Children’s Services

Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets (PROMPT) is a tactile-kinesthetic therapy approach that uses touch cues to a patient’s articulators (jaw, tongue, lips) to manually guide them through a target word, phrase or sentence. This technique is highly effective in developing motor control and the development of proper oral muscular movements, while eliminating unnecessary muscular movements, such as jaw sliding and inadequate lip rounding.

Oral Placement Therapy (OPT) coined by Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson (2009) uses touch, movement, and tools (which include hands) to help a client attain actual speech sound production. These techniques are used when “look, listen, and do as I say” methods do not work. OPT is used to improve articulator awareness, placement (dissociation, grading, and direction of movement), stability, and muscle memory; all of these are necessary for the development of speech clarity.

Our speech-language pathologists are highly educated on oral motor functioning and implementation of exercises in therapy. This includes use of programs such as Beckman Oral Motor Exercises. These exercises were developed by Debra Beckman in 1975 to assist movement to activate muscle contraction and to provide movement against resistance to build strength. The focus of these interventions is to increase functional response to pressure and movement, range, strength, variety and control of movements for the lips, cheeks, jaw, and tongue.

The Hanen Program was designed for children with language delays. Strategies from this program include showing parents practical ways to build their child’s language skills naturally during everyday routines and activities. This is an integrated approach to early language intervention. Parents play a key part in supporting their child’s language development and they work closely with our speech-language pathologist to increase their child’s opportunities to learn and use newly-acquired interaction and communication skills in different situations.

The SOS Approach to Feeding is a researched based feeding approach that involves exploration of new foods within a child’s comfort level to improve their relationship with food and encourage children to eat new foods. It is a step by step program that uses play with a purpose, Steps to Eating, and Research to guide therapy.

LSVT Loud is an effective speech treatment for people with Parkinson’s Disease and other neurological conditions including those who have suffered a stroke or have multiple sclerosis, as well as children with Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome.

LSVT was developed by Dr. Lorraine Ramig and has been scientifically studied for over 25 years. LSVT LOUD trains clients to use their voice at a more normal loudness level while speaking at home, work, or in the community. Key to the treatment is helping people “recalibrate” their perceptions so they know how loud or soft they sound to other people and can feel comfortable using a stronger voice at a normal loudness level.

The LSVT LOUD approach is unique in that it focuses on the singular target of increasing vocal loudness to normal levels and delivering the treatment in an intensive, high-effort manner.

Vital Stim is a non-invasive therapy for treating dysphaia. It is the only technology approved by the FDA for restoring swallowing function in individuals with oropharyngeal dysphagia. It is backed by multiple clinical studies. The lasting effect of Vital Stim was validated in a three-year study submitted to the FDA, which showed the improvement in swallowing function was maintained throughout this time. Other published studies have shown the positive and lasting impact of Vital Stim in groups where previous attempts at treatment with conventional therapy had failed.

Vital Stim therapy uses small electrical currents to stimulate the muscles responsible for swallowing allowing for re-education of the muscles. This treatment modality will be provided by our highly trained speech-language pathologist certified to provide this type of therapy.

Forbrain is a patented, research-backed device developed in the USA that stimulates the brain’s natural auditory process for strengthened attention, memory and speech, and other important life skills. Forbrain is scientifically proven to improve cognitive processes and outputs such as voice quality, sound discrimination, stuttering, general cognitive functioning, and reading ability. Created by the owners of the Tomatis® Method, Forbrain uses the voice to train the brain to process sensory information more effectively. This device modulates the sound of your voice using the dynamic filter. This revolutionary technology analyzes and enhances the voice, amplifying frequencies and rhythm. The headphones immediately transmit the sounds back to you through bone conduction via the temporal bones, which retrains the brain’s auditory feedback loop.

Elite Speech Therapy Services is pleased to be able to offer the use of this device to clients within our therapy sessions.