Her work includes designing a comprehensive "Response to Intervention Program" and organizing teacher seminars to educate staff on speech and language development norms, as well as identifying red flags that signal the need for a speech and language referral. Recognizing that every child learns differently and at their own pace, Liz tailors her lessons to match each child's unique needs and interests. She ensures that every session is positive, engaging, and enjoyable, fostering a supportive environment for learning. Here’s something fun: Before moving to Switzerland, Liz started training her Bernese Mountain Dog, Carl, to become a certified Therapy Dog. Carl loves participating in sessions when students are happy to have him join! Fun fact: simply petting a dog can lower blood pressure, boost endorphins, and make for an amazing conversation starter!
English Speech Therapy activities can be adapted to suit individual needs and learning goals, ensuring a personalized and effective speech therapy experience :
Articulation Disorders : The speech therapy session aims to help children produce sounds accurately and clearly, leading to intelligible speech. The focus is on consistent and precise tongue, lip, and mouth placement to ensure clear articulation of all sounds in the English language. Sessions begin with mastering the sound in isolation and gradually progress through a hierarchy to achieve correct sound production in conversation. And voilà—no more frustration!
Language Disorders : Even before your child begins to talk, they are actively learning and understanding language in many ways. They should be engaging with you by making eye contact, pointing at objects, and using intentional sounds to communicate their needs or interests. Read on to explore more about this important developmental phase!
Parent Consultations : She will provide you with clear instructions on techniques to incorporate into your daily routines, making them enjoyable and natural while supporting your child's language development. By using your child's familiar environment, they will feel more at ease and be more willing to try new things (such as sounds, words, and phrases), setting both you and your child up for success.
English Support : Most children will develop fully integrated reading skills by around grade 4. However, this process can be challenging and time-consuming for kids learning in a multilingual environment.
Teletherapy : According to Gaertner et al., toddlers around 5 years old have an attention span of 8-10 minutes. For this age group, we recommend sessions lasting about 25 minutes. This duration allows time for building rapport while also focusing on speech and language goals. Limiting their online speech sessions to 25 minutes ensures they make the most of productive learning time before fatigue and distractions start to take over.
