What looks like a simple sound error is often a deeper language weakness that quietly undermines reading and writing. I keep seeing the same referrals over and over. “The student doesn’t say his R.”“She drops sounds.”“His speech is sloppy.” On paper, this gets labeled as articulation. A simple speech issue. A few drills, practice the […]
When a child struggles with planning, organization, or self-regulation, the label “executive function” is often applied, and executive function coaching or ADHD coaching is presented as the solution. These services are routinely marketed as evidence-based or grounded in neuroscience, despite limited attention to what is actually impaired. The Problem: Language is the Engine Executive functions
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Many parents of children with language disorders feel relief when their child finally starts sounding out words. Frequently, after years of struggle, effective phonics instruction begins to click. The child can decode. The words come out correctly. On the surface, this looks like reading success. For children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) or other language-based
Why Reading the Words Still Isn’t Reading Read More »
Ponderings on Evidence, Expertise, and the Future of Clinical Judgment in Speech Language Pathology Recently, I attended a webinar that discussed the best use of artificial intelligence with speech-language pathologists. It was marketed as a way to improve workload management and caseload efficiency. What I largely witnessed instead was a familiar problem, old habits becoming
When AI Meets the ‘Expert’ SLP: The Blind Leading the Bot Read More »
When it comes to reading intervention, few programs are as widely known, or as hotly debated, as the Orton-Gillingham (OG) approach. Marketed as a lifeline for children with dyslexia and word-level reading disabilities (WLRD), OG is often touted as the gold standard. But is it? A closer look at the evidence tells a far more
Speech-language pathologists claim to be a science-driven profession that follows the evidence. We cite evidence-based practice in our values, policies, and professional rhetoric. But in day-to-day reality, clinical decisions are often shaped less by research and more by revenue. The uncomfortable truth? Profit, not evidence, increasingly dictates what gets promoted, adopted, and normalized in our
In schools and private practices across the country, families of struggling students are told, “Get an evaluation,” as if identifying a diagnosis is the solution. But what happens when the evaluation is conducted by the wrong person, who either lacks deep expertise in language development or doesn’t treat the conditions they’re assessing? The answer is
Despite its clinical ring, “Auditory Processing Disorder” (APD) remains one of the most poorly defined, inconsistently diagnosed, and least useful labels used in school-aged populations. Not only is the diagnosis itself mired in scientific controversy, but its downstream effects in schools often do more harm than good. Recently, I conducted a professional poll on social
The APD Diagnosis Trap: How a Controversial Label Harms Kids in Schools Read More »
As summer approaches, many families begin to wind down from the academic year, looking forward to a break from routines, early mornings, and school responsibilities. While rest and unstructured time are important for children, pausing language and literacy therapy over the summer can have serious consequences, especially for students with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), Autism,
In my years of clinical practice, I’ve witnessed firsthand the powerful transformations that can take place in students receiving high-quality, evidence-based therapy for social pragmatic deficits. I’ve also seen something else: the frustration, sometimes shared by parents, educators, and even therapists, when those gains aren’t as obvious or easy to measure as progress in other
Why Social Pragmatic Progress Is Real—But Hard to See Read More »