About us. Teaching successful communication skills while having fun is our mission. At Jabbergym, we believe that the ability to communicate is the single most important skill that a child can acquire. Expression and understanding of language allows children to participate in their environment. The ability to listen, gesture, and speak creates access to social relationships and gives children the ability to get their wants and needs met.

Speech-Language Therapy. The Jabbergym employs master’s level, licensed speech language pathologists and credentialed educational therapists. We offer support for children having special needs including Autism, PDD, Asperger’s, Down Syndrome, oral apraxia, auditory processing, hearing loss and other developmental delays.

Common Definitions.

• Speech – Refers to the sounds that come out of your child’s mouth, and take shape in the form of words
• Articulation – refers to how your child pronounces individual words. Often known as their “clarity of speech” (caw/car)
• Phonology – the ability to produce and discriminate specific sounds of English language (guck/duck, gook/book)
• Oral Motor Function/Feeding – the ability of your child’s jaw, tongue, lips, and other muscles to move adequately for clear speech production and swallowing
• Fluency – the steady flow of speech.
• Voice – the quality and volume of vocal output

Individual speech-language classes include:

EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE - refers to the ability to express one’s wants and needs.

• Pulling a parent or pointing toward a wanted item to get needs met
• Gesturing/signing to get a want or need met
• Spoken language
• Syntax/Grammar-use of language rules
• Semantics/Vocabulary- variety of word use

RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE - refers to the ability to understand and comprehend information

• Maintains attention towards speaker
• Comprehends verbal or gestured messages
• Follows simple directions
• Ability to focus on people/items talked about in conversation
• Points to pictures or items when named

PRAGMATICS - refers to the social uses of language

• Eye contact
• Turn taking in conversation
• Uses appropriate words in social conversation
• Takes the perspective of the listener
• Understands and appropriately uses body language and expressions

AUDITORY PROCESSING - refers to one’s ability to understand and process/decode spoken language

• The ability to stay focused on one conversation when other distractions are occurring
• Actively listening to the speaker
• Ability to hear differences between sounds and words (auditory discrimination)
• Ability to follow directions/answer question when given verbally
• Ability to sound out words when reading