• How to stop wasting time on low-impact activities like laminating and making copies.
• How to differentiate your expertise from other professionals —and add more value through strategic & focused language intervention.
• The “meta method” for helping your students be independent learners — both during and after their sessions with you.

• A simple and effective method for improving students’ word recognition and retrieval skills.
• How to get your kids excited about learning new words (instead of boring drill-based activities).
• How to help students problem-solve when they come across difficult words (instead of relying on your prompts).

• How to help your students remember word meanings, without rote memorization.
• How to help students provide rich descriptions for words, even if they’ve always struggled.
• How to address the root causes of weak written expression and reading comprehension.

• How to create a therapy game plan a students that need help with multiple language skills (even if you are only doing "pull-out").
• Why working on "stating the main idea” rarely helps students with language disorders (and the 4 areas to address instead).
• My “40 minutes per week” syntax plan for building better comprehension skills.

• Why students with language disorders struggle with traditional spelling instruction, and what works instead.
• How your role as an SLP relates to spelling and reading, and why you are uniquely positioned to enhance your students' skills in this area.
• How to build solid grammar & spelling skills by integrating phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness into your sessions.

• Why kids struggle with “wh” questions (and what people overlook when working on this skill).
• How to build listening skills by integrating semantic and morphological skills (instead of practicing directions goals with little progress.)
• How to transition from word & sentence-level instruction to comprehension strategies — so students can generalize to functional activities.

Language Therapy Advance Foundations is an online course for SLPs who work with school-aged children that are affected by language processing difficulties and disorders.

The program will walk you through the complete system for remediating language processing problems by addressing the root causes tied to phonology, morphology, orthography, semantics, and syntax.  

It's 100% online with self-led video trainings, a materials library with printable therapy tools, and an exclusive Facebook group where you can ask questions.  

When you join the program, you get a login to an online members area where you can log in and watch the trainings and download course materials.

When you join, you get access to all course content and resources.

That means if you get behind, you can always catch up later. You'll also be able to go back and re-watch trainings as many times as you want. You also get access to the member's group, so you can pop in and answer questions at your own pace as you're going through program content.

Language Therapy Advance Foundations IS for SLPs who are treating K-12 students who have mild-moderate language disorders, or a history of "language processing" issues.

It IS for kids who are K-12 who are on an academic track (meaning that they will be expected to be learning academic vocabulary and reading/ writing). 

The strategies and framework you'll find inside the program can be applied with students identified as having language difficulties due to the following conditions (but not limited to):  

Developmental language delay or specific language impairment, central auditory processing disorder, emotional disorders, other health impairments, genetic syndromes or disorders, mild intellectual disorders, autism, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, dysgraphia, specific learning disabilities, sensory processing disorder. (Not an exhaustive list).

I'll go in to some of the common populations that people ask about and give some more detail:

Central Auditory Processing Disorder

Underlying language issues at the word and sentence level can cause issues with high-level processing, which often present as “auditory processing” issues. There’s also evidence that addressing those issues with vocabulary/sentence structure will improve processing, while there’s not a ton of evidence that you will create functional gains with drill-type activities aiming at increasing working memory-so I don’t recommend spending a ton of time on those types of things. The skills we’re working on while addressing essential 5, on the other hand, result in better transfer of skills to real-life tasks.

I focus on teaching what we know works; especially because there’s also been research to show that many children won’t respond to instruction focused on high-level comprehension if we don’t address those foundational deficits. What we’ve found is that when you address those underlying issues, the overall language processing abilities improve.

English Language Learners/Bilingual/English as a Second Language

I have mentioned a handful of SLPs who use this system to work with students who speak English as a second language. Our framework doesn’t cover a specific, separate protocol for this population, but rather focuses on teaching strategies designed for individuals with language processing issues.

SLPs who have come in before have found it easy to implement for that particular population, because it really focuses on building metalinguistic awareness skills and word study skills; which is really important for people learning a new language AND also students who struggle with language processing overall. However, it’s important to note, all our materials and strategies are in English and designed to improve functioning in that language.

Specific learning disabilities (dyslexia, dysgraphia, etc).

This framework will help students with dyslexia and dysgraphia. Since we know those disorders are language-based, addressing underlying language issues at the word and sentence level and focusing on metacognitive skills can make a huge difference for them. Also, we will show you how to focus on morphology, orthography, and phonology-which is critical for those populations.

What we’ve found is that a lot of programs out there will show you frameworks for working on those skills, but not in a way that’s feasible for SLPs with only one or two sessions per week (a lot of programs are more for teachers and reading specialists who have daily sessions). However the “essential 5” framework will help you address those skills in a way that’s manageable with a typical SLP schedule.

Autism/ADHD (pragmatics and executive functioning)

If you have a student who needs to work on vocabulary and comprehension and who also has ADHD or autism, this process will help to address those issues. While the framework does not address pragmatic language specifically, becoming more aware of how you use language can have some carryover effects and make people more aware of the perspectives of other people.

However, since we don’t address nonverbal communication and social skills directly, there might be some other strategies you might need to teach students with autism or ADHD.

The same thing applies for executive functioning; building language processing skills can reduce the cognitive load; which can often make it easier to attend to tasks. Attending issues can become worse if you layer language processing difficulties on top of it. Reading comprehension, writing, and many other functional day-to-day activities require executive functioning skills.

However, we need to have the underlying language skills to support those skills; which is why this framework can support those other skills. There are definitely some students who DO need direct work on those high-level skills once they’ve established a foundation; but they will respond more favorably when you address some of the processing issues.

Low IQ, moderate to severe language delays

The essential 5 framework is focused on building academic language skills needed for language processing and literacy skills like reading and writing.

It is a good fit for individuals in the mild to moderate range, who are anticipated to have a decent amount of access to the general education curriculum, and who will be expected to be on an academic track through school rather than a functional/life skills track. It’s not a fit for individuals who are minimally verbal and who are using AAC.

If you have students who are in a life skills curriculum or who have cognitive delays, and they are in early elementary school, it’s possible that they may still benefit from this process because at that age, cognitive skills are still developing. I tend to err on the side of exposing kids to the materials and having higher expectations rather than assuming that they won’t be able to learn the information.

So if you have students who have moderate language issues and you aren’t sure if they are high functioning enough to benefit, I would still recommend trying the framework with them

This is NOT a program that addresses CORE vocabulary. It isn't for treating kids who are minimally verbal, who use AAC devices, or kids who are younger than Kindergarten.

If you still have questions about whether this program makes sense for you to join, please don't hesitate to email me: talktome@drkarenspeech.com

Since the techniques I teach you are simply a different strategy to achieve the same end goal that you’re probably already working towards (e.g., better processing skills/better comprehension/better academic performance), there’s no need to re-write any language therapy goals before implementing the strategies in the program-you can simply start doing them and tweak your language goals over time as IEPs and evaluations come due.

In Language Therapy Advance Foundations, I provide you with a manual called the SPOT framework guide where I walk you through how to write goals, how to collect data and track progress, and how to use various data sources to make decisions (like classroom assessments, work samples, standardized language assessments). I show you how to gather information from the information you have rather than requiring you to start from scratch and have to re-evaluate each student.

When you use the essential 5 framework, you’ll focus on the highest priority skills that have the biggest impact on overall language processing. The truth is, not all language skills need to be targeted directly or deserve to have a goal devoted to them. This is a good thing-because you wouldn’t have time to address all of these things anyways!

Working on pronouns doesn’t have a huge impact on comprehension and overall expression, so I don’t recommend targeting pronouns as an attempt to improve language processing. I know there are other conversations to have here, such as the clarifying pronouns people use to address themselves; but pronouns goals don’t need to be on a language IEP.
Instead, we want to focus on high priority skills, such as those that enable people to expand their use of different sentence types.

Doing this has an impact on overall comprehension, which increases the chance that they’ll be able to read complex texts or compose longer, written essays. Both of these things will give kids more experience using language, which increases language growth over time.

Other skills like antonyms/synonyms, parts of speech, categorization, and verb tenses are relevant to target when done in the RIGHT CONTEXT. I show you how to do that in Language Therapy Advance Foundations.

I have SLPs who use this framework we teach for students ranging from Kindergarten all the way through high school. I also have a fair amount of SLPs who work solely with students in junior high and high school and they’ve found it a great fit for their students. If you have students who are very young, preschool and younger, it won’t be a good fit for you.

This is a framework for building metalinguistic awareness and word study. I teach a set of strategies that you can use with students all the way from K through 12. You can simply modify the content you’re using (so typically, the vocabulary you’re studying) to make it more or less difficult using the same set of strategies. This way, you can tailor it to your students’ unique needs and what’s specifically being covered in their curriculum, and still stick with the same core strategies and framework; which ensures that you and your students get very proficient with those core techniques.

Since grade level curricular materials and what’s age-appropriate for a given age is so dependent on exposure and environment, as well as geographical region; it would be hard to come up with one set of curricular materials that would work for every single situation (which isn’t really what you’d need anyways).

What you want to do instead is have a process that you can customize based on your local curriculum and the needs of your students. You also want something that you can easily replicate with simple materials and activities-which is what the essential 5 framework helps you do. I show you how to do this; plus share worksheets and materials you can use to do this.

Language Therapy Advance Foundations was designed to show speech-language pathologists for language therapy. It's also appropriate for speech-language pathology assistants working under the supervision of a licensed SLP.

If you're a related professional (teacher, therapist, administrator, etc.) you're certainly welcome to join us to learn how you can better understand and collaborate with SLPs.

If you're a parent of a child with a language disorder or other disability, be aware that this was designed as practitioner training; however you're welcome to join us if you'd like to learn more about how to help your child or collaborate with your child's SLP.

As soon as you enroll, you’ll receive access to all content in this package described on the page, including all Language Therapy Advance modules, materials, and bonuses. 

You’ll have lifetime access to the modules and you can start or revisit them at any time.

A lot of other programs and materials out there for SLPs provide strategies for discrete language skills. For example, you’ll find a lot of worksheets and flashcards focused on things like categories, verb tenses, or even “wh” questions. There are even some that focus on thematic units and vocabulary. All of these things are fine; but SLPs often experience information overload.

There are so many different options as far as materials and activities that figuring out how to sequence them together into a good system takes a lot of time.
I experienced this frustration first hand when I first started as an SLP. The “essential 5” framework, on the other hand, does not require you to sift through a ton of different materials and activities. Instead, it helps you laser-focus on just a few simple techniques-which minimizes the time it takes you to plan your sessions.

You can implement it effectively with just a dry erase board, markers, and some simple word lists once you get good at utilizing the core strategies.

The main difference in this framework is that it is a system instead of discrete strategies. There’s nothing wrong with a lot of the other resources out there as long as they’re sequenced in the right way (and as long as you don’t spread yourself too thin trying too many things).

When it comes to some of the literacy curriculums out there (like Wilson, Orton-Gillingham, etc.) the “essential 5” would definitely fall in line with some of the principles in that program. Using it in conjunction with one of those other programs would be complementary; but the essential 5 is is not the same as a lot of literacy programs because covers how to do word study from the SLP’s perspective (incorporating phonology, orthography, morphology, semantics, and syntax).

A lot of programs are more geared towards teachers/reading specialists who have sessions every day with kids, while a lot of SLPs might only see their students once a week, which makes them hard for SLPs to implement.

On the other hand, the essential 5 framework is feasible for SLPS even with 1 session per week (and you can customize it for more frequent sessions as well).

When you sign up for Language Therapy Advance, you sign up for your payment option of choice. Then, you have 60 days to implement the material.

The minimum requirement for a refund is that you complete the 6 modules in Language Therapy Advance Foundations. If you aren't satisfied after making an honest effort to use the techniques, I'll just have a form for you to fill out where you can show me the 60-days worth of work you've put in, and I'll give you a full refund.

Many SLPs find that as they work through the program and implement the strategies, they win back several hours a week and even cut their planning time in half.  

This is an investment that will keep paying for itself, week after week, with all of the time you’ll save in the long run. Plus, when you enroll, you have lifetime access to the modules, materials and our members-only community, which means that you can work through the entire program from the comfort of home, at your own pace.

A lot of our members choose to spend about 2-3 hours a week working through the program over the next 2-3 months.

But, if you don’t have that much time each week, it’s OK to go a little slower or take a break.

Once you’ve enrolled, the program will always be there for you whenever you’re ready. Each training module is pre-recorded, so it’s easy to jump back in if you fall behind and need to catch up.

You will earn professional development hours (PDHs), which are similar to CEUs (formerly CMHs). This is what your professional development hours are called if you earn them from an organization not directly sponsored by ASHA.

ASHA will accept PDHs as professional development hours “non-ASHA” sponsored organizations such as mine, and there is information about the translation from PDHs to CEUs here, as well as what you’d need to do in order to track them. I will provide certificates you can use to document your hours in the case you are ever audited.  

State licensing boards vary as far as whether they accept PDHs or CEUs — if you’re not sure, check the requirements for your specific state.

You will earn a total of 10 PDHs for Language Therapy Advance Foundations coursework in modules 1-6. There will be opportunities to earn additional hours each month if you choose to attend the Q & A sessions or watch the replays.

Some of our students have successfully sought reimbursement from their employer, while the majority have paid for the program with their own funds and are now reaping the benefits (you can read some of their stories on this page).

If you're waiting for reimbursement or have a question about how to handle a purchase order, and if you're concerned about missing the enrollment deadline because you're waiting for funding, email me at talktome@drkarenspeech.com and I can walk you through that process so you'll save your spot in the program.

Over the past 15 years, I’ve noticed that the most successful SLPs with the highest job satisfaction are often the ones who are willing to invest in themselves and surround themselves with the support they need to succeed. 

Many cheap solutions end up being very expensive when you realize they don’t work and you’ve wasted your time and money. (And the truth is that a lot of continuing education doesn’t give you the ongoing support and accountability you need to successfully implement the strategies you learn.)  

Bottom line, Language Therapy Advance Foundations is the definitive program to help SLPs learn how to plan, structure and execute an effective language intervention with K-12 students, and it is specifically structured to eliminate overwhelm and get you taking action right away (I give you the step by step resources, materials and ongoing support you need to make it happen).

I don’t want to help you just tick a box for your professional development requirements. I want to help you become the best clinician you can be.

Still have questions? 

Just send me a note by emailing talktome@drkarenspeech.com and I'll be happy to answer.