Child & Adolescence Services
Below you will find a range of child and adolescent services we provide at ARCC. Please note that further description of each service will continue to be added as our site gets built!
Language Development Therapy
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We embrace your child’s unique way of developing language. Some children develop communication by learning to say sounds and then single words and then word combinations (we refer to this as Analytic Language Development). Others might find sounds and words more difficult and rely on gestures, facial expressions, sounds or other ways to communicate. While other children communicate with songs, chunks, scripts (echoed phrases from favourite movies, books, or people) or acting out scenes from media rather than developing individual words right away. We refer to this as Gestalt Language Processing (GLP). Some children use a combination of methods.
Our therapy celebrates all of these communication methods as meaningful communication and uses them as building blocks for growth. If the child is using echolalia (repeating words or phrases) or only music, instead of discouraging this, we encourage it and build from it to help your child move toward their own spontaneous and original sentences. In a fun, child-led setting, we offer additional models, when they’re ready, help them to isolate pieces of their favorite phrases into smaller parts and mix and match them. When they’re ready, and once they have enough individual words, we help them to build new combinations, absorb grammar and communicate anything to anyone at any time. Over time, this supportive approach helps the individual to use flexible, original language, boosting their confidence and ability to express themself.
Do you know a teen or even an adult who still mostly expresses themselves using echoed phrases, scripts or only phrases explicitly taught to them? We can help, please contact us regarding GLP supports for older individuals, it’s not too late to help them express themselves more fully.
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Proprioception & Sensory Supports
In our clinic, we know that communication isn’t just about words – it’s also about how a child’s body feels. Many children need to be able to move their bodies in different ways in order to help support their executive functions that allow them to express themselves or understand the world around them better.
We blend proprioceptive support (body awareness activities) into speech/language therapy. This might look like movement breaks, deep pressure input, swinging or rocking, and/or using our Sensory Gym to help support your child's needs. By helping a child’s body feel more organized and secure, we prepare their mind for learning – often you’ll see better attention, more engagement, and easier communication after proprioception or other sensory activities that are motivating for you child.
Our therapists skillfully weave these strategies into therapy games and routines, so your child feels safe, regulated, and ready to interact. With this whole-body approach, we hope our families feel understood, supported, and confident as they communicate.
Other sensory supports may include providing visual input such as light boards, things that spin, or high colour contrast items, auditory input such as music or sound machines, tactile input such as items to manipulate, textures to explore, safe items to bite, etc. It might also include providing a calming, safe environment away from overwhelming sensory input so that their system can relax and be ready to develop language or executive functioning skills.
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Executive Function Support & Development
Our Executive Function therapy is like a personal coach for your child’s brain skills. We help kids and teens build their foundation skills in Executive Function: attending/perceiving (children may not respond to their names, rarely interact with those around them and may not notice language models), verbal working memory (remember sounds or words; making links between language heard, concepts and experiences) and non-verbal working memory (making mental pictures from words) as well as inhibiting or initiating when needed (saying or doing something that may have a negative result; difficulty getting started, shifting between activities, self-monitoring).
Once we help strengthen their foundational skills we can help support your child or adolescent with higher levels of Executive Function as they need. Therapists use games and real-life activities to make building these skills fun. We also help your child or adolescent internalize these skills so that they are able to self-cue or self-direct themselves so that they feel confident and empowered across environments.
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Regulation, Interoception & Self Advocacy Skill Development
Throughout our day, we all go through periods of feeling an appropriate level of energy for the task and being ok with the input around us and other periods where we might have low energy or feel stress or excitement (high energy) or feel like something about the environment is uncomfortable. Recognizing and identifying those sensations require Interoception.
Interoception involves recognizing body signals from internal organs to indicate when a person has a physical reaction such as being hot, cold, hungry, thirsty, tired, or feeling various emotions. These body signals can vary quite significantly from one person to another and some individuals may have difficulty either recognizing their body’s signals, communicating to others about those body signals or both. Supports in this area may involve various experiences to help the individual to identify the sensations felt in their body and communicate them. At first, we support co-regulation while the adult learns the individual’s needs and helps the child or adolescent to recognize them also and then make the necessary changes or advocate for those needs.
We can support an individual to feel regulated by trying out different strategies and noting which help them at different times. We can then help the individual to request those adaptations or activities which help them get into the energy level or environment in which they feel comfortable via any method of communication available to them in that moment. These areas are often incorporated into sessions targeting all language and executive functioning therapy.
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Childhood Apraxia of Speech
Our therapy for Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is designed to turn hesitant speech into clear and confident communication. CAS is a motor planning challenge – children know what they want to say, but their brains struggle to plan the mouth movements needed for speech. Our speech-language pathologists use a specialized approach focused on motor planning. Some children can start therapy with a focus on sounds, with lots of repetition and practice of vowels or consonants and then syllables to help new speech patterns “stick”.
Other children may need to start with supports to strengthen and reinforce motor planning for breathings support, voicing, varying the tones of their voice (intonation) and starting and stopping their voice before they are ready to move on to vowels and then consonants, etc. We use movement supports to help the children to progress through these stages and to get ready for these more advanced therapy activities.
At all levels, we make therapy playful and motivating, so your child gets plenty of practice with the level we are working towards in therapy. As your child practices in a supportive environment, their speech becomes clearer and easier to understand. Most importantly, we celebrate every success, big or small, helping your child gain confidence in their voice as they learn to express themselves.
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Interpersonal Language Supports
Interpersonal language supports can be offered individually or in a small group setting and may involve finding others who share similar interests and having time to talk about those interests, participating in high-interest activities together, and fostering authentic friendships while prioritizing safety and regulatory needs. Within this setting, clients can learn to navigate and problem-solve differences of ideas and opinions, advocate for their needs, and build a sense of healthy friendships.
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Occupational Therapy
ARCC has a designated Occupational Therapist 1-2 days per week that will offer Assessment and Treatment for children and adolescents. More information coming soon!
Adult Services
Below you will find a range of adult services we provide at ARCC. These can be from stroke, brain injury, concussion or any other form of Acquired Brain Injury. Please note that further description of each service will continue to be added as our site gets built!
Stroke Therapy
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Following a stroke individuals can have a wide range of difficulty with speech, expressive language, understanding language, reading and more. At ARCC we provide assessment and treatment specific to a person's individual speech or language difficulty. We also are patient and family centred, which means that we will work together to develop goals that are functional and that are personally relevant to you and your family member.
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Cognitive Communication Therapy (Brain Injury)
Following a brain injury individuals can have a wide range of difficulty with cognitive language (expressing themselves, understanding others, emotional regulation, planning/organizing, staying on topic etc.) and executive functions. These difficulties can impact their ability to express themselves and do things independently like they did before their stroke. At ARCC we provide assessment and treatment specific to Cognitive Communication difficulties & we will collaborate with you to develop goals that are functional and that are meaningful to you and your family member.
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Apraxia/Dysarthria Therapy
After a stroke or Brain Injury, individuals can have changes to the motor planning required for speech which can result in an apraxia ( initiating sounds or words) or a dysarthria (speech is not clear and can be difficult to understand). We will work together to help the individual to communicate their wants, their needs, their opinions again in a way that works for them, while also helping them rebuild their expressive language skills.
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Executive Functionning
Executive function is basically like a conductor; it modulates and coordinates all the moving parts in order for a person to manage information coming at them, information they want to provide, organize themselves, initiate, regulate our emotions and so much more. Difficulty in one or many of these areas a significantly impact our ability to do things independently or with success. Executive Functioning is also very closely tied to language and cognition, and as such we will often work on parts of executive function while also targeting language therapy in clinic.
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Supportive Conversation Partner Training
Often after a stroke or brain injury that impacts ones ability to communicate effectively as they did prior to their injury, there can also be some added challenge with those who we communicate with regularly. Often it can be more difficult to understand and be understood. At ARCC we understand the emportance of support outside of the therapy room, as so we will work with families to help develop strategies that help you communicate better with your loved one