Individualized Support

Do you know someone, young or old, who:

  • has a hard time finding the right words and forming and speaking in clear sentences?
  • struggles to understand what another person says?
  • gets distracted easily and can’t maintain focus or attention?
  • has difficulty learning how to read or write?
  • is chronically late, disorganized and inefficient with everyday tasks?
  • would benefit from more cognitive stimulation?
  • Is socially isolated?
  • Missed out on learning to use technology?

 

From time to time we all have moments when we can’t think of a word to say, fail to process information, forget to do a task or feel unproductive. However, many individuals experience the chronic scenarios described above that disrupt their lives on a daily basis and have a negative impact at home, school, work and in the community.

My mission is to help individuals with speech, language and cognitive disabilities and disorders as well as people looking for new engaging ways to motivate underperforming students or isolated individuals to overcome hurdles, speed up their progress toward goals and thrive with an improved quality of life.

Over the past 35+ years in my career as a speech-language pathologist, I’ve developed and honed a variety of techniques designed to address many types of communicative, literacy and cognitive needs. I do my best to help individuals with and without a formal diagnosis.

 

“Joan Green’s aptly-named company — Innovative Speech Therapy — says it all. Her approach to helping stroke survivors and other communicatively-challenged clients to achieve maximum success is truly innovative. Locally if not nationally, Joan is uniquely qualified to apply and adapt software programs to meet the specific needs of her clients with post-stroke aphasia. Her personalized, intensive program (TWIST) is a prime example of her dedication to providing highly individualized and effective remediation services. She is equally committed to educating other SLPs so that they, too, can use technology with their clients. I have attended several of Joan’s workshops and always found her presentations to be full of easily understood and highly useful information.”
Janet M. Gritz

M.A. CCC-SLP, Founder of Communication Matters

You may want to:

  • help your preschooler maximize learning and social engagement during screen time with an iPad,
  • empower your middle or high school student to be as efficient as possible when studying, taking notes, reading for class or writing papers,
  • explore a more engaging approach to attract a student with untapped potential,
  • help an aging adult better use technology to keep up with society’s advances,
  • improve your own use of technology if you missed out on the rapidly changing tech world surrounding us, or
  • help someone who is isolated from others due to advanced age or physical or cognitive impairment make life easier and more intellectually stimulating.

Aided by 35+ years of parenting to augment my professional skills, I can help you develop an actionable plan towards realistic solutions to improve communication, literacy, and cognition by using cutting-edge technologies and proven speech therapy and teaching techniques. I have helped many individuals with aphasia, apraxia, dysarthria, speech and language delays, dyslexia, dysgraphia, intellectual impairment, ADHD, and executive dysfunction. Many of the individuals I help have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Down syndrome, traumatic brain injury (including concussions), brain tumors, cerebral palsy, stroke, dementia, developmental delay or neurodevelopmental disorders.

When you’re drowning in the red tape and cutbacks of the education and healthcare systems, finding or providing support to those who need help can be incredibly frustrating, expensive, and stressful. How can you know what to do if you do not realize what options, features, and apps exist and what resources are available to learn from others in similar situations?

Fortunately, some solutions can help you learn how to take advantage of affordable technologies to compensate for and improve weaker skills and capitalize on areas of strength to improve day-to-day tasks. New communication technologies, powerful features already included in our computers, tablets, and phones, and speech therapy apps allowing for engaging practice at home with online skilled support are becoming more mainstream and affordable to individuals. Still, with all of the options, the variety of assistive technology features, and the vast amount of information online, it can be hard to figure it all out and implement effective strategies.

Although technology can provide practical solutions, it can also come with its own headaches. When you go online to look for information, you’ll find dozens of pages promising “the best speech therapy apps” or blogs promoting the latest and greatest technologies for speech and language therapy. Unfortunately, many of these pages can provide less than reputable results from biased sources. After all, how can you be sure that a company didn’t just pay these sites for a mention or good review of their device? It can also be frightening to increase screen time when we all hear about the potential negative consequences.

That’s why people come to me. I’ve built my reputation offering private speech therapy for adults and children, helping people find affordable, tech-savvy solutions to improve their communication and cognitive skills for many years! I’ve done the research, tried hundreds of “The Best Apps,” and explored the latest features on Macs, PCs, iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets.  I’ve spent many hours getting to know the worlds of Google and Microsoft and special education products to support communication, literacy, and learning. I don’t accept payment from product developers or vendors. My suggestions can’t be bought. I am only biased from my experiences helping others in your situation.

With my experience, I can save you the time, money, and effort it would take you to research, select, and learn to use these technologies independently. I can show you evidence and research-supported speech therapy approaches, emphasizing achieving meaningful outcomes. Using these recommended apps, software, devices, and helpful resources will minimize your learning curve and allow you to use these tools like a pro in no time!

I hope you’ll contact me for a free initial phone consultation, take a look at some of my online video mini-courses, or register for one or more therapy/training sessions locally or online. Together, we can confidently move forward by exploring exciting techniques, strategies, and systems to achieve success.

TWIST for Parents

Parents of children who have developmental and acquired communication and cognitive challenges often want to know more about what they can do to help their child maximize his or her potential. This exciting  short-term program provides families with information they need to enhance and augment educational, vocational and rehabilitation programs. It offers parents and other caregivers many resources which are available to help children tackle challenges head on and jump-start efforts to improve skills in the areas of speaking, understanding, reading, writing, thinking and learning.  There are several packages from which to choose to accommodate different needs and budgets. Contact Joan Green to learn more.

TWIST for Adults

Stroke and traumatic brain injury survivors, as well as victims to other degenerative neurological and developmental, and language and learning challenges can now immerse themselves in a TWIST to traditional speech therapy. This exciting opportunity provides hope for individuals with newly acquired difficulties as well as for those who have lived with their deficits for many years. It is helpful for people who continue to receive professional rehabilitation services or for people who have been discharged from other speech therapy programs. It empowers participants to tackle their challenges head on and jump-start rehabilitation and education efforts. There are several packages from which to choose to accommodate different needs and budgets.

Contact Joan Green to learn more.

Free Consult
“The tools that Innovative Speech Therapy recommended have been instrumental in helping my Dad regain and sustain the ability to communicate with family and friends around the country. Therapy goals were targeted to re-establish communication and the ability to share humor — which have been the hallmarks of my Dad’s life. Dad’s speech pathologist recommended we seek out Joan to help Dad with his communications challenges. The resources and techniques she used were absolutely unique and effective. Dad is living proof that at least some stroke victims can continue to improve, long after they are deemed to be “stalled” by more traditional approaches. Nearly 2 years after his stroke, after working with the software tools 1-3 times/week, he discovered that he could again read the newspaper without assistance! I don’t know what we could have done if we had not been referred to Joan. Computer-assistive technology is still considered a new technique…and many speech therapists working in skilled nursing and rehab facilities do not have the equipment, the support, nor the time to learn how to integrate these tools into their treatment programs. This needs to change!”
Helen Wood

Daughter of former client

TWIST for Students

TWIST for Students empowers students with the help of educational, mainstream and specialized technology tools to maximize success. Many families, teachers, tutors and therapists are not aware of many affordable cutting-edge “cool” technologies and strategies that when implemented effectively may help your child and set of circumstances. Sessions with me typically focus on helping your family get the most out of the mobile devices you already own. Most of our time is spent working with tablets, computers and phones to promote reading, writing, speaking, organization, time management and safety.
Learn to use these technology tools to assist with:
  • Executive Functioning Skills–
    • attention and focus
    • ability to prioritize
    • time management and organization- calendars, task lists and reminder systems
    • self-advocacy
  • Reading comprehension
  • Auditory comprehension and processing
  • Written expression
  • Verbal expression
Assistive technology tools may include but are not limited to the use of:
  • The most helpful features already included on your Google, Apple and Microsoft devices
  • Mobile Apps and specialized as well as mainstream software
  • Devices such as recording pens, eBook readers and other communication and educational products
  • Accessibility and safety features already included on many devices and products
Helpful software and app features may include:
  • speech to text (student speaks and text appears on the screen)
  • word prediction (suggested words are shown as the student types)
  • spelling and grammar (powerful programs help teach spelling and grammar skills and correct errors)
  • digital text/text to speech (advanced software reads books, documents and online text aloud)
  • recording devices (special pens and apps assist with memory and taking notes – the written material and audio can be synced and saved)
  • written organization/webbing (software and apps can be used to help generate and organize writing)
  • learning/studying/memory tools (apps, online flashcards and social bookmarking tools can help with learning new material)
  • supplemental teaching resources (online programs, apps and videos can be used to provide visual/multisensory information to help learn and reinforce new material.)
Free Consult
“The resources and techniques she used were absolutely unique and effective.”
Former Client

TWIST for Preschoolers

Joan Green offers a program using innovative affordable early intervention strategies and solutions. This unique program empowers proactive parents to help their children become more confident and capable as their communication and cognitive skills emerge. Sessions focus on engaging children in a wide variety of enjoyable activities involving play and exploration that can support the growth of communication, social interaction and learning. Children often need some extra help developing the skills needed to express themselves and interacting with the world in which they live. When children receive speech therapy at a young age and have parents and caregivers who have a good understanding about how to stimulate their speech, language, social and cognitive skills they have a greater likelihood of success. In addition to interactions during play and daily routines, Joan Green selects and customizes cutting-edge new technological learning tools that parents can use at home to stimulate better communication skills, reduce frustration, and foster greater success in school readiness skills. Contact Joan Green to learn more.

TWIST for Caregivers

TWIST at a Distance for Caregivers is an intensive individualized short-term distance program to help caregivers learn about resources and strategies to help others who have communication and cognitive challenges. It incorporates the use of phone, email, video conferencing and online application sharing. There are several packages from which to choose to accommodate different needs and budgets. This program is ideal when clients are unable to travel for direct therapy and have a “computer buddy” who will take the lead in the rehabilitation efforts. Save travel expenses and time. Contact Joan Green to learn more.

Free Consultutation

Schedule a free consultation to discover how TWIST to therapy and training can help
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