Why Ongoing Training Matters: Providing the Best Speech Therapy for Your Child!
- deanna16388
- Jul 12
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Join Me in Celebrating My Third ASHA ACE Award!
When you’re searching for a speech therapist for your child, you want someone who is kind, responsive, and understands your concerns. You also want someone who has the training and experience to recognize what’s going on, create a plan, and help your child move forward with confidence.
I’m proud to share that I’ve recently earned my third Award for Continuing Education (ACE) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). This recognition is given to Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) who hold a the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) and complete over 70 hours of continuing education within a three-year period, a commitment that goes well beyond the minimum licensing requirements (more than double the minimum, actually.)
What Does This Mean for You?
It means that when you work with me, you’re getting care that’s grounded in the most current research and best practices in the field, not a one-size-fits-all approach or outdated methods. Whether your child is non-speaking and needs support using AAC, needs help fine-tuning their /r/ sound, or is learning to communicate effectively despite other communication barriers, my investment in continuing education allows me to offer clinically sound, effective, and evidence-based therapy and parent coaching.
What I've Been Studying
Here’s a closer look at just some of the topics I’ve completed training in as part of my ACE awards:
🧠 Autism, AAC, and Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy
I specialize in working with Autistic children, non-speaking communicators, and AAC users. My training reflects this focus and is rooted in affirming, child-led, and relationship-based models. Topics include:
Gestalt Language Processing (communication using "scripts" or learned phrases): Completed advanced coursework and certification to support children who communicate using scripts or echolalia. You can find me on the Meaningful Speech NLA Trained Clinician Registry.
AAC Support: Training in eye gaze, core vocabulary strategies, and caregiver coaching for high-tech and low-tech AAC systems.
Autism-Specific Coursework: Including understanding echolalia, DIRFloortime®, child-centered Autism treatment, Autism through a trauma-informed lens, and social skills training with a neurodiversity-affirming approach. I am a Certified Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Specialist (ASDCS) through Evergreen Certifications.
Assessment of Autistic Communication: Including in very young children, individuals who present with subtle traits, and "non-typical" presentations of Autism (for example, women and girls who may not be as frequently identified because most Autism research has been done on men/boys.)
🗣️ Speech Sound Disorders, Language Delays/Disorders, and Fluency
I also work with children who have articulation delays, language impairments, fluency disorders (stuttering,) and Apraxia. Trainings in this area include:
Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): Evaluation and treatment of CAS, including differential diagnosis and treatment approaches specific to motor planning difficulties present in CAS.
Articulation and Phonological Disorders: Including target selection strategies for maximum progress, phonological process analysis, and motor planning for speech.
Language Development and Intervention: Courses on practical language sampling, early risk factors for literacy difficulties, vocabulary interventions, and integration of social and emotional skills with literacy intervention.
Fluency (Stuttering and Cluttering): Courses on supportive environments for fluency, fluency enhancing strategies, and family coaching for improved fluency outcomes.
🧒 Early Intervention, Play, and Naturalistic Therapy
Early, developmentally-appropriate therapy (which means play for little ones!) is central to my practice. My coursework in this area includes:
Embedding interventions into everyday activities (in other words, your routines at home!)
Play-based language and skill learning
Early intervention for ASD with the DIR/Floortime® model
Building rhythms in relationships
Shared book reading for language growth
Connecting with preverbal children to increase social communication
🛠️ Supporting Skills That Strengthen All Therapy Programs
Speech therapy doesn't exist in a vacuum. Real progress comes from understanding the whole child, including emotional regulation, family dynamics, sensory needs, and even stress/trauma.
To better support children and families, I’ve also trained in:
Trauma-Informed Care: Including Polyvagal Theory, trauma-responsive strategies, the brain-gut connection, and strategies for cultivating resilience in children.
Behavioral Supports: Trainings regarding the Pyramid Model of behavior support, functional positive behavior supports, and managing behavior during speech therapy sessions.
Caregiver Collaboration & Coaching: Including establishing and maintaining strong partnerships with families, supporting carryover in the home, and parent coaching to support a wide range of communication needs.
Self-Regulation & Emotional Support: Trainings over evidence-based self-regulation strategies, sensory-motor interventions, and using mindfulness to support families, children, and providers.
Lifelong Learning to Offer the Best Possible Speech Therapy
I believe that in any helping profession, especially one as personal and impactful as speech and language therapy, lifelong learning isn’t optional. It’s a responsibility.
Families invite me into their homes and trust me with something incredibly important... their child’s ability to connect, express themselves, build relationships, and be understood. That trust deserves more than good intentions or a therapist who chooses therapy strategies because "this is how it's always been done." Families deserve support that is informed, intentional, specific to the needs of the child, current, and research-backed.
I take that responsibility very seriously. I’ve dedicated myself to ongoing professional growth and spent countless hours learning not just new techniques, but better ways of seeing, supporting, and responding to the whole child and the people who love them.
I don’t pursue continuing education to earn certificates or awards, I do it because your child deserves the best speech therapy available, ALWAYS. You shouldn’t have to choose between kindness and competence; your child deserves both.
When we work together, I bring everything I’ve learned to the table alongside my decade of clinical experience and passion for helping children communicate. And I will always keep learning, because I owe that to my clients.
Let’s Work Together
I offer private, in-home speech therapy services in San Antonio, Tx. and virtual speech therapy sessions throughout the state of Texas. My therapy sessions are personalized, affirming, supportive, and built around your child’s real-life needs and your family's concerns.
I am a solo practice (meaning that I am the only SLP here Blue Sage) and I have no plans on changing that, because I want every family at Blue Sage to get my full attention and support. You can learn more about me and my approach to therapy on my About page.
To check my current availability, please fill out the Contact Form on my practice portal, call me at 726-233-5620, or email me at DeAnna@BlueSageSpeech.com.
I look forward to meeting you soon!
-DeAnna
