I evaluate, develop, and implement treatment plans for children that are struggling in a regular school setting and in the community.  Giving them the tools to thrive in a school and carryover those skills into the real world as they become professionals.

My ideal age range is pre-school, elementary, middle school, and high school.

Some of the populations I have served and am serving currently are students with:

 

Speech Sound Disorders/Articulation and Phonological Processes

Most children make some mistakes as they learn to say new words. A speech sound disorder occurs when mistakes  continue past a certain age. Every sound has a different range of ages when the child should make the sound correctly. Speech sound disorders include problems with articulation (making sounds) and phonological processes (sound patterns).

Stuttering:

Stuttering affects the fluency of speech. It begins during childhood and, in some cases, lasts throughout life. The disorder is characterized by disruptions in the production of speech sounds, also called “disfluencies.” Most people produce brief disfluencies from time to time. For instance, some words are repeated and others are preceded by “um” or “uh.” Disfluencies are not necessarily a problem; however, they can impede communication when a person produces too many of them

Language-Based Learning Disabilities in early childhood: Problems with age-appropriate reading, spelling, and/or writing. 

  Receptive Language Disorder: Some children have problems with understanding. They may have trouble:

• Understanding what gestures mean

• Following directions

• Answering questions

• Identifying objects and pictures

  Expressive Language Disorder: Some children have problems talking. They may have trouble

• Asking questions

• Naming objects

• Using gestures

• Putting words together into sentences

• Learning songs and rhymes

• Using correct pronouns, like “he” or “they”

• Literacy-related difficulties: Some children have trouble with early reading and writing skills, such as

• Holding a book right side up

• Looking at pictures in a book and turning pages

• Telling a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end

• Naming letters and numbers

• Learning the alphabet

Language-Based Learning Disabilities in adolescents: Difficulty with:

• understanding non-verbal behaviors such as body language

• finding words, puns, idioms, riddles, jokes, sarcasm and slang

• instructions, especially those that are long or grammatically complex 

• words with multiple meanings(bear vs. bare)

• sequencing

• expressing thoughts

• organizing information

Social Communication Disorder:

• using appropriate greetings

• changing language and communication style based on setting or partner

• telling and understanding stories

• engaging in conversation (e.g., initiating or entering a conversation, maintaining the topic, taking turns)

• repairing communication breakdowns (e.g., rephrasing when misunderstood)

• using appropriate verbal (e.g., prosodic) and nonverbal (e.g., gestures) signals to regulate an interaction

• interpreting  the verbal and nonverbal signals of others during an interaction

• understanding ambiguous or figurative language

• understanding information not explicitly stated (inferring)

• making and keeping close friendships.

 

Depending on what works best for your students’ needs, I can provide individual or small group
speech therapy. I use a variety of tools to work with students including social functioning apps for
a range of ages including tech savvy adolescents.

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