Kindergarten - First Grade Speech/Language/Literacy Groups, Des Moines, Iowa, Dawn Werts Philbin MA/CCC/SLP

Director, Dawn Werts Philbin, MA / CCC / Speech Language Pathologist, Dyslexia Treatment Specialist

Speech - Language - Dyslexia - Reading Instruction - Accent Reduction

Serving the Des Moines, Iowa Metro and Central Iowa Area

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Kindergarten - First Grade Speech/Language/Literacy Groups

Taught by Dawn Philbin, Certified Speech Language Pathologist

WHO ARE THESE GROUPS FOR? Kindergartners and First Graders, and possibly second graders who:

may have been late talkers,
may have expressive and/or receptive language weaknesses,
may have atypical speech patterns, or speech that is difficult to understand because of many errors,
may have a family history of resolved or unresolved reading/spelling difficulties, and/or resolved and unresolved speech and language issues, looking at siblings, parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. (Many have never been diagnosed, but the symptoms may be there anyway.)
may appear to be developing speech and language skills“in a different way” than other siblings,
may appear to have adequate hearing, but reveals difficulties following directions and processing.
may be having difficulties learning the sounds for reading,
may not understand the concepts of rhyming, individual sounds, sound blending, hearing syllables within words, etc.

Important to note:

There are many kids at risk who have had very typical speech and language development, but who are having difficulties with the above listed concepts. Many of these kids do very well until about the THIRD GRADE, and at that time they start to reveal their lack of understanding in some of the core areas. They seem to hit a wall and begin struggling with reading, writing and spelling. Early intervention in specific areas can decrease years of struggle and frustration. If this describes your child, you may want to call for a consultation.

WHAT IS THE FOCUS OF EACH GROUP?
The primarily focus of these groups is for sound stimulation, sound development, and phonological/sound awareness of speech sounds and sound groups, and morphological patterns in words, but these early intervention groups will also integrate social skills, stimulation of vocabulary and semantic language, as well as syntax and sentence formation skills when appropriate.

WHY THE NEED FOR SUCH GROUPS?
Research has proven that
early intervention for young children struggling in the development of reading and identified with speech delays and use of phonological processes, along with phonological awareness weaknesses can significantly reduce or lessen the chance of later academic issues related to the development of reading, writing and spelling skills. These groups are particularly important for the child who has a family history of Dyslexia, (diagnosed or not), or reading, writing, and spelling learning weaknesses, (diagnosed or not), as well as for children with unusual or late developing speech and language patterns.

Many of these children simply need to be taught in a DIFFERENT way than a typical classroom approach to make the reading/spelling process make sense to them.

There is a significant amount of independent research data to support that group or individual interventions in these areas may eliminate or lessen the severity of academic issues that may show up later as a result of the unusual speech and language developmental patterns.

*****See Supportive research articles at the end of this page.

TO PARTICIPATE IN THESE EARLY INTERVENTION EARLY INTERVENTION GROUPS FOR
KINDERGARTNERS AND FIRST GRADERS:

Call: Dawn Werts Philbin, MA/CCC/Speech Language Pathologist and Dyslexia Specialist at: (515) 987-6532 to schedule an appointment for individualized baseline testing.

Baseline testing is not necessary to participate in the groups, but does serve also as a comparison of progress after the child has participated in the groups.

The baseline testing includes an informal speech and language sample, forms for parents to fill out for history gathering, as well as one standardized speech/phonology test, one standardized language test, and one standardized early literacy test, (or as much as can be obtained depending on the child’s skill level).

A short VERBAL parent conference to go over results and recommendations is included once results have been interpreted. (Written reports can be requested for an additional fee).

**** Baseline testing is not necessary to participate in these groups, but if completed can be used as a comparison measurement of progress after group intervention has taken place.

WHEN ARE GROUP SESSIONS HELD?
Tuesday’s from 5:15 to 6:05 on Tuesdays, and Friday’s from 4:40 to 5:30.
(Other times may soon be available.)

WHERE:
The Speech Language Dyslexia Clinic, P.C.
Waukee, Iowa
(515) 987-6532

Research Studies

The following independent research studies support the need for these early intervention groups:

Longitudinal Effects of Phonological Awareness Intervention on Morphological Awareness in Children With Speech Impairment by Kirk and Gillon. This article was published in the October, 2007, Journal of Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, Volume 38. Here is the link:
lshss.asha.org/cgi/content/abstract/38/4/342
Phonological Awareness, Reading Accuracy and Spelling Ability of Children with Inconsistent Phonological Delays by Holm, Farrier, and Dodd, August, 2007. You can access the study conclusions by searching for “phonological awareness articles by Holm.”
Facilitating Phoneme Awareness Development in three and four year old Children with Speech Impairment by Gillon. This article was published in the October, 2005, Journal of Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, Volume 36. Here is the link: lshss.asha.org/cgi/content/abstract/36/4/308
*****This is a followup study investigating the benefits of phonological awareness intervention for children with spoken language impairment.
Why Reading Is Not A Natural Process by G. Reid Lyon.
The link to access this article is:
www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/why_reading.php?type=subject&id=24

TO VIEW TYPICAL SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENTAL CHARTS, THE FOLLOWING ARE TWO LINKS:

www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/language_development.shtml

www.ldonline.org/article/6313

If you would like more information on the Preschool Speech/Language/Pre-Literacy Groups, please contact Dawn Werts Philbin, MA/CCC/SLP.

Dawn Werts Philbin, MA/CCC/SLP and Dyslexia Specialist, Director of:
THE SPEECH LANGUAGE DYSLEXIA CLINIC, P.C.
Serving the Metro Des Moines area and Central Iowa region
Waukee, Iowa
(515) 987-6532
Email:

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