Backyard SLP, LLC Waltham, MA
Consultations
I offer free 15 minute phone consultations to have your questions answered. I listen to your concerns and discuss whether speech therapy could help your child. Many families come to me if their child needs speech but doesn't qualify through the school system or they are looking for additional services. We can discuss past or current speech services your child has received and/or reasons why you might want to refer your child for a first time speech and language evaluation.
Evaluations
If your child has a recent speech and language evaluation (within 6 months), I will review it and use our first session to complete some informal probing on current level of skills. If this is the first time your child has been evaluated or it has been 6 months since their last evaluation, I will conduct a thorough evaluation to determine your child's needs and develop a targeted treatment plan. My evaluations include a variety of methods including observation, caregiver interview, standardized norm referenced tests, and criterion referenced tests. Most importantly, I obtain information through designed activities and tasks with your child to learn more about their communication strengths. This gives me information about what they can do and what prompts work well for them.
Therapy
I provide therapy the following areas: early language development, receptive and expressive language, play skills, articulation, phonological processes, literacy, social skills, and executive functioning. Services take place in my indoor therapy room or your home if that works better for the family's schedule. We will identify communication goals to work on during therapy sessions.
Sessions vary from 30-60 minutes weekly, depending on the age of your child. At the heart of my treatment is family involvement, so caregivers will be included in therapy for younger children and at the end of sessions for older children.
Educational Consultations/Free Screenings
I provide workshops for educators and families. They are designed to help others discover new and creative ideas to support speech and language development through daily routines.
I also work with local preschools to offer free screenings to their students each year. Screenings are 15-20 minutes for each child and help identify children who would benefit from a further evaluation and/or speech therapy services. Contact me to talk more about your specific needs.