Benefits of early treatment
Early treatment will help children to:
- Understand and follow directions
- Develop the phonological awareness necessary for phonics acquisition.
- Make and keep friends
- Speak clearly without sound distortions
- Tell stories in correct sequence with a clear beginning, middle and end
- Speak fluently with few repetitions
- Use proper grammar
- Speak with detailed, descriptive vocabulary
- Understand books and answer questions about them
- Communicate easily with children and adults
- Speak clearly without hoarseness or other abnormal vocal characteristics
What can happen without early intervention?
Children who have speech and language delays often have difficulty learning to read and write. Pronunciation problems are frequently related to difficulties learning the sound-letter associations necessary for mastering phonics. Children who have language delays are at risk for reading comprehension problems.
Shouting, loud talking and other forms of vocal abuse can result in physical changes to the vocal cords, which may eventually require surgery. An unhealthy sounding voice can also affect a child’s self esteem.
Children who "stutter" and those with persistent pronunciation problems may develop social problems resulting from the inevitable teasing by their siblings and peers. These children may become withdrawn and unable to answer questions in class, give oral presentations or even communicate comfortably with their friends and family.
Our staff
The speech-language pathologists and educational specialists at Jodie Schuller & Associates are licensed by the State of California and certified by the American Speech, Language and Hearing Association (ASHA). They have master’s degrees in communicative disorders and have taken postgraduate training in fluency, apraxia, dysarthria, auditory processing, nonverbal disorders, and social language.
Listen to what our parents and associates have to say
“I have utilized Jodie Schuller’s expertise to assess children with speech and language delays over the years and have always found her to be a thoroughly professional and excellent diagnostician.”
-Bernice Borok, M.Ed., CET, Educational Therapist
“I have had an excellent relationship with Jodie Schuller for several years. She has been particularly successful in working with preschool children’s communication development.”
-Richard Walls, M.D., Pediatrician
“Over the course of a year, Jodie Schuller & Associates have helped our son’s speech become very clear and articulate. Both therapists, Mary Frances Tobbiani and Amanda Moore, were wonderful and made our son’s speech therapy sessions fun! We are amazed at how quickly their methods worked to help our son produce the correct sounds while speaking. We are so happy to have worked with such high quality and experienced speech and language specialists.”
-Chris and Misti Coleman, Parents
“Our family holds Jodie Schuller in the highest regard. Jodie’s effective intervention on behalf of our daughter has encompassed a full range of services including development of vocabulary, auditory memory, processing, and pragmatic language skills. Jodie’s expertise with regard to oral motor development has been the key to the improvement of our daughter’s clarity of speech. Jodie not only draws on her own extensive speech and language background, but continually incorporates effective research based strategies in her practice. Jodie’s work is top notch, her professionalism is unparalleled, and we couldn’t recommend her more highly.”
-Brad and Mimi Adams, Parents
“Jodie Schuller’s combined expertise as speech language pathologist and reading specialist has made her an invaluable resource in working with speech, language and reading disorders.”
-Dorothy Davis Johnson, M.D.