The Speech Link: A Speech Therapy Podcast

Guest: Stephen Sacks, MA, CCC-SLP - Steve shared his vast knowledge of how to successfully remediate the distorted /r/ and /s/. Over the past 25 years, he and many other SLPs have successfully used his program, the SATPAC.  He explained what the SATPAC is—a computerized, contextual list-builder—and the rationale and fundamentals of speech sound production behind it, as well as several other how-to and sound-stim techniques.

Guest: Robyn Merkel-Walsh, MA, CCC-SLP - Robyn shares practical knowledge and strategies from her experience and research on how to determine when children are developmental and when others have orofacial issues that may deter speech development and progress in therapy.  She outlined analyze procedures for potential respiratory issues, oral hard and soft tissue issues, and offered therapy suggestions.

In this one-hour podcourse, Debra details an effective instruction method that can be used with children of all ages—conversational interaction. It can be successfully applied with heterogenous groups with a variety of disorders—language, articulation, fluency, even voice. She explains how to keep the kids focused, on target, and verbal by using manipulatives. Very informative and practical.

In this 5-hour podcourse, Char chronicles a comprehensive account of the events of the past two decades that have infused and inspired one of the most controversial—and misunderstood--storms in the history of speech-language pathology.Perhaps you’re not sure why “oral motor” has been criticized, or how to respond when someone mentions it. You’ll learn what to say, and how to back it up.  Char covers the “Five Waves” as to what has specifically happened, who did what, and where we go from here.Most importantly you’ll learn Supportive Evidence for the Use of Oral Sensory-Motor Methods to Remediate Speech Sound Productions.

Guest: Maribeth Bradshaw, MA, CCC-SLP - Every speech-language pathologist uses pictures in therapy. This podcourse, however, offers a twist on how to include pictures, graphics, and symbols not only in pull-out therapy, but in the classroom. In this case, pre-school is the primary focus, but the techniques can be applied to almost any lower-aged special education class. You’ll learn to use visual references as a critical piece to increasing receptive and expressive language to help children comprehend classroom expectations, sequences, and events of the day.

Char presents insights from her extensive study and experience of working with hundreds of individuals with “r” distortions. She shared an in-depth description about the /r/ production and critiqued several remediation techniques. She explained the rationale as to why some strategies work, why some don’t, and outlined the primary factors that must be included in therapy for successful, complete “r” remediation.

Guest: Cheri Chin, MS, CCC-SLP - This episode is about routines: what they are, why they’re beneficial to our therapy-kids, and how to create them. You learn systematic details of how to generate routines during transition time from the classroom to the therapy room, efficient ways to begin the therapy session, and beneficial routines to conclude the session, as well. Ms. Chin shares practical methods to maximize and utilize therapy-time as well as increase therapy effectiveness.

In this 5-hour podcourse, Char chronicles a comprehensive account of the events of the past two decades that have infused and inspired one of the most controversial—and misunderstood--storms in the history of speech-language pathology.Perhaps you’re not sure why “oral motor” has been criticized, or how to respond when someone mentions it. You’ll learn what to say, and how to back it up.  Char covers the “Five Waves” as to what has specifically happened, who did what, and where we go from here.Most importantly you’ll learn Supportive Evidence for the Use of Oral Sensory-Motor Methods to Remediate Speech Sound Productions.

Guest: "Things They Don't Tell You in Graduate School" - Erica reflects back on her career and shares personal insights about listening, learning, life, and doing therapy. She stresses the importance of listening to parents, teachers, and kids, and the value of seeking and finding a balance between life and work. Being in the schools, Erica knows the stress of paperwork. She shares a few of her secrets to managing this ever-present problem, as well as caseload tips. Interestingly, she chronicles the evolution of her 38 years of therapy and how it’s changed for the better.

Guest: Nina Reeves, CCC-SLP, BRC-FD - In this episode, Nina shares her experience and extensive knowledge on the current views of stuttering and stuttering therapy for individuals of all ages. She suggests that outdated and negative views can be a roadblock to treatment success and shared how to do a personal activity to explore our mindset about the treatment of stuttering. Conversely, she outlined positive paradigms and several resources to enhance our mindset, improve our therapy outcomes, and work with families of those who stutter.

Guest: Margo Kinzer Courter, M.A., CCC-SLP - Char is cruising on the SpeechTherapyPD.com Conference at Sea. Over the next couple episodes we will be sharing a couple of the best episodes of the first year of the Speech Link Podcast. Enjoy!

Guest: Cathy Alexander, MA, CCC-SLP - Cathy shares her knowledge and expertise on how to enrich vocabulary in young children. She explains the vocabulary acquisition process of most children, then compares the characteristics of language impaired children. She outlines how to apply her nine evidenced-based strategies for systematic vocabulary instruction, and details the strong and reciprocal relationship between reading and vocabulary. Numerous practical activities are provided. 

In this PodCourse, Dr. Karen stated that although there is no one standardize language therapy curriculum there are three evidence-based Language Principles on which to base our therapy and streamline our strategies to generate effective results. She discussed the underlying concepts of vocabulary, how to include definitions and metacognitive therapy, and how to select words. Examples were given.

Char shares how to do effective therapy for both the lateral /s/ and the frontal /s/.  She compared and contrasted the similarities and differences between the two speech errors and outlined helpful techniques for dealing with both.  She included insightful, research-based information about the /s/ and why some oral-respiratory differences can impact production and remediation.

In this one-hour podcourse, Susan, an experienced school SLP, shares her practical tips and techniques on /r/ remediation, and much more. She describes what children with r-distortions are doing and not doing intra-orally. And, she shares her observations and first-hand experiences of using the Bite-R therapy device and tactile therapy to remediate her speech-kids. Very informative and practical.

Guest: Sarah James, MS, CCC-SLP - Sarah presents insights from her research, study and experience in connecting language skills with areas of reading instruction. She believes one can have language without literacy, but not literacy without language. She shared strategies for phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, vocabulary and fluency.

Guest: MariBeth Plankers, MS, CCC-SLP, ATP - MariBeth shares a wealth of practical AAC information and resources to use with children and adults. She covers details about aided and unaided communication components, specifically how to do an environmental communication assessment (as part of the assessment team), as well as the process to determine an individual’s personal language needs. She explained and recommended resources for no-tech and low-tech tools, as well as static and dynamics devices and several apps. Very comprehensive, very practical and specific, provides a lot of valuable information within a short length of time.

Guest: Kristen Edwards, MS, CCC-SLP - Kristin is an expert in the field of telepractice and shared not only the practical, therapeutic side, but the essential technological side, as well. She stressed the importance of knowing the rules and regulations of your home state and states you do telepractice in. She shared details of how to do assessment and therapy, what platforms are needed, and the “tools” to do quality therapy.

Guest: Pat Mervine, MA, CCC-SLP - In this episode, Char sits down with Pat Mervine, MA, CCC-SLP and asks her to share some knowledge and expertise on creating a positive atmosphere to enrich communication for students with complex communication needs. She explains how to engineer the environment by raising expectations with your attitude, actions, and teaching strategies so students of all ages have ample opportunities to communicate throughout the day with a variety of communication partners, using speech or their AAC system. She explicitly details the importance and process of using the Prompt Hierarchy, The Expectant Pause, and Scripting to provide and personalize communication needs.

Guest: Elissa Kilduff, MA, CCC-SLP - In this episode, Elissa shares her time-saving, creative approach of how to effectively use individual books to meet the needs of several speech and language children within a group each with a variety of specific needs and goals.  She outlines how to select the books, pre-plan and organize the materials, and implement the therapy.  This approach can be used effectively with K–6th grades; several resources are provided.