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- Cathie
- Connell
- No
- 3204 Tennyson Crescent
District of North Vancouver
British Columbia
V7K 2A8
Canada - Cathie Connell Speech and Language Services (private practice)
District of North Vancouver
British Columbia
V7K 2A8
Canada
Initial treatment considerations depend on numerous factors including the child’s speech sound inventory, complexity of utterance (syllable shape), and ability to imitate. Target utterances (syllables, words, phrases) are selected based on the child’s current ability and functional needs. I incorporate the principles of motor learning in my treatment, starting with repetitive practice of a small set of target utterances in order to establish automatic motor movements. When ready, treatment shifts to more random practice to encourage retention and generalization of these movements. Prosody (intonation, stress, pauses) targets are included in treatment from the onset. I provide a lot of feedback and use a variety of multisensory cues (visual, gestural, tactile) in my sessions. The DTTC (Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing) approach incorporates these cues and systematically fades them as children achieve accuracy in their productions. This approach works best with most of my clients; it is easy to teach parents to use when practicing at home.
Parents are a huge part of their child’s treatment program from the start. They play an integral role in goal planning, particularly with regards to selecting functional targets that can be practiced often at home. I encourage parents to attend and participate in the sessions as they can reinforce newly learned skills in natural settings outside of the therapy room. The partnership with parents and their support plays a crucial role in their child’s speech and language progress.
I often incorporate the use of low tech AAC (pictures, letters, words) into my sessions to augment a child’s speech production. Children with very limited or unintelligible speech especially benefit from the use of AAC. Parents are informed about the benefits of using AAC to facilitate their child’s speech and language development.