Hope. Knowledge. Heart
Columbia Motor Speech Therapy
Peggy M. Earnest, PhD, CCC-SLP
Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist
Contact me at 860-942-9662
peggyearnest@columbiamotorspeechtherapy.com
Office Location:
117 Route 66 East, Suite D
Columbia, CT 06237
Speech Services
We provide individualized speech therapy services to your child, depending on their individual needs and motivations. We use a variety of evidence based methods to address motor speech difficulties. Among these are DTTC, ReST Therapy, Oral Placement Therapy and PROMPT therapy. We also use ultrasound biofeedback to give clients an edge in understanding how tongue movement works. All treatments utilized are heavily researched and effective.
Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Dysarthia
Biofeedback
CAS is a rare but significant neurological speech disorder. It impacts a child’s ability to plan out the movements needed to produce speech. It can also be frustrating for the child and the family as a child may be nonverbal or highly difficult to understand. Peggy has extensive experience in improving the amount and quality of speech using proven techniques and creative activities.
Dysarthria and other disorders that impact a child’s muscle tone require a much different approach to therapy than traditional developmental articulation delays. We have 20+years experience in addressing these disorders using a variety of oral therapy techniques. These disorders impact the quality of a child’s sensory processing, oral movement and coordination for speech We provide specialized evaluations, program planning and therapy for dysarthria and differences in sensory processing and muscle tone.
If your child is a visual learner, ultrasound biofeedback may be the tool that changes the speech therapy game. Using noninvasiive ultrasound under the chin, clients can see the position of their tongue in real time and make adjustments immediately to practice their speech sounds. Ultrasound is especially effective for children with /s/ and /r/ distortions, which are very difficult to treat using traditional speech therapy methods. Ultrasound therapy has a postive and growing research base for speech sound disorders as well as CAS.
Speech Language Evaluation
In-Service Presentations
Motor Speech Program Plans
There are many reasons that a child may be experiencing speech or language delays. Our evaluations seek to determine the level of delay and contributing factors. We develop individualized speech and language plans based on the information obtained during these evaluations.
Does your staff have questions or do they want to learn more about how to treat motor speech disorders? Peggy is available to come to your school or organization to provide inservice presentations that are specifically designed to your staff's questions and difficult cases. Contact me today to schedule in service training!
She has a background in teaching, including as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Connecticut and as a frequent presenter at various conferences.
Program plans include goals, objectives and specific strategies that are ideal to encouraging progress in speech and language therapy. We believe in providing specifically outlined objectives in order to track progress effectively, to make modifications as needed, and to truly observe a child’s motor speech needs and capabilities All great therapy starts with an accurate and appropriate plan.