The Whole Child
Helping Children Thrive
Atlanta Speech Therapy & Training, LLC., located in Roswell, Ga and serves: Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Norcross, Cumming, Dunwoody, and East Cobb.
The practice dedicated to the whole-child approach; treating each child individually with respect and compassion. Creating a comfortable learning environment and using a variety of techniques helps make speech therapy fun!
Presenting and educating parents with the latest information is a key part of Amy’s whole-child approach. She believes that it is her duty and responsibility to establish and maintain an openness to parental input and insight, and to learn and incorporate different teaching methods or strategies of treatment as needed. That is why she added training in PROMPT to her skill base.
As the founder of Atlanta Speech Therapy & Training, LLC., it is Amy’s privilege and honor to watch each child blossom and progress towards the ultimate goal of graduation. Amy is proud to be a part of your team and to work in such an invaluable area of your child's growth.
The focus and mission of Atlanta Speech Therapy & Training, LLC. is to provide high-quality service leading to unparalleled client satisfaction. She will do everything possible to meet your expectations. Her practice philosophy is to empower individuals with communication skills for life.
"Amy approaches her work with an infectious level of passion and creativity that makes learning fun. Kevin has become very eager to participate in his lessons, and because they are so creative, he barely knows that he’s doing speech lesson!" -Francis & Lynn L.
Pediatric Services
Speech Development
- Articulation or speech sound skills
- Oral-Motor skills
- PROMPT is used as a tool when appropriate
Articulation skills, also referred to as speech sound development or speech sound skills, is a common area where children, pre-teens, teenagers, and adults have errors. It is more common in the pediatric population, however, if the sounds that are being incorrectly produced are not corrected in childhood, the issues can linger.
TWO YEAR OLDS are typically understood 50% of the time
THREE YEAR OLDS are typically understood 75% of the time
FOUR YEAR OLDS are typically understood 97-100% of the time
Having strong oral-motor skills for lip, tongue, and jaw stability is essential, along with appropriate movement, control, and coordinated timing. Each part must be in sync with the next in order to produce and create smooth, fluid speech output. It is the ability to say sounds in isolation, in combinations with vowels, in words, sentences, and conversation produced in a fluid, clear, understandable manner fluently and intelligibly.
Trained in PROMPT which stands for PROMPTS for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets. It is a multidimensional approach to assist people with speech production. It integrates a number of systems towards a positive communication outcome, including tactile (touch) input. It takes into account the physical-sensory aspects of motor performance, the cognitive-linguistic aspects of language development, and the social-emotional aspects. It is a program that is used to improve and advance motor skills in the development of language for better, successful verbal interaction and communication. www.promptinstitute.com
Language Skills
- Receptive Language Skills
- Expressive Language Skills
- Social-Pragmatic Skills
Receptive Language Skills- The ability to understand what is being said. To comprehend a message, spoken and written, from another person.
Examples:
- following directions and instructions
- identifying colors
- understanding how to show an object or picture on request
- understanding wh-questions, who, what, where, why, when
- showing or identifying parts of a whole.
Expressive Language Skills- The ability to use words, phrases, & sentences to communicate in spoken and written forms. The ability to formulate thoughts into words, and to convey a message to another person through sounds, signs, speech, and/or writing.
Examples
- explaining directions and instructions
- naming colors
- naming objects or pictures on request
- answering wh-questions, who, what, where, why, when
- telling parts of a whole
- naming items in a given category
Social-Pragmatic Language Skills- the ability to connect and interact with peers and adults in an appropriate way.
Examples
- eye gaze to a person as well as to objects
- focus at the same time with another on the same item or event that is occurring- known as joint attention
- joining peers in play
- engaging with others
- turn-taking
- sharing
- back-and-forth exchange of information
- smoothly switching from one activity to another
Voice
Sometimes, a person expresses concern that his/her voice does not support or tolerate what would be considered typical daily vocal use. It is more prevalent with teachers, coaches, instructors, cheerleaders, singers, receptionists, customer service representatives, and more. A voice disorder can be caused by the presence of vocal nodules, polyps, overuse, or vocal abuse.
- Voice Quality- pitch, volume, resonance, prosody (the patterns or rhythm, stress, intonation of speech output)
- Poor Vocal Hygiene- lack of hydration, presence of GERD (reflux)
- Phonotrauma- yelling, screaming, excessive coughing or throat-clearing, overuse
- Vocal Fatigue- hoarse, strained speech production, excessive talking without using appropriate vocal hygiene and support, and often due to overuse
- Muscle Tension, particularly in the head, neck, shoulders, and chest
- Breath Support
Stuttering
Stuttering occurs when the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases. In addition, there can be extensions or prolongations of sounds, syllables, or words. It can also be present when there are pauses, also referred to as blocks, in which the person who stutters is unable to produce sounds. There is an interruption in the steady, continuous flow of speech.
Tutoring Help
