Thursday, January 28, 2016

SEEL: early literacy resource for SLPs, teachers, and parents

I have been spending a lot of time preparing speech and language sessions centered on reading and writing development.  The best part about combining speech and language with literacy...they are so dependent on one another!

In one activity focusing on phonemic awareness I can also target articulation goals (final consonant deletion, voicing errors, minimal pairs, etc.) as well as getting language goals (plural /s/, pronouns, 3rd person singular /s/, verb tenses) AND transfer the principles to comprehension strategies and prediction as I expose children to text!

And the best part...you don't even have to plan for that kind of carryover!  It will just happen as you use books and target early literacy skills.

Here is my new favorite website for teaching early literacy skills: http://education.byu.edu/seel/

The website is for the SEEL (Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy) program.  This website lists hundreds of activities for increasing literacy skills through phonemic awareness tasks like rhymes and alliteration.  Plus they add new activities frequently.

Best part:  It is totally free.  I am a huge fan of helping kids and not having to spend money for specialized programs.  Thank you BYU and thank you SEEL program.

My personal favorite page of the website is under the Lesson Plan Library: Scopes and Sequences tab.  Here you can find developmental sequences associated with early literacy.  The steps are broken down into very user friendly chunks.  Plus they have linked the steps with appropriate activities, you want to teach first developing letters?  Click on any of: M, BTSO and X

*notice that the letters are not sequenced alphabetically, that is not the easiest way for kids to learn their letters!  I LOVE that they don't take the "letter of the week" approach.  (which is ok, don't freak out if that is what your pre-school is using, your kids will still learn...but evidence suggests there are better ways)

One word of advice though:  even when I have taken extra time to make sure I am hitting multiple goals with one activity I still try to focus my cueing and prompting on my top priority goals.  It is easy for kids to get overwhelmed if you slam them with too much.  So be sensitive to what you want the child to work on and for everything else offer as much support as the child needs to be successful.

Check the program out.  You will love it.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

I added a new page! FAQs

I added a new page to my blog but I thought I would post the information here as well to keep everyone informed.

1.  I am concerned about my child's speech (or language) what should I do next?
I recommend that you look at some of my blog posts about developmental milestones and what is considered "within normal limits" for someone your child's age.  If you are still concerned after reading through some of the material give me a call or send me an e-mail.  I am happy to discuss normal development.  Part of my job is being able to tell you whether or not your child would benefit from speech/language therapy.

2.  Where would we meet for speech therapy sessions?
I would come to your home.  Most of my clients are children and I believe that they benefit most from receiving speech therapy in their own homes.  There is sound evidence behind this practice, particularly for very young children.  You will be able to complete homework assignments easier and have better generalization of acquired skills if we work at your house.

3.  What are the benefits of private speech therapy?
I have worked for school districts and I have worked privately.  There are benefits to each kind of therapy approach:

-School provided therapy:  The biggest pro is it's free!  Also, if your child needs to work on social skills with peers those goals are much easier to address.  However, I found that it was very difficult for me to have good communication with my student's parents when I worked in the schools.  Also, I was always crunched for time.  It takes time to give kids one-on-one speech therapy sessions, it takes time to prepare for each session and each child individually, it takes time to communicate with parents and teachers about a student's progress...I just never had enough time!

-Private therapy:  I feel like the biggest pro in the private sector has been being able to communicate with my client's parents before/during/after each session.  I see WAY more progress in my clients when parents are on board and know why we are working on certain things, how to approach goals, and how to move on to the next step.  Also in private therapy I devote time before each session to design activities specifically for each client to help meet their individual goals and I seek continuing education courses that help me provide better therapy approaches specifically for individual clients.  I feel like I am able to provide high quality speech and language sessions.

4.  How much do you charge for evaluations?  
I have no extra fees or charges for an evaluation.  Screenings and evaluations are included in your therapy session fees.  Also included in your fees are yearly service plans and 6 month progress reports, which will include a summary of therapy progress, goals, and recommendations.  In addition, I offer professional support through phone consults and e-mails.  I ask that you be considerate of my time when making these calls.

5.  Do you accept insurance?
No.  I currently only accept private pay clients.  I am happy to work with your family and design the therapy approach that works best for your child (and you wallet) if money is a concern.