AAC, Gestalts, and Literacy: Case Studies for Using the “Essential 5” (with Kimberly Jenkins)

About this episode

Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan interviews Kim Jenkins about using AAC and gestalt language processing in therapy for reluctant readers.

In this conversation, I sat down with Kim Jenkins from Empowering Speech Services (https://www.empoweringspeechservices.com/meet-kim) to talk about how she’s used the frameworks from Language Therapy Advance Foundations (https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/) along with the gestalt language processing stages, for reluctant readers, and AAC users. We also talk about how important it is for clinicians to think flexibly with how they apply frameworks in therapy so they can pull from multiple sources to come up with their own personal protocols that work for their caseload. We also chat about other topics such as what “alter ego” we want to emulate when we’re going through a challenge, social media strategies and mindset, our dogs, and how to draw parallels between language therapy, clinical practice, fitness, tips for learning how to do pull-ups, and other areas of life. Kim Jenkins is a neurodiversity-affirming speech therapist who is passionate about helping neurodivergent children and their families flourish. Empowering Speech Services was built on the idea that authentic and meaningful communication can be achieved by focusing on a child's strengths, meeting their sensory…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan

Guest: Kim Jenkins

Topics covered

• AAC
• gestalt language processing
• literacy
• neurodiversity
• therapy frameworks
• communication
• clinical practice

Keywords

• AAC
• gestalt language processing
• literacy
• neurodiversity
• speech therapy
• communication strategies
• clinical practice

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Empowering Speech Services, Language Therapy Advance Foundations

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