+ What is your office therapy environment like?

Bloom Speech Language and Myofunctional Therapy offers a welcoming, child-friendly environment designed to put families at ease and reduce stress through clear, empowering solutions.

It’s completely natural to feel concerned or uncertain about your child’s development. At Bloom, we partner closely with parents and caregivers, taking a collaborative approach that keeps you informed, involved, and confident as we support your child’s progress—together.

+ What happens at an initial assessment?

Initial assessments can take one hour. If more is needed, we can schedule additional assessment sessions. The evaluation covers your reason for the visit, background information, and a formal and informal assessment of a client’s unique situation and needs.

Speech evaluations can include standardized tests, an informal assessment, and an orofacial myological exam if related to a speech disorder. 

Language evaluations can include standardized language assessments for expressive and receptive language as well as an informal assessment.

Cognitive evaluations may cover working memory, processing, and executive function.

Orofacial Myofunctional evaluations include assessments of the orofacial complex: jaw, lips, tongue, lingual rest position, lingual swallow position, and chewing and swallowing efficiency.

+ How long does therapy last?

Therapy is very personal, and every individual child or adult is different. Rather than focusing on a set “end date” for therapy, we focus on achieving specific goals. Therapy is most effective with regular attendance and at-home skill practice.

+ How do you track data and progress during ongoing speech, language, and myofunctional therapy?

We use a data-driven approach focused on clearly defined, measurable goals and consistent progress monitoring. During each session, performance is recorded and analyzed—tracking elements such as goal attainment, repetitions, and accuracy.

Progress is evaluated over time through ongoing data collection, regular re-assessment, and trend analysis, combined with input from parents and school teams to ensure meaningful, functional improvement.

+ How do you set and work towards goals in a treatment plan?

Treatment plans are based on findings of our in-session evaluations (standardized tests, informal assessment, observation). Each client is given unique goals based on their individual needs.

+ Does insurance cover speech-language therapy?

Bloom submits claims directly to insurance and is in-network with PacificSource, Aetna, Medicaid, Allegiance, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. We work to maximize your available benefits and simplify the process for you.

Coverage varies by individual plan. If you have insurance, we will first submit and process your claims before issuing any patient billing.

+ What is adult speech therapy?

Adults may experience speech or language difficulties that began in childhood or developed after an illness or injury. Speech-language and myofunctional therapy for adults includes comprehensive evaluation and treatment of communication needs, such as speech production, language skills, cognitive-communication, social communication, pragmatics, auditory processing, and the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems.

+ What is pediatric speech therapy?

Pediatric speech, language, and myofunctional therapy provides comprehensive assessment and intervention for children with communication and oral-motor disorders. Areas of focus include receptive and expressive language, speech sound production, auditory processing, and social communication. Intervention also addresses oral-motor function to support efficient chewing and swallowing.

+ What are the signs of an orofacial myofunctional disorder and how can therapy help?

Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder symptoms include abnormal lip, jaw or tongue position at rest, difficulty swallowing, messy, open-mouthed eating, open-mouthed rest posture, or struggle with speech. Children may have prolonged oral habits such as thumb, finger or pacifier sucking, or nail-biting. Bloom specializes in effective, personalized orofacial myofunctional therapy.

Positive orofacial myofunctional therapy outcomes include a normalizing posture of the mouth, tongue, and lips at rest, nasal breathing patterns, proper chewing and swallowing, ending harmful oral habits such as teeth-grinding, and supporting proper speech development.

+ What are voice disorders?

Laryngitis, incorrect speaking technique, vocal cord lesions, and vocal cord paralysis are the most common voice disorders.

Hoarseness in children can have a variety of causes, most of which are not dangerous. In rare cases, childhood hoarseness can come from life-threatening causes which require immediate medical attention.

For adults, inflamed, paralyzed, or abnormal vocal cords which don’t function correctly may result in a voice disorder. Symptoms include a hoarse or weak voice.

+ What is stuttering?

Also known as disfluency, this speech disorder involves significant and regular problems (such as blocks, prolongations, or repetitions) with normal fluency and speech flow.

It is typical for all children, especially between the ages of 2 and 6, to experience periods of speech disfluency or stuttering as they learn to communicate and talk. Stuttering that lasts over six months may require professional treatment.

Young adult or adult stutterers have trouble expressing what they want to say, prolonging or repeating words, syllables, vowels or consonants, or pausing during because of a difficult sound or word. Stuttering can negatively impact confidence and social interactions.

+ What is autism, and what are the benefits of speech-language therapy for autism?

Autism is a developmental disorder, usually characterized by challenges in social interactions and communications, as well as restricted or repetitive thought and behavior patterns.

Children with autism may have trouble understanding gestures or emotions, following directions, following conventions of conversation. They may struggle with receptive communication, such as understanding others or reading text, or expressive communication, such as talking or writing. Children with autism may repeat words they heard or sound robotic in their speech patterns.

Speech-language and myofunctional therapy can help children with autism improve their verbal and nonverbal communication skills, social cue confidence, conversational skills, playing with others, self-regulation, interacting with peers, expressing ideas, and more.