KCC Staff Presents on the SLP-BCBA Connection

Nancy Kaufman and Kerry Peterson recently presented at the Autism Alliance of Michigan’s annual meeting, held at Building Bridge’s beautiful facility. They shared information with their colleagues on the important collaboration between board-certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD).  

This connection is a familiar concept for Nancy, the KCC’s owner/director who is a practicing SLP, and Kerry, the center’s autism director who is both an SLP and a BCBA. The KCC’s ABA autism programs have a heavy concentration on communication, and our speech and autism departments work together on a daily basis to ensure the best results for kids.

Nancy and Kerry were pleased that this presentation evoked many excellent questions and opened conversations regarding this most important and challenging topic. There was truly sense of community and camaraderie with other BCBAs around Michigan, and everyone’s dedication to our ASD population was obvious. They thank those in attendance, both in person and via Skype, and look forward in the near future to the possibility of providing a learning institute specifically regarding establishing vocal/verbal skills for those with ASD who struggle to speak.

New K-SLP Game Available for Speech Practice

Your favorite Mutt Family characters are back and they’re asking, What’s In Your Doghouse? This engaging, hands-on, structured therapy tool will help children with CAS or developmental delays bridge motor speech to expressive language skills without taxing the speech-motor planning system.

It’s all about getting a match! Your student(s) will have in front of them a game board and many doghouses, each with a token inside that may or may not be a match to their game board. The first student to get all 7 matches wins! Throughout the game, work with your student(s) to:

  • Expand language skills.
  • Produce simple common nouns.
  • Strengthen the ability to produce simple syllable shapes, especially CVC and simple bisyllabics, such as the Mutt Family character names (Buddy, Heidi, Paddy, etc).
  • Produce word combinations of two and three words in Verb-Object or Subject-Verb-Object phrases.
  • Produce grammatically correct sentences.
  • Improve social interactive language.

With minimal preparation, this can be played with 1 – 6 players. Ideal for group therapy, including children with different levels of functioning. Great for one-on-one therapy too. Depending on your student’s ability, other options of play include:

  • Focusing on literacy.
  • Visual memory challenge.
  • Social skills reinforcement (turn taking, eye contact, etc).
  • Practicing simple pivot phrases.
  • Using word retrieval for nouns and verbs.
  • Targeting simple syntax and morphology.

This can also be used to reinforce and build on skills learned in the Kaufman Treatment Kit 1 and Kaufman Workout Book.

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD – Small parts not for children under 3 years old. Made in the USA.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER!

(product description courtesy of Northern Speech Services)

New Kaufman eCourse Offered for SLPs

Apraxia expert and KCC director Nancy Kaufman has just released a new eCourse for SLPs. “Eight Behavioral Teaching Strategies for Treating Childhood Apraxia of Speech” will be offered by Northern Speech Services beginning September 1, 2017.

The field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) provides us as speech-language pathologists highly researched strategies to establish a behavior, improve upon a behavior, or extinguish a behavior. The behavior that we desire for those with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is for these children to become effective vocal communicators.

The Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol (K-SLP) is an evidenced-based treatment method for CAS which is based on eight behavioral strategies. These include defining the behavior to change, establishing motivation, shaping, cueing, implementing reinforcement/feedback, errorless teaching, mixing and varying tasks, and practice within the natural environment. The K-SLP is also based on principles of motor learning.

This course will focus on these eight teaching strategies with video examples. Offered for 0.4 ASHA CEUs (4 contact hours). Click HERE for details and to register.

New Sensory Space Added to Our OT Gym

The KCC's “messy room” is loved by kids for the sand and rice/bean sensory pools, but thanks to the hard work and creativity of Stephanie Fournier, our OT tech, it now offers a multi-sensory approach to calming.

The cozy tree house is filled with beanbags, and strings of lights turn the room into a fairyland when the overheads are off. The owl in the tree and the animals scurrying around in the grass even glow in the dark!

Nancy Kaufman Honored by her Alma Mater

Nancy R. Kaufman is the recipient of the Wayne State University Distinguished Alumni Award . The award is a way for the university and alumni association to recognize the outstanding achievements of its alumni.

 

Nancy, her family, and friends had a ball at WSU’s homecoming football game on October 10, where Nancy received the award at a pre-game ceremony and was publicly recognized for her accomplishments at halftime.

 

Nancy earned her master’s degree in communication disorders and sciences with high honors from Wayne State in 1979 after completing her undergrad degree at Michigan State. She serves as a guest lecturer at the university on a regular basis and is a member of the board of visitors for WSU’s Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development.

 

Nancy is also the recipient of the 2010 Outstanding Alumni Award from MSU’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences as well as the Michigan Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s 2011 Distinguished Service Award. The Kaufman Children’s Center also received MSHA’s Outstanding Clinical Practice award in 2001. Earlier this year the West Bloomfield Township Chamber of Commerce honored her as their Community Excellence Business Person of the Year

 

Business Person of the Year!

The Kaufman Children’s Center is pleased to announce that our owner/director, Nancy R. Kaufman, MA, CCC-SLP, was awarded the 2015 Community Excellence Award for Business Person of the Year from the Greater West Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce. She was recognized at an honoree dinner at Shenandoah Country Club on May 12.

Nancy has been a speech-language pathologist for 35 years but started her private practice in a rented office space in her hometown of West Bloomfield with only an answering machine for support. In the 23 years since, the Kaufman Children’s Center has grown to include over 40 staff members who provide the finest in speech, language, occupational therapy, sensory integration, social skills, and autism treatment programs.

What was once the smallest of private practices has evolved into a full-service, award-winning pediatric clinic for children with special needs. One thing has stayed the same: West Bloomfield is still the base of operations, although success necessitated a move from the rented office space to a beautiful 11,000-square foot building on Daly Road.

A worldwide leader in treatment of childhood apraxia of speech, Nancy welcomes approximately 100 families a year from almost every state and other countries – Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, and Sweden, among many others – for week-long programs. Families often opt to return for longer summer sessions, and a few have actually moved to the area to maximize continued progress.

Nancy has made West Bloomfield and the metro Detroit area the must-visit destination for families of children with apraxia of speech and other speech disorders. The combination of positive outcomes and the beautiful environment of West Bloomfield turn those families into enthusiastic ambassadors for the area, spreading the word and encouraging other families to visit.

Nancy received her bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University and her master’s from Wayne State University, having been awarded a graduate assistantship. She serves on the professional advisory board of the Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA), on the board of visitors of Wayne State University’s Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development and is the speech-language pathologist consultant for speech centers in Texas and New Jersey.

Nancy is the recipient of the 2010 Outstanding Alumni Award from MSU’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences as well as the Michigan Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s 2011 Distinguished Service Award. The Kaufman Children’s Center also received MSHA’s Outstanding Clinical Practice award in 2001.

Nancy and her husband Joel reside in West Bloomfield and raised their three children – Shelby, Carly, and Jacob – in West Bloomfield’s public school system.