Ana Bertolino
Credentials: SLP, CRFa 6-10255, Postgraduate Student in Neuroscience
Business Name: Ana Bertolino
Business Address:
Rua Sergipe, 853, 4 andar
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, 30130171, Brazil
Business Phone: +5503132679900
Business Email: fga.anabertolino@gmail.com
Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday from 9:00am – 5:00pm
Locations Available: Clinic/Office, Virtual Telepractice
Additional languages in which you provide services: Portuguese
Minimum Age Served: 6 months
Maximum Age Served: 12 years
Percent of CAS cases: >76%
Overall Treatment Approach:
All therapy established in our clinic follows the best current scientific guidelines. Constant updating has enabled access to knowledge that has maximized our results. Our session is the basis for building results. I believe that the session should be focused with great care and dedication. Words are our path to developing speech motor control; their curation and selection are essential to achieving good results. Repetition is our main mechanism for changing cortical engrams or creating new ones. Neural patterns are only developed through quality repetition. Words will be the means, and repetition the path to changes that generate speech movements. Motivation is the glue that keeps these patterns in place and lasting. In short, a fun session for the child, and a detailed one for the speech therapist, who is focused on each part of the movement, offering all the curation to create or improve.
Parent Involvement:
When I receive a referral from a family, I organize a call for us to talk. During this call, I get to know their needs, check if I can meet their needs, and answer any questions they may have about how my work works. We start with a clinical assessment, where we deepen our knowledge about the child’s language and speech through tests. All clinical reasoning is based on the data collected during the assessment. In a feedback session, we discuss the results and the paths to be followed. I present our goal map for our work. I study the parents’ profiles by observing and listening carefully to their needs. I offer them all the support tools they need to have good speech practices with their children, so that they know what to do when they can implement practices in their daily lives. I have a very sincere conversation, and based on the parents’ profiles, I create a means of welcoming and participating. I bought a very comfortable couch for our treatment room. Parents who feel comfortable staying with us in the room sit comfortably on the couch. Others watch the video in the waiting room, and others watch the recorded therapy session when they can. I offer speech training applied to the reality of the family and caregivers, in a very personalized way and in accessible language. They begin to understand how we speak, what cues we use to improve movement, and what they need to help their child. We have achieved good results in terms of family participation and engagement, because they become aware of the process.
AAC Use:
In my clinical practice, I use AAC fully for language development in parallel with speech motor therapy. I use PODD and Core Words as robust communication systems (low and high technology). The indication differs due to characteristics that come from the child’s language profile, after evaluating the benefits and best indicators of building the language framework, based on the needs of each child. I was born in the countryside of Minas Gerais, studied music since I was a child, was a music teacher and decided to study speech therapy to work with singers. At university, everything changed. I learned about language and speech, and fell in love with the work that we therapists do. And I have always loved working with children, since I was teaching music. When I went to work in a private clinic, a child with an unusual speech difficulty introduced me to the world of Childhood Apraxia of Speech, something I had never heard of, since this clinical manifestation had only been addressed in adults during my training. This child challenged me to be better, to study something that was new. I had no idea about the role of the jaw in the development of motor control. Since 2018, I have delved deeper and become a recognized professional in working with children with Apraxia. I have participated in important diagnostic searches with many families. And I always seek professional improvement to be able to serve and generate results for many children. I have the incredible possibility of seeing the daily transformation in the speech of the children who come to me.
Elisabete Giusti
Credentials: Recognized by Apraxia Kids for Advanced Training and Expertise in Childhood Apraxia of Speech. SLP, PhD in Linguistics. CRFa. 2-9473/SP.
Business Name: Private Practice
Business Address:
Avenida Jamaris
Edificio Wall Street – 100, Sala 208
São Paulo, 04078-000, Brazil
Business Phone: 11974641560
Business Email: atrasonafala@gmail.com
Hours of Operation: Mondays to Fridays from 8am to 6pm.
Business Website: http://www.atrasonafala.com.br
Locations Available: Clinic/Office, Virtual Telepractice
Additional languages in which you provide services: Portuguese
Minimum Age Served: 6 months
Maximum Age Served: 18+ years
Percent of CAS cases: >76%
Overall Treatment Approach:
My intervention with children with CAS is based on the recommendations outlined in the ASHA CAS Technical Report and Motor Learning Principles.
Motor therapy is different from traditional therapy, as CAS is a deficit in planning and programming the sequence of movements for the production of speech sounds. The SLP, through specific motor strategies (adequate selection of targets, use of multisensory clues, use of feedbacks and organization of practices, repetitive practice), promote the adequate co-articulation of speech movements. All these aspects must be addressed in a functional context and must be very motivating for the child. The participation and involvement of parents in this process is essential.
Parent Involvement:
After the assessment, parents will receive a detailed explanation of what CAS is and all manifestations related to this condition. Next, an intervention plan will be presented, with specific and realistic goals, with a description of all the objectives and strategies that will be used. At the end of each session, parents will receive feedback on how the session went and will receive an assignment(s) to practice at home to help with the process of retaining and generalizing the skill worked on in the session. Parents will be able to watch the interventions and when they cannot, I will be able to send demonstrative videos.
Apraxia Community Involvement:
I live in São Paulo (Brazil) and CAS was an unrecognized diagnosis here. Together with parents of children with CAS, in 2016 we created ABRAPRAXIA – Associação Brasileira de Apraxia de Fala de Infância and since then, we have been working hard to raise awareness and recognize this diagnosis. Apraxia Kids has been our inspiration in implementing actions in this area. For more information access: www.apraxiabrasil.org, Instagram (apraxiakidsbrasil) and Facebook (apraxiakidsbrasil) As an SLP I am committed to always studying and working hard so that our children reach their best potential.
AAC Use:
CAS has levels of severity (mild to severe) and because it is a persistent disorder that presents with other co-occurring diagnoses (e.g. language disorder), the use of AAC should always be considered as a way to enable communication skills and consequently social participation and effective participation in all daily activities of the child. I do not have specific training in the AAC area and therefore, I will refer you to other SLP colleagues who have experience in this area and who work with different approaches (low and high technology) and who will be selected according to the specificities and needs of each child.
