We conduct assessments, provide treatment sessions, and offer training in the areas of alternative communication (AAC), language development, and literacy.
All sessions begin with an assessment in order to guide treatment. Based on your concerns, we choose the area to assess. This gives us information about the person's current skill level so that we can accurately determine the specific targets to work on. We conduct assessments on speech sounds, receptive and expressive language skills, pragmatic language, AAC, and literacy.
During treatment sessions we focus on reaching the goals we agree on. Sessions are often 1 hour long, with time at the end to discuss what we worked on and how to carry it over throughout the day. Reading/writing skills are interwoven into all sessions.
In addition to therapy sessions, we offer training to parents, teachers, and speech language pathologists interested in becoming proficient in AAC. Trainings include increasing comfort level with specific communication systems, applying it throughout the day, and troubleshooting. Now also offering teacher training on vocal hygiene and the proper use of voice.
We are happy to serve your speech and language needs in the areas mentioned below. Feel free to reach out and ask about other areas of speech and language - if we can’t help you, we may know someone else who specializes in that area.
Everyone has a right to communicate and that communication can look different for different people. When oral speech is not effective, we look at speech generating communication devices to either replace oral speech (i.e., alternative) or to be used together with oral speech (i.e., augmentative). If the person does not yet have a communication device, we decide together on the most appropriate system and then work on using it effectively. If the person already has a communication system, we improve fluency in using it.
When language level lags behind the client’s age, we work on bridging that gap. We look at where language is developmentally and work on moving up the developmental ladder. Language goals may focus on increasing vocabulary, word and sentence structures, and pragmatics (that is, the appropriate use of language).
"No student is too anything to be able to read and write (David Yoder, 2000)". Everyone has the potential to read and write, whether they use oral speech or AAC. We determine the person's current skill level, meet them where they're at, and move them along toward functional reading and writing.
