Communication Functions: The different reasons people communicate, such as asking questions, answering questions, commenting, or making requests.
ECDD (Early Childhood Developmental Delay)*: An area of eligibility for special education services in the schools. It is used for children below the age of 8 who demonstrate a delay in at least one area (such as speech and language) that is at least half of the expected development (i.e. a 6 year old whose language skills are at a 3 year old level).
This eligibility allows the special education team to provide all necessary services without giving a specific label (such as cognitive impairment or autism) at an early age when a diagnosis may be unclear or likely to change.
Expressive Language: How someone uses language to communicate their thoughts, needs, questions, etc. with other people.
Fluency: How smoothly words flow together when someone is speaking or reading aloud. Stuttering is considered a fluency disorder.
IEP (Individualized Education Program): An IEP is a document developed through your public school after your child is evaluated and determined to be eligible for special education services. It describes your child’s eligibility, academic needs, the services they will receive, and their goals for each of the services.
IEP can also refer to the meeting where the IEP document is implemented or reviewed.
MLU (Mean Length of Utterance): The average number of words a child uses in each phrase or sentence.
Pragmatics: How language is used in social situations, like taking turns in conversation or using different vocabulary with friends than at school or work.
Receptive Language: How someone processes and understands language.
REED (Review of Existing Evaluation Data): The document that describes what testing will be used for your child’s evaluation for special education services in the school. It needs to be signed by a parent to give the special education team permission to complete the testing.
Spatial Concepts: Where an object is in space or in relation to other things (i.e. up, behind, under, etc.).
Standardized Test: A test with strict rules for how it is administered and what support can be give throughout, so that the scores can be compared with those of other people the same age.
Temporal Concepts: When things take place or the order to do things in (i.e. before you get a new toy, put the first one away).
Utterance Length: The number of words used in any given phrase or sentence.
Voice: Refers to vocal qualities such as nasality, tone, pitch, and rate of speech.
Voiced Sound: A sound that’s produced with the vocal folds vibrating. If you put your fingers on your voice box (near the center of your throat), you’ll feel it vibrating when you say “AAA” because that is a voiced sound, but not when you say “SSS” because that one’s voiceless.
Voiceless Sound: A sound that’s produced without vibrations in the vocal folds. If you put your fingers on your voice box (near the center of your throat), you’ll feel it vibrating when you say “AAA” because that is a voiced sound, but not when you say “SSS” because that one’s voiceless.
WNL (Within Normal Limits): Describes a skill that is inside of the range considered developmentally appropriate for a child’s age.
If you found this list helpful, please share it to help other parents gain clarity on their child’s speech therapy services!
*Eligibility is described based on the special education requirements in the state of Michigan. Requirements may vary in other states.
