Council Rock Primary School has licensed Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) who provide supporting children with speech-language needs.  We screen all incoming kindergarten students, as well as new entrants to first and second grade, and provide more in-depth evaluation as needed.  While most children seem to acquire speech and language easily, occasionally a child may have some difficulty communicating with others.  We try to help the children whose speech or language interferes with their ability to function in a school environment.  A variety of therapeutic models are utilized. Service models include individual or small group sessions, whole class lessons, consultation, and curriculum modifications.  The speech/language pathologists at CRPS provide treatment for a variety of communication disorders including:

• Articulation - The way a child produces speech sounds.  Some sound errors may have no obvious cause, such as a Lisp or distorted /r/ sound.  Many times, these errors are developmental in nature, and the child will simply "outgrow" them.  Some sound errors may be related to physical problems such as a cleft palate or hearing loss.
• Language - The content and structure of our language.  Language is the code that we use to communicate ideas and express our needs and wants.  It includes: semantics (knowledge of words and relationships between words), morphology (rules applying to the modification of root words, prefixes and suffixes) grammar or syntax (rules governing the way we form sentences and combine words together) and pragmatics (how we use language socially to converse, tell stories or relate events, and communicate our needs, wants and ideas to a variety of different listeners).
• Auditory Processing - What we do with the sounds we hear.  Auditory processing involves the ability to attend to sounds, perceive differences, recall auditory information, comprehend, think about and respond to what is heard. Children with Auditory Processing Disorders may exhibit a variety of listening and related complaints. For example, they may have difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments, following directions, and discriminating (or telling the difference between) similar-sounding speech sounds. Sometimes they may behave as if a hearing loss is present, often asking for repetition or clarification. In school, children with APD may have difficulty with spelling, reading, and understanding information presented verbally in the classroom.
• Fluency - the smooth flow of speech.  Stuttering affects the fluency of speech. It begins during childhood and, in some cases, lasts throughout life. The disorder is characterized by disruptions in the production of speech sounds, also called "disfluencies." Most people produce brief disfluencies from time to time. Disfluencies are not necessarily a problem; however, they can impede communication when a person produces too many of them.
• Voice – The quality, pitch, and intensity of voice.  Voice disorders can include hyponasality, hypernasality, or vocal abuse resulting in hoarseness or loss of voice.
• Social Skills – the ability to communicate and get along with others.  Speech Pathologists in our school often help develop friendship skills by teaching such skills as appropriate eye contact, friendly listening, conflict resolution etc.
• Phonemic Awareness - the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in our language.  Important skills include the ability to count, blend and segment sounds in syllables and words.

Please refer to related links listed in the left-hand column for additional parent resources and student activities.