This course will serve as a primer on Down syndrome for practicing speech-language pathologists. The basics of the syndrome and common speech, language, voice and fluency issues will be addressed. Effective treatment strategies for improving communication across the lifespan will also be discussed.

This course enables clinicians to evaluate the evidence obtained from the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation 3rd Edition (GFTA-3) results, including standard scores, error analyses, stimulability and intelligibility information, and emergence and mastery data. After this course, participants will be able to make appropriate placement decisions and recommendations and to explain test results in a meaningful way to parents and other stakeholders.

This course will review the phonological relations between speech sound production and literacy skills such as word decoding and spelling. The overlap between speech sound disorders and reading impairments, such as dyslexia, will be highlighted.

This is Part 4 of a four-part series on severe phonological disorders. Selecting multiple targets and anticipating rapid change across all sound errors requires a different method of writing and documenting goals and objectives. This course will examine how to establish a baseline for general speech intelligibility, and how to write goals and objectives that can be quickly and easily measured to document progress.

This is Part 3 of a 4-part series on severe phonological disorders. After selecting multiple target phonemes based on complexity theory principles, incorporate the targets into therapy using maximal contrast pairs and evidence-based selection of practice words. This course will focus on therapy activities that support new sound acquisition in meaningful contexts and promote target phoneme use across levels of difficulty in each session.

This is Part 2 of a four-part series on severe phonological disorders. Careful assessment and analysis of a child’s phonologic knowledge has the potential to maximize speech sound progress in the shortest amount of time. This course will describe an assessment routine that can provide the information needed for target sound selection and create the foundation for setting measurable, yet flexible, goals that reflect improvement in speech intelligibility.

This is Part 1 of a four-part series on severe phonological disorders. Research-based selection of speech sound targets for treatment has the potential to significantly accelerate children’s therapy progress. This course will examine research supporting use of a non-traditional approach to selecting speech sound targets in order to facilitate rapid change in overall intelligibility. It will then discuss how to apply that research to treatment decisions in daily clinical practice.

This course offers an overview of issues related to assessment and intervention of speech sound disorders (SSD) in children, including the articulation-phonology distinction, interpretation of speech acquisition norms, and the Phonological Intervention Taxonomy. It will also discuss using parents as therapy extenders and the impact of SSD on children’s activities and participation.

This course will explore the speech production of highly unintelligible Spanish-speaking children along with recommended assessment and intervention practices. Phonological patterns and deviations will be discussed and case examples of transcribed productions will be analyzed. Recommendations for intervention will include considerations for pattern-oriented approaches as well as optimal practice words for treatment.

The integration of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and guided metaphors with behavioral models of SLP delivery is often vital to unleashing confidence and the courage to communicate. This course will demonstrate how stories can be used as metaphors to help improve outcomes for individuals with speech disorders.