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Mrs. Lowry, Speech Therapist |
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AnnouncementsSpeech News Hello, I’m Judy Lowry, and I am a speech therapist at Woodruff Primary School. I served the school on a full time basis for five years, but am only here on Mondays and Tuesdays each week this year. My speech students are all kindergarteners. Since I am unable to serve all knidergarteners on a part time basis, our two new therapists, Britt Lassiter and Elena Roberts, are serving some kindergarteners also.
Let me begin by answering some questions for you: · Who comes to speech? All kindergarteners are screened for potential speech problems. Teachers refer first and second graders for screening. If a child doesn’t perform well on the screening, he/she is then evaluated to see if, in fact, there is a speech/language disorder. If the child meets the state criteria for speech/language disorders, he is enrolled in therapy with the parent’s permission. · What is a speech/language disorder? A speech/language disorder is a communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation (inability to say certain sounds correctly), language impairment (delays in basic readiness vocabulary, concept development, the use of good sentence structure and grammar, use of appropriate social language), or a voice impairment that adversely affects a student’s educational performance. · When do children go to speech? Speech is usually two 30-minute sessions per week with groups of no more than 5 children. Times are planned to avoid missing classroom instruction time. · Where do they go to speech? They come to my room, which is on one of the kindergarten halls. · Why do they need to come to speech? If a child cannot say his sounds correctly, it may interfere with his communication in the classroom and his development of phonics skills. If a child has delayed language skills, it may interfere with his emerging reading and writing skills. Stuttering and voice problems may also interfere with communication in the classroom. · What do we do in speech? We learn about letters, the sounds they represent, and how to say those sounds. We read stories and retell them in the right order. We answer questions about the story and describe objects and characters in the story. We use objects from the story and practice using location words such as in, on, over, under with them. Sometimes we act the story out and use good sentences and our speech sound that we are working on. Speech is lots of fun, but we learn new skills each session. Let me end by saying that children talk all day long. Therefore, my parents are my best allies for helping them at home with their speech homework. A few minutes of practice each day can make a world of difference toward their success.
Please feel free to call or email me with any questions or concerns that you may have. Though I am only here two days per week, I check my school email daily. I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Hooray for my speech kids! They do great work! Hooray for my parents who help them at home!
I look forward to a great year with all ofmy students and parents.
Sincerely,
Judy Lowry, WPS Speech Therapist
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