Services

We are committed to providing services of the highest quality and many who have received our services would agree. We are unique, not only in our areas of specialization, but because we also recognize that parental and caregiver involvement is essential, especially with infants and toddlers. Family participation is crucial in order for children to achieve their full communication potential.

Butkus & Associates, Inc. provides a full range of diagnostic testing and therapy for children:

Pediatric Speech Therapy

Many people are surprised to learn that Speech Language Pathologists work with children as early as infancy when feeding difficulties first become apparent. Delays in language development and social interaction can often be diagnosed before the age of two. As soon as a diagnosis is made, it is appropriate to begin therapy. Research shows that intervention at an early age leads to better outcomes. School-age children covered by Medicaid and CHIP may also be eligible for individual speech therapy sessions in their homes or a clinic setting in addition to any services provided by the public schools. It is also possible for children to receive speech therapy with Butkus & Associates, Inc. even though they might not have qualified for speech therapy in the public schools.

Home Based Speech Therapy Services

Butkus & Associates, Inc. has teams working throughout the Greater Houston area treating children in their homes, private schools, and childcare settings. This is especially beneficial for younger children who are more comfortable in their own environments. Working in the natural setting of a home also affords greater interaction with the family and facilitates increased carryover. In-home care benefits families whose children are medically fragile as well as those with limited means of transportation.

Payment

Butkus & Associates, Inc. accepts the following insurance plans:

            ·Traditional Medicaid                           ·Superior Health Plan

·Texas Children’s Health Plan              ·Amerigroup

·Community Health Choice                  ·Molina Healthcare

·Evercare of Texas                                ·United Health Care

·We also accept most CHIP plans and private insurance plans.

·Private pay patients are also accepted.

Assessment and Diagnosis of Language, Articulation, Voice, Fluency, and Oral Motor Disorders

Careful assessment and diagnosis are essential before a treatment plan can be developed. Sometimes children do not progress in articulation therapy because an underlying oral motor deficit was not recognized and fully addressed. Other problems, such as pragmatic language disorders found in high functioning Autism, may involve collaboration between professionals. Formal diagnostic tests combined with informal assessment measures and the skilled observations of a seasoned, evaluating therapist are all a part of the assessment process.

Pragmatic Language / Autism Spectrum Disorders

Pragmatic language skills include all the ways language is used to interact with others, read social situations and use our thought processes to understand the interests, viewpoints and actions of others. It encompasses emotional learning, empathy and even the nonverbal aspects of interaction such as body language, social distance and comfort levels around others.

The assessment of pragmatic language examines a range of skills such as how well a child is able to initiate interaction, listen with the whole body, employ abstract thinking, comprehend nonliteral language, inference and idioms and utilize perspective taking to understand the underlying concepts in situations. These and other elements of pragmatic understanding represent important aspects of social interaction while also contributing to a child’s ability to function in the academic setting.

Fluency disorders

Our therapists work with fluency disorders, (typically thought of as stuttering). Left untreated, fluency disorders can become severe, causing serious problems, impacting social development and progress in school. Parents often notice very young children moving into a period apparent stuttering. Only a Speech Pathologist can determine if this is part of normal development or is, in fact, the beginning stage of a fluency disorder. Treatment in younger children generally involves significant family and caregiver education, while older children require direct, ongoing treatment.