Our Methods
Over years of training and hands-on experience, we’ve built what we like to call our “toolbox”—a set of strategies and methods that help us support each child or adult we work with. Our approach is thoughtful and guided by both research and experience, helping clients and their families grow, learn, and make meaningful progress together. Here are just a few of the tools we use in our work.
Hanen Program®
The Hanen Program® is a family-centered, evidence-based approach designed to help parents, caregivers, and educators support young children’s language, social, and literacy development in everyday life. It was developed by The Hanen Centre, a nonprofit in Canada, and is widely used by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) worldwide. The Hanen Program is a structured training approach that empowers parents and educators to become the primary facilitators of a child’s communication growth.
Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets (PROMPT)
PROMPT Therapy is an approach in which the therapist provides touch cues to the speech muscles (jaw, lips, tongue) which enables the client to increase awareness and control when forming words, phrases, and sentences. PROMPT allows for real time sensory feedback so that the client can feel what it feels like to motorically produce syllable shapes. PROMPT Therapy is comprehensive and integrated as it guides the therapist to look at strengths and weaknesses in three domains: the client’s physical-sensory ability to produce words, the client’s cognitive linguistic understanding of language, and the client’s social emotional ability to connect to others. The therapist assesses how these three domains interact to impact the client’s communication and chooses goals to work toward in treatment that assist the client to increase functional skills.
Sensory processing
Sensory processing is the way our nervous system receives and makes sense of information from our senses—like sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, movement, body position, and even internal signals (like hunger or heartbeat). Most of the time, our brains automatically organize this information so we can respond and participate in daily life.
For some people, sensory processing can be harder. Some may be over-sensitive (bothered by tags in clothing, loud noises, or certain textures) or under-sensitive (not noticing bumps, bruises, or needing to move constantly). These differences can affect attention, behavior, learning, and social interaction.
While occupational therapists are the primary specialists in sensory integration, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) also play an important role in supporting children with sensory processing needs. At our clinic, we look for signs of sensory overload or under-responsivity and adjust the environment as needed—whether that means lowering noise, changing lighting, or adding supportive tools. We also incorporate sensory-friendly activities like movement breaks, tactile play, or deep pressure to help clients to feel regulated and focused. For us, supporting sensory processing is about finding the right balance so that each client’s body and brain feel comfortable, safe, and ready to learn, connect, and grow.
Interoception
Interoception is our “hidden sense” that helps us notice what’s going on inside our body—like when we’re hungry, thirsty, tired, need the bathroom, or even when we feel big emotions. For some people, these signals can be hard to notice or make sense of, which can lead to challenges with self-regulation and emotions. By practicing body awareness and learning to connect sensations (like a fast heartbeat or a tight stomach) to feelings and needs, clients can build important skills for recognizing and managing how they feel.
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
The Somatic Experiencing® method is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine, resulting from his multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics, together with over 45 years of successful clinical application. The SE™ approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.
Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS)
The Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) feeding approach integrates motor, oral, behavioral/learning, medical, sensory and nutritional factors and approaches in order to comprehensively evaluate and manage children with feeding/growth concerns. Created and refined by Dr. Kay Toomey and her multidisciplinary teams over the past 30 years, the SOS approach to feeding is a nationally and internationally recognized clinical program for helping all children to develop a healthy and enjoyable lifelong relationship with food.
Myofunctional Therapy (MT)
Myofunctional therapy is a program designed to correct improper function of the facial muscles and tongue. It strengthens the orofacial muscles by teaching clients how to use and position them correctly during everyday activities like breathing, eating, swallowing, and speaking.
An orofacial myofunctional disorder (OMD) occurs when the lips, jaw, or tongue are in an abnormal position at rest, during swallowing, or while speaking. OMDs can affect the growth and development of the muscles and bones of the face and mouth, and can also impact how the face and mouth function for breathing, eating, and communication.
Some signs that may indicate oral dysfunction or restriction include:
Allergies or sinus issues
Anxiety or attention difficulties
Bedwetting or toilet training challenges
Dental issues such as cavities or malocclusion
Chronic ear infections
Clenching or grinding teeth
Feeding challenges as an infant (difficulty nursing, transitioning to solids, colic, gassiness)
Decreased tongue movement or tongue thrust
Difficulty chewing, swallowing, or closing the lips
Digestive issues or persistent food aversions
Drooling beyond age 2
Enlarged tonsils or adenoids
Jaw issues or TMJ pain
Messy eating
Migraines or headaches
Narrow or high-arched palate
Persistent mouth breathing or recessed chin
Postural issues such as torticollis or scoliosis
Prolonged sucking or chewing habits (thumb/finger sucking, pacifier use, nail biting)
Snoring, night terrors, or sleep apnea
Speech difficulties
Tongue resting on the bottom of the mouth
Trouble sleeping or waking up tired
Myofunctional therapy can help address these issues by improving muscle function, supporting healthy oral and facial development, and enhancing everyday activities like speaking, eating, and breathing.
Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)
TBRI® is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. TBRI® uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. While the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, the heartbeat of TBRI® is connection. (Description from https://child.tcu.edu/about-us/tbri/#sthash.Gs9t8AmH.dpbs )