Speech-language pathologists at Niagara Children’s Centre assess a child’s needs, then provide education and strategies to improve the child’s or youth’s ability to communicate. They also educate parents and caregivers about speech, language and literacy development, and make recommendations and/or provide prescriptions related to augmentative and alternative communication.
Speech-language pathologists assess and provide intervention in the following areas of communication, dependent on the specific program:
- Speech sound production: how children say sounds and put sounds together into words
- Voice: quality of voice
- Fluency/stuttering: how well speech flows
- Language: how well children understand what they hear and how they use words to tell others what they are thinking
- Social communication: how children follow social rules like paying attention to others who are trying to communicate or play with them, turn-taking and staying on topic
- Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC): a set of tools and strategies that help individuals who experience challenges with face-to-face (spoken) or written communication express themselves more effectively
- Foundational literacy skills
- Auditory skills intervention for children with permanent hearing loss enrolled in the Infant Hearing Program