Emmett visited the Kaufman Children’s Center for the Speech Praxis Experience at Kaufman (SPEAK), a four-day intensive program with Nancy Kaufman, MA, CCC-SLP. At the heart of SPEAK is the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol (K-SLP), an evidenced-based evaluation and treatment method for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), other speech-sound disorders, and expressive language development.

Emmett is a 4.6-year-old with CAS who was originally viewed via a video sent by his parents to determine his suitability for the K-SLP. While he was at the KCC, he experienced a full evaluation and eight half-hour sessions of therapy. The program also included parent coaching and a half-hour exit conference to overview the visit and answer parent questions. Each of Emmett’s sessions were recorded to share with his home speech-language pathology team. Nancy also does some narration regarding the techniques on video as well. (Check below for links to more information on the K-SLP, video consultations, and the SPEAK program.)

This video includes an introduction with Nancy about Emmett’s background and techniques to watch for in the therapy portion of the video. They include:

• Establishing motivation with highly preferred toys
• Using highly preferred toys strategically for reinforcement
• Focusing on single-word lists (syllable shapes
• Auditory and visual cues
• Blocked practice (as Emmett is an early learner) to move on to mixing and varying speech-motor tasks for retention
• Rescripted attempts at communication
• Gaining as many responses as possible within the session
• Implementing errorless teaching
• Error correction to help Emmett to be successful
• Gaining expressive language with pivot phrases
• Parent coaching for carryover at home