Speech/Language Therapy
The role of the speech/language pathologist in The Day School at The Children’s Institute is, first and foremost, that of a provider of services to students and a member of the classroom team or teams to which he or she is assigned.
In keeping with the Pennsylvania Department of Education's classification of appropriately certified personnel, the certified speech pathologist holds credentials that are essentially regarded as teaching credentials, and for all practical purposes, pathologists are “teachers with a specialty.”
In The Day School, the pathologist is provided with the unique opportunity to support communication and language development for students throughout every aspect of the school day and to maximize language in those ongoing, everyday situations.
The Day School at The Children’s Institute provides a wide variety of services related to communication disorders and communication development, and the speech/language pathologist is the individual whose expertise supports and guides many of the diagnostic and educational services aimed at improving the communicative ability of our students.
While services to students may be provided in individual sessions or in group settings — in a classroom, in a speech/language pathologist’s office or other area — the preferred location for any service is the setting in which the skills of communication are to be used. “Pull-out” therapy is used for a limited time and only when the student needs to learn new skills that cannot be taught in the classroom. As soon as is possible and practical, the student will be re-integrated into the classroom to determine if the skill taught can be used in the day-to-day environment. Likewise, a student may need to go from integrated therapy to “pull-out” therapy depending on the situation and need at any given time during the school term.
