About Myself

I have worked in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools since March of 1999.  I graduated with a Master of Arts degree in 1986 from Appalachian State University and currently hold American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) certification, state license and teaching certification in the area of Speech-Language Pathology.

About Speech & Language in the Schools:  An Overview

Children ages 3 through high school-age who have been through the screening, referral and evaluation processes and found to exhibit deficits in communication meeting state eligibility criteria for the Speech-Language Impaired (SI) program may receive either consultative or direct therapy services based on individual needs.  Areas of communication include receptive language (understanding spoken language), expressive language (expression of wants, needs and thoughts through oral language), pragmatics (using language appropriately for a variety of communicative purposes), fluency (stuttering), articulation and phonology (speech sound production) and voice (pitch, quality and resonance; management of vocal abuse).

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How often will my child receive Speech?
   Most students receive Speech 12 times per reporting period for thirty minute sessions. Children with milder impairments may be seen less frequently and children with more severe impairments may be seen more frequently. This IEP Team decision is determined at the IEP meeting using input from the parent, the SLP and the classroom teacher.
   
   
2. Will my child miss important time in the regular classroom?
   
   Speech schedules are arranged with direct input from the student's primary teacher in an effort to minimize disruption to the student's classroom schedule, particularly during core academics instruction.
   
   
3. What is an IEP?
   
   An IEP is an Individualized Education Program. This document identifies the child's Exceptional Children's category, describes present level of functioning, outlines specific strengths and needs, states annual goals and short-term objectives (what the student will be expected to do), allows appropriate modifications for instruction and testing (based on student's specific needs)and determines the frequency, duration and place of service. The IEP is constructed with the input of the SLP, the classroom teacher and the parent with additional input from the LEA Representative attending the IEP conference.
   
4. 
   
5. How long will my child be in the SLI program?
   
   Children are served through the SI program based on need. Each child progresses and meets goals and objectives at his or her own pace. Once communication goals have been met, the child is generally reevaluated and exited from the program.
   
   
6. How frequently does the IEP committee meet?
   
   IEP's are reviewed each year on or before the anniversary date of the existing IEP. New goals are written as needed. IEP's may be amended as needed at any time during the school year by holding an IEP Team meeting for IEP addendum. By law, children's strengths and needs are reevaluated every three years. IEP teams meet to prepare for re-evaluations and again to review reevaluation results.
   

Helping Your Child At Home

• Always model desirable communication behavior and skills for your child at home. For example, avoid using "baby talk" with your child. Instead, model adult speech sound production and use of language structures.
  
  
• Use daily activities to strengthen speech and language skills. For example, include your child in preparing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Label all the ingredients and utensils that will be used in sandwich preparation to facilitate vocabulary growth. Model correct sound production while naming vocabulary items. Ask your child questions and encourage answering in complete sentences. For example, you might ask, "What do we use to spread the peanut butter on the bread?" Encourage the child to answer, "We use a knife to put peanut butter on the bread." Ask your child to tell the sequence of steps involved in making the sandwich.
  
  
• Avoid rushing through communicative interactions with your child. Excessive time pressure decreases a child's likelihood of formulating well-though-out grammatically correct verbal responses and may contribute to disfluencies (stuttering) and increased frustration.
  
  
• Have high, but realistic expectations of your child. If you know that your child is able to produce "r" sounds in single words during speech classes, expect that child to say his or her spelling words producing "r" sounds correctly. If his or her "r" sounds are inconsistently correct in sentences, model correct sound production. Always thank your child for putting forth his or her very best effort.