Speech, Language, and Literacy Therapy for Kids!

Dragonfly Kids Therapy evaluates and treats the following:

Speech Sound Disorders • Developmental Language Disorder • Autism Spectrum Disorder • Social Communication/Pragmatic Difficulties • Deaf/Hard of Hearing • Selective Mutism • Dyslexia

Evaluations and IEPs

A comprehensive evaluation will identify your child’s unique strengths and challenges, providing a holistic picture of their current abilities and skills. Depending on your concerns, the following areas may be assessed:

  • speech production

    • how accurately your child produces speech sounds

    • fluency

    • movement transitions between sounds and syllables

  • receptive and expressive language

    • spoken language comprehension

    • how your child uses language (e.g. speech, gestures, signs, pictures) to express

  • social (pragmatic) language

    • how your child communicates with others

  • literacy

    • phonological and phonemic awareness (early literacy skills)

    • decoding (sounding out words)

    • writing and spelling

    • reading comprehension

The evaluation reveals how your child learns best, guiding the development of a highly- effective individualized therapy program.

Evaluations include standardized assessments, observations, questionnaires, and interviews with members of your child’s care team.

School-Age Children with an IEP

If your child has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and receives speech services at school, I am happy to work from their current IEP and focus on speech, language, and literacy goals. I will also consult the school-based special education team to ensure continuity between school and private therapy.

Approach to Therapy

Dragonfly Kids Therapy is committed to best practices and is based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which aims to empower learners by offering multiple ways to engage with new concepts and by encouraging children to take control of their learning.

Each child has a unique learning style, as well as cognitive, sensory, social, and attentional needs. Those needs are taken seriously, ensuring that therapy sessions are accessible, interesting, flexible, and personally motivating for every child. The goal is to develop intentional, self-motivated learners, whether it’s learning a new speech sound, sounding out a word, or learning how to write a story.

Aligned with your child’s learning style and personal interests, I design a therapy program that is:

  • Multi-modal

    • Your child will engage multiple senses (e.g., sight, sound, touch) while learning new concepts, which enhances memory and recall

  • Child-Directed

    • Your child will develop learner agency, or the inclination to take ownership of personal learning by making choices, setting goals, and reflecting on progress

  • Evidence-based

    • Dragonfly uses evidence-based methods and programs, ensuring the highest level of efficacy

  • Creative and fun

    • Children who are engaged and enjoying an activity learn the most, so creativity is a big part of therapy

Learning Beyond Therapy

Families are busy and no one has time for extra homework. Instead of homework, I provide quick and easy practice activities, called Fun15, which are games and activities that you and your child can do in no more than 15 minutes. Kids and parents love them and so will you!

Let's Get Started!

Speech Therapy

Difficulties with speech production can impact all areas of a child’s life, from self-advocacy to relationships and eventually, literacy.

Speech sound disorders, like articulation and phonological disorders, and motor speech disorders, like childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), are treatable and if addressed early, can dramatically improve a child’s self-esteem and social engagement. And since the ability to accurately discriminate and produce speech sounds is the foundation for pre-literacy skills, it is important to intervene as early as possible.

Using a dynamic, multi-sensory approach, Jayna can help your child:

  • pronounce speech sounds accurately by learning to feel, hear, and see each different sound

  • produce smoother, more intelligible speech by focusing on the movement transitions between sounds

  • identify and self-correct speech errors

  • develop phonemic discrimination and awareness, prerequisite skills for literacy

Jayna has chosen the most effective, evidence-based, multi-modal programs for speech therapy, including the Lindamood-Bell™ LiPS Program, Dynamic Tactile and Temporal Cueing (DTTC), and the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol (K-SLP).

Literacy Therapy

Literacy is the key to academic success.

The road to literacy begins long before a child enters school. Most preschool children develop phonological awareness, or the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds of spoken language. This ability helps them eventually correlate sounds to written letters in school, forming the basis for literacy. But for some children, language and early literacy skills like phonological awareness do not develop as they should, resulting in difficulties learning to read, write, and spell.

As an Orton-Gillingham-trained educator, Jayna uses explicit, systematic, multi-modal techniques (e.g. sight, sound, touch, movement) to help children who struggle with any aspect of literacy, including those with dyslexia (a language-based learning disability). She can help your child:

  • develop phonological and phonemic awareness, the building blocks of literacy

  • establish sound-to-letter relationships (phonics)

  • increase reading automaticity (the ability to instantly and accurately read words), strengthening reading fluency and comprehension

  • expand vocabulary by understanding word structure and meaning

Jayna individualizes every lesson, according to the learner’s understanding and mastery of the material. New concepts are clearly taught, modeled, and practiced until the child is ready to progress to the next concept.

Language Therapy

For all children, the development of strong language skills is critical, as oral language is the foundation for all learning.

Supporting a child’s ability to understand and use language not only helps them express their thoughts, ideas, and emotions, but helps them build relationships and understand the world around them. We know that language development is a strong predictor of academic success, so it is imperative to address any deficit in language skills as soon as possible.

Using the latest multi-modal approaches, Jayna can help your child:

  • communicate basic needs and desires using spoken language, as well as signs, gestures, or picture symbols

  • follow oral directions and answer questions with the correct type of information

  • use mental imagery to enhance oral language comprehension and expand expressive language

  • improve social communication by practicing flexible thinking, inferencing, perspective-taking, and conversation skills

    Jayna has carefully selected the most effective evidence-based programs for language therapy, including Lindamood-Bell™ Talkies and Visualizing and Verbalizing, and Social Thinking® methodology.

Social-Emotional Learning

Some learners need additional support to reach their potential.

Children who have learning challenges due to dyslexia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or autism, often find learning frustrating and benefit from the support provided by an educational therapist.  Educational Therapists, or ETs, teach kids strategies that support learning by helping them stay motivated, focused, and regulated, showing that learning can be a joyful experience — and that they are far more capable than they realize.

As an Allied Professional ET, Jayna can help your child:

  • identify their unique learning strengths, or learning superpowers, that can help them thrive in all academic areas

  • use metacognitive strategies to enhance executive functions (EFs), including attention, planning, organization, motivation, and impulse control met

  • self-regulate, or maintain a calm, organized state, which is essential for learning and task completion

  • apply strategies to specific areas of difficulty, such as reading, spelling, and writing

Jayna draws from the latest evidence-based approaches for Educational Therapy, including metacognitive strategies (reframing self-talk to enhance learning), The Zones of Regulation® and Social Thinking® Methodology.

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We Are Accepting New Clients!

Contact us today to discuss your child’s needs, and how Dragonfly Kids Therapy can help your child reach their fullest potential!

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