Special Clinical Programs

The Clinic runs a range of specialist and/or intensive programs.  These include:

	accent modification workshops or speech assistance for non-native speakers of English
	language camps.  These are held during school holidays.
	school and teacher consultations
	second opinion assessment or medio-legal consultations by specialist speech pathology or audiology clinical and/or academic staff
	screening of professional voice users

Speech Assistance for Non-Native Speakers of English

The Communication Disorders Treatment and Research Clinic provides pronunciation training for clients from non-English speaking backgrounds who wish to improve their English pronunciation.

Non-native speakers of English may find that they have difficulty being understood when speaking English due to pronunciation differences.  Most of the clients we see at the

Assessment

Regardless of the clients' native language, or English proficiency, all clients are individually assessed.  During the assessment we examine various aspects of the client's speech, including production of speech sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation patterns, and communication repair strategies.

Intervention Plan

After analysing the results of the initial assessment, we determine whether or not the client would benefit from pronunciation training. If so, we develop an individualised training plan based on the client's needs.

Intervention Sessions

Presently the Communication Disorders Treatment and Research Clinic offers three main modes of service to our clients requiring pronunciation training. These are :

1. Weekly training sessions: where clients are seen up to three times a week for hourly individual sessions.
2. Intensive Speech Courses: these courses are conducted over a series of three weeks (whole day courses), in individual and small group settings. The current courses are conducted for Japanese speakers of English.
3. Academic Courses: these are very specific courses designed for academic staff of The University of Sydney who wish to modify their pronunciation.

Other programs can be arranged to occur as workplace-based services.

Please contact the Clinic about these services.

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Language Camp Programs

These are intensive (non-residential) school holiday therapy programs for children with language impairments.  Download a brochure here

Language camps are run for two age groups:

• Infants school-aged children (kinder to year 3)
• Primary school aged children (yr 3 to yr 6)

What is Language Camp?

Language camp is an intensive, non-residential therapy program, held at the Communication Disorders Treatment and Research Clinic, which involves:

• Half- to full-day program of intensive language therapy
• Individual, small and large group activities
• Special emphasis is placed on developing skills which will enhance the children’s communication, social and classroom skills
• Individually designed program addressing the needs of each child with his/her own clinician
• Fun!  Children who attend the camps enjoy the fun activities and making new friends.  This is a special treat for children who have often had difficulties in school and with peers and whose self-esteem may have been undermined. 
• Parent Groups / Seminars.  Parents are provided the opportunity to meet as a group with the speech pathologists to discuss their
  child’s difficulties and share experiences with other parents.
• Designed for children with normal cognitive functioning who experience any of many difficulties associated with language problems, such as:
  • difficulties with grammar, clear and specific verbal and written expression, vocabulary, word finding, story telling
  • problems understanding, remembering and following directions, comprehension of written and spoken information, understanding of word meanings
  • difficulties with social interaction, conversational skills, appropriate social behaviour  
    

What parents have said at the end of the camp:

• "effective form of therapy due to its intensive nature"

• "The camp has been very beneficial for [my son]. A lot of time and effort has been put into making the
  camp a positive and fun time."
• "I feel that both [my son’s] and my attitude toward managing difficult tasks at home has changed - eg negotiating a way to leave on time each morning - Hallelujah!"

If you are unsure of your child’s difficulties, or the benefits of language camp for them, please contact the Clinic.

To enrol your child for Language Camp:

• Fill out a language camp application form and send it
  back to us before the closing date. Contact the Clinic to obtain an application form, find out the applicable closing date, and learn the cost.  
• Camps are usually held in July and January.
• Start early because places fill up quickly.

• A current speech pathology report
• School counsellor / educational psychologist report (not more than 2 years old)
• Current school reports
  

If you need help with any of these, please contact the Clinic. 

Speech Pathology assessments can be arranged through this Clinic if needed.

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Speech Pathology Services & Schools

Speech pathologists can work with schools in a variety of ways to enhance social skills and classroom success in children with language/learning disorders.

Problems faced by children with language disorders in the classroom

Understanding language

Children with language impairments often do not cope with the requirements of the normal classroom. They may:

	have difficulty understanding instructions or attending to new information.
	be distractible, or need information delivered in small chunks.
	understand things that they can see, feel and touch but have difficulty with abstract ideas and concepts.
	have problems with short term memory.
	have difficulty transferring information from one context to another.

These and other difficulties can make the classroom a confusing place for these children.

Some children "switch off" while others "act out" appearing naughty and/or disobedient ?

Expressing themselves

Children with language impairments not only have problems taking in information, many are unable to share what they know or think or feel. They may:

	not have appropriate language structure to make words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs.
	have difficulty finding the right words to use or staying on a topic.
	not give enough information or be able to correctly choose the information that they need to give because they can't sort out what is or isn't important.

Many children with language disorders have difficulty in reading and writing. Meeting classroom expectations is almost impossible.

Social skills

Many of these children don't know the unspoken rules of conversation and social interaction which most of us take for granted. This often leads to inappropriate behaviour with peers, making it difficult for these children to make or maintain friends. The combination of academic failure and social failure can lead to low self esteem and fear of further failure.

What can speech pathologists do to help ?

Speech pathologists can provide insight into the nature of language/learning disorders and through teacher education and consultation, assist teachers to identify these disabilities early. They can offer strategies for classroom management for both academic and social skills development.

In the classroom speech pathologists work with teachers to deliver curriculum material in a way which will help the children compensate for the learning problem. Speech pathologists can also develop materials which help overcome some of the child's specific difficulties.

Individual and group therapy can be used to improve skills affecting both classroom success and the ability to form and maintain relationships with peers.

Increasing the opportunities for classroom success, and teaching children how to get on with their peers and teachers reduces the likelihood of low self esteem and the problems associated with it.

Team teaching, teacher consultations, demonstration lessons and teacher in service training are all ways in which speech pathologists work with teachers to assist children with language and learning disorders.

The Communication Disorders Treatment and Research Clinic provides these services to a number of schools.  Feel free to contact the Clinic for more information about its school services.

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