National Speech-Language-Hearing Month: Building Students’ Language Skills at BCCS
With May being National Speech-Language-Hearing Month, Brookville Center for Children’s Services proudly recognizes the dedicated therapists supporting children to express themselves, now and in the future.
Among BCCS’s dedicated team is Danielle Bacile, Speech Therapist and Clinical Coordinator at Barbara C. Wilson Preschool.
Speech therapy approaches are as unique as the students themselves.
“We want to ensure their needs are being met,” Danielle said. “It can be something as simple as they need their shoe tied. They can’t express that to us. However, we find out what works best to help each student be successful.”
Most speech therapy sessions are held one-to-one in the therapy room, but some take place in the classroom to carry over skills and collaborate with fellow staff on communication strategies.
“We also focus on pragmatic social skills through interaction with peers and adults throughout the day,” said Danielle.
Therapists work with students in pairs to develop social skills, such as turn-taking, asking questions, sharing, and appropriate play skills.
Therapists like Danielle also use specialized techniques, such as Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets (PROMPTs), to guide students to use the correct placement of “articulators” (jaws, lips, tongue) to form words.
At the heart of the Speech and Language Department is helping children carry their communication skills beyond the classroom. In partnership with parents, the Speech and Language team supports students with a wide range of needs in fun and playful ways to build skills and confidence.