Therapy Intensives provide specific therapeutic strategies to both children and adults using a combination of the various modalities listed below. It involves ten to fifteen hours of therapy over a short period of time (2-4 weeks). Therapy is designed to be fun and enjoyable while accomplishing numerous goals in a short time. Clinical experience has shown that short term daily therapy has a long-lasting effect and often accomplishes the equivalent of 3-6 months of one-hour weekly sessions. In some cases, more goals are met than would be seen in spreading the sessions out over time. While intensives are available any time according to availability, they are most commonly scheduled during winter break and over the summer holiday. Briefer intensives are an option for deepening a weekly therapy experience or maintenance of a previous intensive therapy program.
Intensive Therapy Options:
Listening to electronically altered classical music via bone conduction stimulates the vestibular system and retrains the middle ear muscles to tune in to pitch ranges previously “tuned out.” It stimulates the auditory processing center for heightened awareness with expectations of change in the following areas:
The Listening Program via Bone Conduction may be coupled with CranioSacral Therapy, play therapy, phonemic awareness training and language development training, depending on the needs of each client. It may also stand alone or be combined with an additional half hour of Interactive Metronome therapy.
The Interactive Metronome is designed to increase an individual’s ability to integrate rhythmical metronome beats with corresponding organized motor movements. Interactive Metronome therapy can be an intensive program on its own, comprised of ten to fifteen therapy sessions in a four to six week period of time. Expected outcomes are improved sequencing and timing skills, increased calm, focused attention, and better organized thinking and reasoning. It can also enhance motor planning and coordination skills.
Reading is Language is an innovative program that can be implemented on its own or in conjunction with other modalities above to address weaknesses or deficits in an individual challenged with reading decoding , spelling, writing or reading comprehension skills. Using a multi-sensory approach Jane Shook, M.S.,CCC, has designed this program to use the strengths of each individual to motivate and build the areas of weakness to create a more fluent reader and writer. She has built the program on specific skill sets moved through in a hierarchy so the individual lacking confidence can experience success from the first session.
Center for Therapeutic Strategies uses a multi-sensory approach to diffuse sensory defensiveness, increase organized awareness of articulators and breath control, increase auditory awareness of speech sounds, and sound discrimination for error versus target sounds in running speech. Traditional and innovative strategies are combined to gradually facilitate better use of speech muscles and increase verbal intelligibility. These strategies are typically utilized in weekly scheduled therapy sessions, but may also be incorporated in an intensive therapy model for individuals coming from a distance or local clients who which to jump-start the process with an intensive model.
Jane Shook, trained by world-renowned play therapy professor and researcher Dr. Gary Landreth, Ph.D., uses this therapeutic modality in her speech therapy setting to resolve internal messages of confidence and build a child’s belief in his ability to use newly acquired skills in other settings. Play therapy in this setting is not used to resolve emotional traumas or psychological diagnosises, but is used strictly assist the child in generalizing linguistic skills in situations outside of the clinic. Play therapy is also utilized as needed in weekly scheduled settings. It is most often used for children having fluency issues, lack of confidence resulting from a history of unintelligibility, apraxia, social or pragmatic language challenges, selective mutism, and word recall problems.