New School Year!!

Welcome back to all returning speech students and their families!!  We hope you enjoyed your summer break and we look forward to hearing all about it from your child. We are excited to get the new year underway!! 

We are also excited to announce that we have been able to purchase some new computer based materials that will aid in providing evidenced-based therapy to our students.  Each child should have they opportunity to participate periodically in these computer activities that will help them practice their targeted skills in a fun way!  In addition, our students may have the opportunity to learn and engage in activities through the use of an IPad!   We are thrilled to see how the students will respond when they have the opportunity to use these resources.

Again, WELCOME BACK!!

Courtney Peck, Kathy Villaescusa, and Jamie Ettinger

Speech Update

Our "Speech Improvement Class" at both campuses has been very successful!  The majority of students have shown great progress and are performing within age level expectations!
At this time of year many parents are wondering about extra support their child may receive over the summer break.  Our speech team will be preparing summer packets that will include speech/language activities that can be worked on over the summer.  These activities will be selected to work on each students individualized goals.

In addition, we recommend having your child participate in the summer reading program through the public library.  This program allows your child to practice their reading skills while achieving prizes throughout the summer.  If you are looking for resources that can be used at home to keep your child developing academically, we recommend a workbook that can be ordered or purchased at "Teacher-Parent Connection" called "Summer Bridges".  It helps review academic skills students have learned for their grade level and begins to introduce new concepts they will be learning at their next grade level.

If you have any more questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Speech Improvement Class

We are excited to report that we have successfully started our "Speech Improvement Class" at both campuses.  This is an intervention program that allows general education students the opportunity to receive intervention from the speech department to address minor concerns with their speech skills.  Students have been selected to participate in this intervention based upon a screening conducted by the school's speech-language pathologist.  This program follows an Response-to-Intervention (RTI) model which is evidenced based and supported through current research. 

If you have questions about our "Speech Improvement Class", please contact Courtney Peck at either campus.

Speech Screenings

Dear Parents,

In the next couple of weeks, the Speech-Language Department will begin screening those students who have been identified to have concerns in their articulation and/or language skills as identified by their teacher through the 45-day screening report.

Student screenings may consist of interviews with your child's classroom teacher, observations of your child in the general education setting and/or one-on-one screening of their skills in the general education setting.

A screening is not a formal evaluation but a quick assessment of their speech and language skills.  If a screening identifies skills that are "not considered age appropriate" and there is evidence that the child's skills or lack of skills are "negatively imacting their academic performance" then the school's SLP may contact you.

You will be provided with results of the screening once completed.  If you have any questions please contact Courtney Peck.

Bilingual In-service

This past Friday, Courtney has the opportunity to participate in an in-service entitled "Evidenced-Based Assessment and Treatment of Bilingual Children with Communication Disorder".

This was a very helpful in-service in learning the appropriate methods for evaluating and treating bilingual students with varying proficiencies of English language acquisition.  The training I received through this in-service will provide your child with the most current and best practices in the field of Speech-Language Pathology.

If you have any questions or would like more information about this in-service please contact Courtney Peck.

Speech Homework

Thank you to all the parents who have elected to have your child participate in our "Speech Homework" program.  We are currently preparing each child's speech folder and activities specific to their needs.  You should be expecting to see the homework folder coming home in the next few weeks.

As a reminder, homework assignments are to be completed with your participation.  There is a form located in the folder where you can see when the assignment is due and a place where you must inital to indicate completion of the assignment.

If you have any questions or concerns about the assignment given please do not hestitate to contact us.

Thanks again!

Stuttering Conference

This weekend Kathy and I attended a great conference on Stuttering and Cluttering.  The premise of the conference dealt with how to address stuttering in students with other issues such as Down Syndrome or ADHD.  The conference was very useful in determining how to evaluate students to determine the nature of their "stuttering" and how to structure therapy for these specific populations.  We were able to take home several handouts that would be helpful to parents.  Please contact us if you would like to view any of them.

Here are some great websites that will have a plenty of information and resources for parents:
National Stuttering Association  at http://www.westutter.org/  
The Stuttering Homepage at  http://www.stutteringhomepage.com/