The Speech Link: A Speech Therapy Podcast

Ep. 54: Language Sampling: A School-Based SLPs Best Friend - Teresa Farnham, MA, CCC-SLP

Terri presented how language sampling and analysis is an effective, authentic, and reliable method to establish baseline speech and language performance as well as periodically evaluate progress. She refreshed our skills in language sampling and analysis, and how these basic principles can be effectively applied in the school practice setting for evaluation as well as documentation.

Ep. 53: Methods to Maximize Student Clinician Success in the School Setting - Sarah Armstrong, MA, CCC-SLP

Based on two decades of experience, Sarah freely discussed the issues and responsibilities of being a Master Clinician in the schools and how to effectively guide the Graduate Student Clinician. She disclosed several critical components: how to share expectations, how to maintain a constructive ongoing dialogue, and how to hone-in on essential skills and provide constructive feedback.

Ep. 52: Communication Secrets to Managing Difficult Parent/Caregiver Situations

Char shared real-world solutions on how to effectively manage difficult parent/caregiver situations. She emphasized that issues tend to occur when parents do not know a therapist’s motivation, his/her capability level or work ethic. Many detailed communication reactions and response options were provided, as well as a system to build parental support and even teamwork.

Ep. 51: Strategies for Voice Disorders to Facilitate Vocal Health in School-Aged Children - Jayanti Ray, PhD, CCC-SLP

Guest: Jayanti Ray, PhD, CCC-SLP - In this one-hour course, Dr. Ray shared the common signs, symptoms, and conditions that impact voice disorders in school-aged children and therapy techniques to mitigate them. In addition, she covered the importance of vocal health and several ways maintain vocal quality and agility in children.

Ep. 50: How to Recognize and Treat Vocal Cord Dysfunction in School-Aged Children - Jayanti Ray, PhD., CCC-SLP, BCS-F

Guest: Jayanti Ray, PhD., CCC-SLP, BCS-F - In this course, Dr. Ray shared a wealth of evidence-based information and anecdotal examples about those with Vocal Cord Dysfunction (VCD). Topics included: what is VCD and signs and symptoms of episodes, several causal options, and many treatment techniques and strategies. The information pertained mostly to school-aged children, but also briefly discussed adults with VCD.

Ep. 49: School-Age Stuttering Therapy: Activities for Increasing Success - Nina Reeves, MS, CCC-SLP, BRC-FD

In Nina’s follow-up to her previous episode, she continued to share her extensive knowledge on the evidence-based views, analysis, and therapy of neurologically based stuttering for individuals 5 years and older. She provided informative answers as to why our typical stuttering therapy is not always effective, as well as five therapy prerequisites complete with insights and activities to use in comprehensive, successful stuttering therapy.

Ep. 48: Deal with it! Successfully Manage Stress-Induced Childhood Oral Habits - Tricia H. Rogers, MS, CCC-SLP

Guest: Tricia H. Rogers, MS, CCC-SLP - This one-hour podcast explores the of characteristics of oral habits (thumb/finger sucking, nail biting, extended pacifier use) of primarily the school-aged child.  It addresses the rise in oral habits due to the change in routines and lifestyle during COVID-19 and what can be done.  Several causes and consequences of thumb/finger sucking are discussed, as well as many extinguishing strategies, including several ideas for parents to implement at home.

Ep. 47: Methods to Advance Your Teletherapy to Include Fun & Functional Parent Involvement - Patricia Fisher, MA, CCC-SLP, COM

Guest: Patricia Fisher, MA, CCC-SLP, COM - In this episode Patty shared in-depth detailed methods and the benefits of parental involvement during teletherapy. She suggested, “Keep learning; change happens.  Be prepared (know your goals), be flexible (implement functional therapy based on the child’s needs), and incorporate the parents/caregivers during teletherapy and beyond, (i.e. during daily living and personal interactions).

 

Ep. 46: Highly Engaging Activities for Teens with Significant Challenges - Teresa Farnham, MA, CCC-SLP

In this course, Terri shares her down-to-earth techniques and interesting experiences of working with teen aged children with severe disabilities. You’ll learn practical, highly useful strategies such as, how to best use videos in therapy, and the rationale behind them. From her observations over the years, she shares several “hurdles” that must be dealt with when working with this population.

Ep. 45: Practical Assessment & Therapy Strategies for Social Communication Deficits - Patti Hamaguchi, M.A. CCC-SLP

Guest: Patti Hamaguchi, M.A. CCC-SLP - In this course, Ms. Hamaguchi focuses on understanding elementary age children with Social Communication Disorder (SCD), as well as effective ways to assess it, and how to put together targeted individual and group intervention strategies to improve social language, including greetings, etc., and conversational skill development across settings, and more.