Dedicated to Giving Children the Skills and Confidence to Communicate
Kathleen Yetman is a Long Island-based pediatric speech and language pathologist (SLP) and holds a Certificate of Clinical Competency for speech and language pathology through the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA).
She has experience working with children who have communication delays and disorders into communication successes. Kathleen specializes in working with children who have autism and other special needs. Kathleen’s therapy approaches are research-based, creative, and motivating to the children with whom she works with.
Kathleen accepts clients from Nassau and Suffolk County. She is a Teacher of Students with Speech and Language Disabilities (TSSLD), received a masters degree in speech-language pathology, and is eligible to treat pre-kindergarten, school-age, and high school students via Related Service Authorizations (RSA).
A NOTE ABOUT COVID-19
I am currently accepting clients for both home-based and tele-health services.
Areas of Practice
Receptive Language
Receptive language is our ability to understand spoken language. When a child has difficulty understanding language, we say they are having difficulty with receptive language. Children can exhibit both delays and/or disorders of receptive language skills (e.g., difficulty following directions).
Articulation/Phonology
Articulation is our ability to produce speech sounds using the mouth, lips, and tongue. If a child is having difficulty with articulation they can distort sounds. For example, if a child produces the phoneme /s/ and air is coming out the sides of the mouth they might say “she” for the word “sea”. Phonology is a rule based system and has patterns. Children who have phonological delays or disorders consistently produce errors in a pattern based way (e.g., “cat” becomes “tat” and “kite” becomes “tite”).
Expressive Language
Expressive language is our ability to use spoken language. When a child has difficulty expressing themselves, we say they are having difficulty with expressive language. Children can exhibit both delays and/or disorders of expressive language skills (e.g., labeling, requesting, and answering questions).
Play
Demonstration of play exhibits children’s knowledge of the world. Current research links play to development of cognitive, social, emotional, language, and literacy abilities. There are two different phases of play (e.g., presymbolic and symbolic). During the stages of development children will explore toys and objects to expand their play skills and increase their overall cognitive and linguistic skills.
Westby, C. (2000). A scale for assessing children's play
Language Literacy
Language Literacy focuses on reading and writing which are language skills. When children have difficulty reading and writing they may have problems understanding others and using words well because of their learning disability. Children who have difficulty with reading or writing will also have difficulty with phonological awareness skills (e.g., grapheme/phoneme correspondence, rhyming, segmenting, and blending sounds).
Augementative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
AAC is used when children have difficulty solely relying on verbal communication and/or are non-verbal. The criteria for the use of AAC is not limited to children who are non verbal. Children who have limited verbal output and/or are verbal but could also have difficulty being understood by others can utilize assistive technology. AAC is used to help create functional and meaningful communication through high tech and low tech devices.
“Kathleen demonstrates the exceptional intellectual ability that is needed to understand children with special needs and apply her therapy skills that are necessary for working with such kids.”