My name is Mary Ann Hassett.  I am a Speech-Language Pathologist at Southwest Elementary School.  In speech and language therapy, we work on four major areas:  articulation, voice, fluency and language.

In articulation therapy, our overall goal is to improve sound productions for connected speech.  Most children's articulation errors are characterized by substitutions, omissions and distortions.  We work on trying to correct these error sounds through many different activities.  Some of these activities include games with their sounds, technology based tasks, and using a mirror to work on oral motor skills for sound productions.

In the area of voice, we stress the importance of proper use of the voice and therapy is based on the individual needs of the student.

In fluency therapy, we talk about using our "slow and easy speech."  We practice easy onsets and work on different activities involving modeling and practicing in structured and unstructured environments and settings.

In language therapy, we use a lot of seasonal themes and activities to work on such things as vocabulary skills, sentence structure, following directions, categorization and social language skills.  Language therapy covers many areas, which are specific to each child's needs.  Our goal with language therapy is to help the child be a successful communicator in the classroom setting.

At the start of each school year, the Speech-Language Pathologist is responsible for hearing screens.