Our Services

Katie is excited to offer FREE 30-minute speech-language screenings at the Communication Connects, LLC office. To schedule a screening or learn more, please contact Katie by phone at 813-418-0439 or by email at katie@communicationconnects.com . Katie is readily available to answer questions and explain the procedures further as needed.

What is a speech-language screening?

The purpose of a speech-language screening is to determine if a child may need a more thorough speech and language evaluation. A screening tool typically takes about 15-20 minutes to administer and gives general information about a child’s speech and language skills.

What can I expect at the screening?

Speech-language screenings take place at the Communication Connects office and are conducted by Katie who is a certified and experienced speech pathologist. The screening will take up to 30 minutes to conduct. The formal assessment and informal observation will take about 15-20 minutes and the rest of the time will be spent providing consultation and recommendations to the caregivers. This is your time to ask questions and voice your concerns.

Does my child need speech-language therapy?

This is the most commonly asked question and the main reason why Katie offers FREE screenings. A speech-language screening will provide you with the opportunity to meet a licensed and experienced speech-language pathologist who can answer your questions. The results of the screening will help you understand the developmental norms for specific ages and better decide if an evaluation is necessary.

Katie offers comprehensive speech and language evaluations with a thorough battery of formal and informal assessments. Evaluations include formal assessment measures, informal assessment tools, observations, parent questionnaire and language sample data. Through these measures, Katie is able to develop a clear picture of your child’s strengths and areas of need. The results of evaluations can be kept for family purposes only, used in therapy and/or shared with school. Assessment results can be used to formulate an individualized therapy plan as well as assist school team with materializing and implementing an individualized education plan.

Katie provides a full range of speech-language therapy services, including individual and group therapy sessions. Katie’s mission is to maximize each child’s unique strengths and help them meet their fullest potential. She will work closely with your family and team to ensure the best carry-over of skills and strategies across all environments.

Individual speech-language therapy sessions target:

• Expressive and receptive language development
• Foundational social skills and strategies
• Individualized articulation drills
• Improving speech intelligibility
• Language processing development
• Auditory processing strategies and practice
• Visualizing and verbalizing strategies to improve comprehension
• Increasing conversational turns with peers and adults
• Formulating and asking related questions
• Answering wh-questions
• Increasing mean length of utterance (sentence length)

Group therapy sessions are the most effective way for children to work on improving social skills with peers. Many children are more motivated by the presence of their peers and are more apt to put their social strategies to work with the guidance of a specialized speech pathologist present. Typically, the goal of group therapy is to facilitate the development of social interaction and play skills with peers. During social skills groups children are able to strengthen their skills and social strategies while also experiencing positive interactions with their peers.

Group therapy sessions typically target:

• Initiating interactions with peers and adults
• Maintaining interaction and conversation
• Increasing amount of related comments and questions on topic
• Reading non-verbal language and cues (body language, facial expressions, etc.)
• Identifying own emotions and peer emotions
• Increasing shared play with peer(s)
• Problem solving in group work/activities
• Compromising with peers
• Identifying and repairing communication breakdowns
• Self-advocacy and self-help strategies
• Size of the problem vs. size of the reaction

Other consultative services Communication Connects offers include:

• School observations and consultations
• Home programs updated weekly and family support
• Formation of low tech augmentative communication systems
• In-service training