Nita Stillwell, M.S., CCC-SLP, State Licensed & Nationally Certified Speech-Language Pathologist with 30 years experience
Specializing in Helping Children Communicate, Read, and Interact with Others
Speech-Language Therapy
The COMMUNICATION Station provides testing and therapy for Articulation, Language, Voice, Fluency, & Feeding Problems, including Reading, Writing, & Social Skills Groups. Articulation Therapy: Nita is effective in helping children and adults with articulation (production of speech sounds) and pronunciation skills and improving speech intelligibility (helping people to understand them better). Some clients need to learn how to produce certain speech sounds. Some mumble and need to work on slowing down and enunciating syllables and the consonants in the middle and end of words. Others need to practice oral motor skills (mouth exercises) or blending sounds and syllables. Nita has the knowledge to discern which techniques are needed to achieve the fastest and most thorough speech improvement. Language Therapy: Language encompasses vocabulary (understanding & using nouns, verbs, adjectives, concepts); grammar (understanding & using plurals, past tense verbs, possessives, etc. & talking in complete, grammatically correct sentences); phonological awareness (hearing & manipulating sounds & letters-a prerequisite for reading); reasoning and problem-solving skills; and pragmatics/ social skills (using language appropriately to communicate & interact with others). It may include understanding basic concepts like short, long, first, last, under, over, before, after; following directions; memory; and answering questions. Children with language problems typically have difficulty with expressing themselves verbally &/or when reading and writing. Nita is knowledgeable in determining which areas of language need to be addressed, including Literacy. Music is often used in therapy, especially with nonverbal and minimally verbal children. Literacy/ Reading & Writing: Literacy is actually a component of language. Nita utilizes a variety of methods in helping children learn to read, spell, and write. These include: phonological awareness training; Connections Orton-Gillingham method; Barton Reading & Spelling Program; Phonic Faces approach. Social Skills/ Pragmatics: Pragmatics (using language to communicate & interact appropriately with others) is a component of Language. Some skills may be targeted in individual therapy, but children are better able to apply learned skills to the real world when practicing with a variety of people and in a variety of settings. Social Skills Group therapy is sometimes more effective for improving pragmatic & social skills and may be needed in addition to individual therapy. The COMMUNICATION Station offers Social Skills Groups. Voice Therapy: Nita has helped clients with various voice disorders, including hoarseness due to vocal abuse, hypernasal voice quality, abnormal volume, and abnormal pitch. Fluency Therapy: Stuttering can be an anxiety-producing problem. Nita has experience with fluency techniques such as easy onset and slow speech, eliminating behaviors such as head jerks and eye blinks, and accomplishing positive feelings through relaxation techniques and increased self-confidence for speaking. Decreased anxiety results in more fluent speech (less stuttering). Nita's therapy includes practice outside of the therapy room to generalize newly learned behaviors. Feeding Therapy: Oral motor skills(structure and function of tongue, lips, teeth, etc.), oral tactile sensitivity, and feeding history and behavior are assessed to develop an individualized plan for improving the amount and types of foods that the child eats, resulting in a more balanced and nutritional diet. Techniques such as food chaining, flavor mapping, flavor masking, branching, and use of a token economy are utilized.
