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Speech-Language Pathology Services
for Children

At Aurora Speech Clinic, we are passionate about helping our clients achieve their communication goals! We offer the following speech therapy services both virtually and in our clinic: assessments, consultation, caregiver training, individual therapy, and group therapy. Our team of Speech-Language Pathologists are all registered with the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario (CASLPO).

Comprehensive Speech, Language & Literacy Assessments

Teacher & Student

Does your child need a full speech-language pathology assessment?

The first step in the therapy journey is an assessment. We can evaluate all areas of communication! At Aurora Speech Clinic, clients and caregivers guide our assessments by telling us their concerns—our speech-language pathologists can assess:

  • Pre-language/play skills

  • Speech production skills (e.g., articulation, phonology, motor speech skills)

  • Listening comprehension (e.g., receptive vocabulary, following directions, answering questions, etc.)

  • Expressive language skills (e.g., expressive vocabulary, grammar, oral narrative skills)

  • Fluency (i.e., stuttering)

  • Voice

  • Social communication skills

  • Literacy skills

Individualized Treatment

Young Boys Racing Wearing Watermelon Helmets

We celebrate uniqueness and offer treatment plans tailored just for you!

Every client has a personalized therapy plan that is developed collaboratively between the Speech-Language Pathologist, client, and family. Based on the outcome of the initial assessment, our SLPs will make recommendations regarding goals for therapy and they will use evidence-based treatment approaches to achieve them most effectively. Our therapists are trained to treat a wide variety of delays/disorders including: language delays and disorders, articulation/phonological disorders, motor speech disorders, autism/social communication disorders, stuttering, and voice. We offer caregiver training, group therapy, and individual therapy. Our therapists have additional training in the following approaches, to name a few:

Caregiver Training Programs

Parents with Child

It Takes Two to Talk® — The Hanen Program® for Parents of Children with Language Delays

The It Takes Two to Talk Program is designed specifically for parents of young children (birth to 5 years of age) who have been identified as having a language delay. Parents learn practical strategies to help their children learn language naturally throughout their day together.

The It Takes Two to Talk Program teaches you, step-by-step, how to become your child’s most important language teacher. At Aurora Speech Clinic, this program is offered virtually.

The program shows you how to:

  • Recognize your child’s stage and style of communication so that you know which steps to take next

  • Identify what motivates your child to interact with you so you’ll know how to get conversations started

  • Adjust everyday routines to help your child take turns and keep interactions going

  • Follow your child’s lead to build his confidence and encourage him to communicate

  • Add language to interactions with your child to help him understand language and then use it when he is ready

  • Tweak the way you play and read books with your child to help him learn language

  • Change the way you speak to your child so that he’ll understand and learn new words

Target Word™ - The Hanen Program® for Parents of Children who are Late Talkers

If your child is under the age of 30 months and you’ve noticed that he frequently communicates messages and ideas to you, but does not use as many words as other children his age, the Target Word Program may be able to help. At Aurora Speech Clinic, this program is offered virtually. This program was specifically designed for parents of children under the age of 30 months who are using few words or who, by the age of 24 months, are not using several two-word combinations. These children understand what they are told, have good play and turn-taking skills, and have no trouble learning everyday routines. But when it comes to using words, their vocabulary is limited.

A child is considered a late talker if he or she:

  • has an expressive vocabulary of fewer than 24 words and is between 18 and 20 months; OR

  • has an expressive vocabulary of fewer than 40 words and is between 21 and 24 months; OR

  • has an expressive vocabulary of fewer than 100 words and is between 24 and 30 months; OR

  • has limited word combinations by 24 months; AND

  • has relatively good skills in his or her other areas of development (understanding, play, social, motor and cognitive skills); AND

  • has some risk factors, such as limited use of gestures, limited use of different speech sounds, or a family history of language delay

If you’re the parent of a child who is a late talker, the Target Word Program can show you ways to naturally create opportunities for your child to use words during everyday routines and activities.

You’ll learn:

  • how to respond when your child communicates without using words

  • how to turn everyday activities into opportunities for language-learning

  • how to introduce new words and ideas into playtime and other activities

  • how to join in your child's play and favorite activities in ways that help your child use new words

  • how to set up activities so your child can learn new words

More Than Words® — The Hanen Program® for Parents of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder or Social Communication Difficulties

As a parent, you know how challenging it can be for your child with Autism Spectrum Disorder or other social communication difficulties to interact meaningfully with others and connect with the world around him.

The More Than Words Program was designed specifically for parents of children ages 5 and under on the autism spectrum and with other social communication difficulties. Addressing the unique needs of these children, the program provides parents with the tools, strategies and support they need to help their children reach their full communication potential. At Aurora Speech Clinic, this program is offered virtually.

More Than Words does this by empowering you to help your child reach the following three goals:

  1. Improved social communication and back-and-forth interactions

  2. Improved play skills

  3. Improved imitation skills

Here are some of the valuable things you’ll learn when you attend the More Than Words Program:

  • What motivates your child to communicate

  • How to use your knowledge about your child to set appropriate and realistic goals

  • How to make interactions with your child last longer

  • Tips for using pictures and print to help your child’s understanding

  • Strategies for how to talk so that your child understands you

  • Strategies for developing your child’s play skills

  • Ways to help your child make friends

TalkAbility™ — The Hanen Program® for Parents of Verbal Children

on the Autism Spectrum

Whether or not they have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, all children continue to develop their social communication skills in their preschool years. Around the age of 3, they use language to talk not only about the present, but about the past and the future, and also to problem solve. Their conversations sound more adult-like: they consider their partner’s interests by making a comment or asking a question about what the other person has said, and they listen to and look at their partner when he or she talks.

The early years are especially crucial for verbal children on the autism spectrum because they still face special communication challenges. Often, these children find it difficult to:

  • Have conversations with others

  • Play with children their own age

  • Talk about things that interest someone else

  • Change a routine without becoming frustrated

If you’ve noticed more than one of these difficulties in your child, the TalkAbility Program can help. Specifically designed for parents of verbal children ages 3-7 with social communication difficulties, the TalkAbility Program teaches parents practical ways to help their child learn people skills. At Aurora Speech Clinic, this program is offered virtually.

By “people skills”, we mean the ability to “tune in” to the thoughts and feelings of others by paying attention to non-verbal cues such as body language, facial expressions, eye gaze, and tone of voice. The ability to consider other points of view and to have empathy for others is essential for successful conversations and for making friends. Children with social communication difficulties require extra help to develop these skills.

When you take the TalkAbility Program, you’ll learn:

  • How your child carries on conversation and the next steps to take to help him have back-and-forth conversations

  • How to encourage your child to pay attention to the social messages people send non-verbally

  • How to talk so your child can tune in to what others are thinking

  • How to help your child tell stories and play imaginatively

  • How to help your child make friends

No sure what these programs are all about? For more general information about the Hanen Centre and their evidence-based programs, click here.

Group Therapy

Top View of Kids Playing

We also offer group therapy sessions and camps to target social communication skills, articulation skills, and more!

Check out the link below to see any current/upcoming group therapy opportunities.

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