CEU Courses for SLPs

Based on the textbook, Achieving Communication Competence, this course describes a three-step process to create an effective intervention plan for people with severe communication disabilities. Assessment of environmental factors and communication skills, implementation and modification of intervention plans, and progress reporting are discussed.

Based on the textbook AAC in the Schools: Best Practices for Intervention, this course is a comprehensive guide for systematically overcoming barriers in the school for students who use AAC. Curriculum-based assessment tools are discussed, along with methods for aligning intervention goals with general education standards, developing lesson plans, and adapting curricula for students with AAC needs.

Aspects of motor speech include timing, sensory-motor integration, and motoric divergence that are inherited. This course discusses the motor speech components of stuttering. Planning assessment and treatment with preschoolers, school-aged children, teens and adults based on motor speech components is also described.

This course answers SLPs' questions about how they can help patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who are referred to their caseload. The use of cognitive rehabilitation precepts - including goal writing, specific strategies and activities, and involvement of caregivers - in intervention with this population is discussed.

Clinicians who utilize thickened liquids in their clinical practice are aware of their benefits, but what about the risks and contraindications? Advantages and disadvantages of thickened liquids are reviewed in this course with a focus on clinical outcomes, including impacts on medication administration, lung health, and hydration. Product types are evaluated to facilitate appropriate choices for individual clients.

Targeted phonological instruction (i.e., “accent modification”) provided by SLPs may help non-native speaking adults communicate more effectively in their new language, but can also prompt ethical concerns. The nature of accents, their connection to linguistic discrimination, and best practices for ethical provision of elective accent modification services are discussed in this course.

Discrete skill practice can elicit high numbers of client productions, yet lacks naturalness and is often not engaging for students. This Fast Class discusses the “whole-part” framework for embedding language instruction into engaging and naturalistic contextualized activities, as well as how to connect skill-focused practice to larger thematic units.

Children with language impairment often demonstrate numerous, persistent grammatical errors when speaking, leading to the need for effective, explicit instructional techniques. In this Fast Class, instructional supports and contextualized units to facilitate learning and generalization of spoken grammar targets are discussed and demonstrated.

Cultural humility, the ways it is different from cultural competence, and methods for incorporating it into everyday clinical practice are discussed in this course. Topics include the importance of clinician self-reflection for examining attitudes on cultural humility and fostering acceptance & inclusion, and the potential benefits to clients by creating more authentic, meaningful therapeutic relationships.

Motor variability refers to the natural variation that occurs in repeated task movements. Evidence for this task variability in swallowing, and how it can be influenced by age-related changes (presbyphagia), are described in this course. Discussion includes ways to improve diagnostic accuracy by using this information to differentiate typical variation from true impairment in swallowing performance.