Language Disorder(s) CEU Courses for SLPs

The impact of language disorders and language-learning disabilities, including dyslexia, on students’ success in school is addressed in this course. Practical, collaborative strategies for transdisciplinary language-literacy assessment are provided. Ways for SLPs to support literacy development, including appropriate language intervention goals, transdisciplinary service delivery, and evidence-based treatment methodology are also addressed.

Early literacy and language instruction should be based on how young children learn, remember, and apply what they learn. Types of engagement and the roles that it, emotions, and reciprocal social interactions play in young children’s learning are discussed in this course. Effective instructional activities that are engaging, playful, and interactive are described.

This course discusses why it is important for SLPs to diagnose and intervene to help school-age children and adolescents who struggle with grammar and syntax. Information on the development of grammar and syntax, procedures for assessment, academic challenges for students with grammar/syntax impairments, and curriculum-based interventions are provided.

Due to speech-language pathologist shortages and more diverse caseloads, monolingual SLPs are increasingly being asked to serve multilingual pediatric populations. Practical resources for conducting a comprehensive evaluation and use of the resulting information to differentiate communication differences and disorders are described in this course. Common questions and challenges, such as use of interpreters, are also discussed.

Executive functioning skills of children preschool-aged through young adulthood are defined and their development and importance during the school years is described in this course. Strategies to target executive functioning skills from an interdisciplinary perspective are also discussed.

The definition of childhood trauma, the experiences that constitute trauma in a student’s life, and the concept of trauma-informed intervention are described in this course. Practical, hands-on suggestions are provided for strategies that support students with communication disorders who have experienced trauma, and activities to improve their social and executive function skills.

This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Speech-language pathologists see children with a variety of communication disorders, often with co-morbid issues such as sensory processing disorder (SPD) and regulatory challenges. The impact of SPD and regulatory difficulties on speech/language skills is discussed, and strategies that support each sensory system in order to coregulate with children during therapy are provided.

This course discusses Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in English Learners (EL). Specific, research-based strategies are provided for developing academic vocabulary skills and phonological awareness skills in this group of students.

Echolalic speech can reflect a Gestalt learning style that often accompanies hyperlexia and reading comprehension difficulties. This course provides an explanation of echolalia based on this framework, and describes related characteristics common in children with autism. Intervention strategies related to language, literacy, and socialization are also discussed.

Guided by the 6 Principles of Culturally Responsive Practice (Verdon, 2015), this course describes the latest research on supporting multilingual and multicultural children with communication disorders. Examples of this framework in action around the world are presented, and opportunities for reflection and planning of SLPs’ own culturally responsive practice are provided.