Services
Children
Articulation (speech sound pronunciation) treatment involves eliciting the targeted speech sound using a combination of verbal, visual and often kinesthetic cues. Once the speech sound is established at the word level, we work our way up a hierarchy of complexity until your child is able to properly pronounce their new sound in everyday conversations in all their daily settings!
Language treatment involves learning new vocabulary and grammatical forms in the context of games, free play and story retell. Likewise, the ability to understand certain concepts and follow instructions is targeted in a play-based manner. Role playing is often employed to help older children improve their pragmatic language skills. The intensity of practice in these fun and engaging contexts results in quick mastery of various language forms in real-life situations.
Stuttering is treated using the Lidcombe Program in preschoolers who stutter. In their weekly sessions with me, I determine the speaking level at which they can be largely fluent and I provide them with lots of praise for their great “smooth talking”! Parents are trained to elicit this level of fluency at home and on the appropriate praise to give and they then practice daily with their children. We work our way up a hierarchy of speaking difficulty and within a few months children move from speaking smoothly at the word level to having their stuttering eliminated!
School-age children’s and teens’ stuttering is treated with a combination of techniques to reduce stuttering / enhance fluency and to manage and reduce moments of stuttering that do still arise.
Adults
Stuttering is treated by learning techniques that will enhance your fluency such as stretching out the first sound of certain words, breath support and pausing, modifying the rate of speech, and producing speech sounds without as much tension in your lips, tongue and jaw. These techniques are combined with learning skills to help you easily get out of any stuttering that does still occur by either reducing the tension in your vocal tract or using your breath to release tension and restart smoothly. Sometimes self-talk and avoidance is also addressed.
Accent modification involves learning how to position your lips and sometimes your tongue and jaw to produce speech sounds in a more standard manner.
Assessments
Do you have concerns about your child’s speech-sound production, language acquisition or development? Has your child been stuttering? Are you an adult who stutters or struggles with pronouncing certain sounds? If so, an assessment is probably warranted.
Emerging language assessments determine where a toddler’s language skills currently fall and which goals would best facilitate his or her development of language.
Articulation assessments look at a child’s ability to pronounce all the English speech sounds in various word positions and determine which, if any, sounds a child has not yet acquired by the age at which ninety percent of same-age peers are habitually pronouncing those sounds.
Language assessments test a child’s vocabulary, use of grammar and complex sentence forms, comprehension of directions, linguistic concepts, semantics and pragmatic use of language.
Stuttering assessments are recommended for preschoolers who have been stuttering for more than three months or for school-age children, teens and adults who have been stuttering for any length of time.
About
Hello! I am a speech-language pathologist who is passionate about helping clients overcome their speech and language delays and disorders. I believe strongly in involving parents or other caregivers in their child’s treatment and treating each client as a whole person whose speech and language abilities impact them in all areas of daily functioning. I love helping preschoolers and school-age children overcome difficulties with pronunciation, stuttering and language development and watching them become much more confident in the process. I find it gratifying to teach parents how to elicit language from their toddlers who are not yet speaking at age level and I celebrate alongside parents when we hear that first “mama” or “dada” spoken. I also get tremendous satisfaction from helping highly-motivated teenagers and adults address pronunciation difficulties, stuttering, social language and accent concerns.
I am proud to have graduated from McGill University with ample practical experience in treating stuttering, and treating people who stutter has remained a very strong interest of mine over the past 20 years. I am Lidcombe Program trained and this is my preferred treatment approach with preschoolers who stutter. I tailor my stuttering treatment to the specific profiles and needs of school-age children, teenagers and adults.
Please contact me to set up an assessment or therapy sessions for yourself or your child. Let’s get talking!
Tamara is a certified member of SAC (Speech-Language and Audiology Canada).
Tamara Long
14 Rockcliffe Way
Ottawa, ON, K1M 1B1
(613) 241-0517