SPEECH THERAPY

Our speech-language pathologists collaborate with each individual’s behavioral therapy team to promote language and communication development throughout his or her day.

What is speech-language therapy?

Speech-language therapy helps to improve a person’s verbal, non-verbal and social communication skills. Communication skills are targeted in a multi-modal approach to ensure the best possible outcomes. 

What skills can speech-language therapy help?

Below are examples of skills that speech-language therapy can help develop:

  • Receptive language
  • Expressive language
  • Pragmatic skills (social skills)
  • Fluency
  • Dysphagia/swallowing
  • Articulation/phonology
  • Augmentative and alternative communication
  • Voice
  • Executive functioning
  • Cognition

How does speech-language therapy work?

A speech-language therapy program begins with a comprehensive evaluation by a speech-language pathologist. Following the evaluation, MAC’s speech-language pathologists collaborate with each individual’s clinical team to develop a plan and goals for therapy. Collaboration is continuous in order to ensure carryover and generalization of skills.

MAC’s speech-language pathologists maintain a Minnesota license with the Department of Health and are certified by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA).

Augmentative and alternative communication (ACC)

All MAC speech-language pathologists have extensive training in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) such as:

  • Picture exchange communication system (PECS) 
  • Low-tech communication boards
  • High-tech speech-generating devices

 Please visit the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s website for more information on the communication disorders. We have hyperlinked two of these, below.