Professional Development

Most children diagnosed with autism have some type of language deficit.  Many will fail to learn to communicate in a manner that is characteristic of typical children.  Some children may fail to acquire even single words, while others may become echolalic and lack the ability to initiate communication.  Early intervention is critical for working with these children who display severe speech and language delays. Professionals tend to err on the conservative side with young children who display delays.  Catherine Maurice(1996) found that “pediatricians typically deny or underplay the problem until the child’s condition deteriorates to the point where a pediatric neurologist, a psychologist, or psychiatrist will finally confirm the validity of our fears”.  During this time of information gathering by the parents, valuable time can be lost if no intervention plan has been established. Although there is a great desire of the parent to help the child, frequently there is hesitancy and frustration because the the parent does not know what to do. Therefore, it is extremely important that parents secure the help of a speech pathologist who is specifically trained in the assessment and curriculum development of nonverbal children and who has knowledge of the techniques derived from Applied Behavior Analysis along with understanding of the various types of augmentative communication. 

Just wondering if augmentative devices really are being utilized?  I saw a student yesterday who has a Vanguard device that he does not use at home and does not use functionally at school?  This has me asking myself questions about these students and their speech/language history.  Have these students had consistent therapy focused on verbalizing and/or signing to augment their communication? Isn’t signing a more functional approach?  Are we considering devices because we don’t know what to do with these students and we are looking for a quick fix?  Just pondering why we do what we do???…….

We have hired two new speech-language pathologists who will be working at St. Mary’s Medical Center and in Putnam County Schools.  They are Amanda Brooks and Michaelyn Wilson.  We are excited about having them on board.  Welcome ladies.

Bryn Brown, our BTT speech pathologist, is completing her NDT training.  We are excited to have one of our employees NDT trained. This resource we can access throughout our company.  Congratulations, Bryn.

Jennifer Beller is our new lead speech pathologist/manager at St. Mary’s Medical Center. She leads by example in regard to her clinical expertise, teaching and compassion.  We are fortunate to have her at St. Mary’s and to have her leading our staff there. 

Beth Farley has significantly advanced our practice in the Charleston area in regard to swallowing function with head and neck cancer patients as they move through radiation therapy.  She has developed and refined our protocol for the treatment of these patients which is having a positive affect on their outcomes as it relates to continued oral feedings and swallow function.  A big thanks to Beth for developing and advancing this program. 

Jackie Frazier will be doing a presentation to the Hospice staff in October discussing the issues of swallowing at the end of life.   She will be discussing our role as speech pathologists in family education when making decisions regarding peg tubes.  Jackie has personal as well professional experience with this issue and we are excited to have her representing us. 

A big thanks to Bryn Brown for organizing the Heart Walk for LCA.  A few of us joined Team Jacob to walk and raise money for Jacob who is an infant that Bryn is working with in the BTT program. Thanks for caring so much Bryn.

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