No, speech therapy results are not guaranteed. There are many factors which prevent anyone from accurately predicting treatment outcomes. What we do is set goals using interventions that are shown by research to work. We then track progress in the clinic and across other environments. If a client is not making adequate progress with us, we adjust the goals, try other methods, counsel the family, and refer out to other professionals as appropriate.
I was wondering about this the other day so I did a little poking around online. In 2003, a study listed the US as ranking 8th or 9th out of 12 countries across three different grade levels. This is not good news. Further, Muhammed Chaudhry, CEO of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, stated in an article he wrote for the Mercury News that about 39% of Santa Clara County 8th graders meet the state’s Algebra I proficiency standard.
The Graceful Speech definition of tutoring is a process whereby one mentors a student by using excellent teaching methods. During the tutoring process a student builds strong foundation skills within a subject or field necessary for mastery and future independence with that skill. Tutoring is not helping a student finish homework or cramming for a test.
If a child is having trouble writing clearly, you might consider a consultation with an occupational therapist or check with the child’s teacher to see what programs have been tried. Some programs like Handwriting Without Tears is readily available.
If, however, a child is having trouble with formulating thoughts to write, you might reading together and then having the child write down something that just happened in the story. You can also have the child write descriptive lists (shopping lists, gift lists, invitation lists and so on). Drawing pictures together and then writing down what you see in the picture or what comes next is also helpful. As a next step after reading a book together, ask the child write down something that the book made the child remember or think about (did the same thing happen to you? have you ever…? what would you do if …?).
Another way to encourage written language formualtion is to sit with your child to play video games that encourage a child to write letters to others. One game to consider is Animal Crossing: City Folks. While playing with your child you can talk about the parts of a letter and offer topics that the child might want to write about.The child should dictate the letter and the parent should do the typing. Typing is not an efficient way for a child to transcribe language and too much new learning (the keyboard and so on) will make the task of writing less enjoyable.
Exciting new research indicates that healthy newborns (three to five days old) cry with a pattern consistent with the rising or falling intonation patterns of the language that they live in. Read about this at Current Biology (search “newborn cries”).
Probably not. Research (Berninger, 2009) demonstrated that children in the sixth grade and below compose faster with a pen than by any other method of transcription, including keyboarding. This was true of children with and without learning disabilities. You can read the study in the journal Learning Disabilities Quarterly, 32 (3).
With a lot of hard work you can improve your accent. The first step is taking an English pronunciation class with privately or at a college. Graceful Speech offers free accent assessments and a full range of options to learn to sound more like a Californian. We offer one on one tutoring, small group classes, and online options via Skype.
We collect a sample of the child’s writing (without assistance) and administer tests (like the Writing Process Test and other language tests for vocabulary and spelling) to obtain a complete profile of your child’s language level and use. We compare where your child’s writing skills fall against the grade level standards (published by the state) to see what difference exists. We can explicitly teach patterns to improve writing content and style. We use multisensory teaching strategies along with games, puzzles, and writing projects to help your child learn.
We provide multi-sensory learning strategies for science and history and will teach you and your child to increase learning efficiency. If there is an underlying learning disability, we will help identify it or refer you to the proper professional for assessment and treatment. If necessary we will advocate for your child with the school to help define accommodations for your child.
Graceful Speech has qualified academic tutors to assist children and adults with improving their foundation skills in math and problem solving. Many times important foundation concepts can be covered very quickly in a classroom environment and do not get absorbed by a child. For whatever reason, some children need different experiences with math to really learn it. Graceful Speech provides a multi-sensory learning approach to math concepts and problem solving. We also use Making Math Real-based learning strategies and games.
