Focus: Strengthen the student's communication skills to promote success at school
Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) help students improve their communication skills so they experience more success at school.SLPs work with students who have significant difficulties involving one or more of these areas:
- Language
- Social Communication
- Speech sound production
The SLPs work closely with parents/legal guardians and teachers to identify speech and language needs, establish goals, develop and carry out treatment plans if necessary, and review progress. Treatment may involve individual work, participation in a group, consultation with and support for parents/legal guardians, teachers, and educational assistants, and monitoring progress in class. Additionally, a speech-language pathologist assistant (SLPA) may carry out some of the programming under the supervision of a speech-language pathologist (SLP).
The best results happen when parents/legal guardians are able to:
- Team with their child's teacher to discuss their child's needs
- Meet with the SLP to share relevant information about their child
- Work with the SLP to develop goals and plan treatment
- Practice new skills with their child
- Participate in sessions with their child and SLP
Parents/legal guardians are encouraged to contact any member of their child's team with any questions they may have.
