Evaluation

Kay Giesecke, a highly qualified speech language pathologist with 36 years of experience will interview you and talk or play with your child for a bit to determine what kind of evaluation is appropriate. If your child is demonstrating characteristics of childhood apraxia, the evaluation will include examination of:

• Articulation
• Phonology
• Receptive-Expressive Language
• Oral Mechanism Exam
• Vowel and Consonant Repertoire
• Word Shape Repertoire
• Motor Speech Skills, including CAS Checklist of Characteristics and Dynamic Evaluation of Motor Speech Skills

Speech-language evaluations for articulation, phonology, and/or language disorders are also available and do not include the examination of vowels, word shapes, and motor speech skills testing.

Treatment

Following an evaluation for apraxia you will receive a report, including a suggested therapy plan  The treatment plan for apraxia includes traditional features such as intensive frequent practice, multiple repetitions of speech movements, memorization of speech movement sequences, systematic progress through the use of hierarchies, slower rate, self-monitoring, compensatory speech and language strategies, multi-modality input, prosody remediation, and integration of receptive and expressive language. I use an eclectic therapy approach incorporating proven motor planning therapy techniques such as touch cueing, Kaufman Praxis Kits, stimulation materials from the Speech E-Z Apraxia Program, various cueing techniques including integral stimulation for motor learning, and backward chaining. The treatment plan also includes participation and training of parents and collaboration with other professionals if they are willing.

Treatment for articulation, phonology, and language disorders also include research based therapy techniques. The therapy approaches for each of these disorders use unique strategies to integrate successful features into therapy and to make therapy fun! We also involve parents in the therapy process to deliver the most effective and efficient treatment.