The Speech Link: A Speech Therapy Podcast

Developmental language disorder (DLD) has gone by many names. Why does the name matter, especially when it doesn’t match the terminology used in schools (e.g., IDEA) or medical settings (e.g., ICD)? In this course, we will explore how and why you should share the term DLD with families and other team members.

Guest: Teresa Farnham, MA, CCC-SLP - We have explicitly known for over 3 decades that parents influence their child’s language development—especially vocabulary—with the quantity and quality of their input and interactions. In the 1980s, Hart & Risley conducted a remarkable research project examining the differences in preschool children's verbal environments. You’ll learn the pertinent and practical results that you can apply.

Guest: Jacqueline Towson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP - This course outlines practical strategies to implement during shared interactive book reading.  Embedding techniques will be shared to facilitate language and emergent literacy skills with young children with language impairments, developmental disabilities, or those considered at-risk. Considerations for book selection, preparation, setting, and environment will be discussed.

Guest: Holly L. Storkel, Ph.D., CCC-SLP - This course presents a variety of practical methods to enhance and systematically guide treatment success for children with speech sound disorders. For example, did you know that selecting complex sounds as your treatment target can accelerate speech sound learning? Or, that there are better ways to contrast sounds than conventional minimal pair treatment? All of this and more will be explained in detail.

Guest: Licia Coceani Paskay, MS, CCC-SLP - This course provides an overview of chewing that’s been researched within the medical and dental fields. Chewing is an overlooked and underestimated function that has a significant and well-documented impact on swallowing. Implications are covered from infants to the elderly. Chewing should take a more prominent role, especially in swallowing disorders.

Guest: Deborah Ross-Swain, EdD, CCC-SLP - School-aged children with language and learning differences are at risk for education trauma; some feel defeated. They’re often labeled as unmotivated, ADHD, lazy, unfocused, or oppositional. SLPs are a part of a collaborative team that can recognize and avoid this trauma and boosts a child’s educational success, confidence, and joy. Numerous practical and easy-to-apply strategies will be covered.

Guest: Jennifer Gray, MS, CCC-SLP - We must find ways to motivate those with Down syndrome to join their peers in learning. Strategies for active listening, retrieving known information, and planning and executing speech allow them to perform better academically and become independent. This podcast shares three simple and essential strategies to address complex communication issues specifically for students with Down syndrome.

Guest: Kristin Martinez, MA, CCC-SLP - Kristin shares practical information on Therapy Essentials, a comprehensive therapy platform and teletherapy training option for both school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and SLPs in the clinical setting. She clarifies and outlines the full features and benefits of Therapy Essentials that can be used to deliver teletherapy, and within hybrid speech-language services

Guest: Janice M. Wright, MA, CCC-SLP - Ms. Wright discusses the issues of conflict resolution rather than conflict management related to the supervision of speech-language pathology supervisees.  She shares constructive definitions, analyzes the typical views of conflict, identifies conflict styles, and tactfully imparts techniques to effectively resolve disputes positively and productively.

Guest: Ray D. Kent, PhD. - Diadochokinesis (DDK) has been in our field for almost a century and has applications in many specialties. A scoping review found 360 DDK articles and has been associated with diverse etiologies: motoric, structural, sensory, and cognitive. Its popularity notwithstanding, it is not unquestioned as an assessment tool. However, it has been used across a spectrum of disorders and as a proposed biomarker.