Training would be recommended if your regional dialect interferes with your ability to speak effectively, is distracting to listeners, or you wish to speak Standard American English in the workplace.

Articulation/Pronunciation

Articulation/Pronunciation problems, which affect many Americans, involve difficulty producing one or more sounds. Lisping or difficulty with the /r/ sound, are common articulation problems. When a pronunciation problem is present, it frequently distracts the listener’s attention from the speaker’s message. It can make the employee very self-conscious of the speech and possibly shy away from speech in a group or from giving presentations. Your company may be missing out on the expertise of this employee because he/she is reluctant to speak out.

Voice Improvement

Voice problems are described as an unusual vocal quality that attracts attention to itself. It tends to rob attention from the speaker’s message. Some voice problems are a learned way of speaking and can be unlearned, (e.g. speaking too loudly or too high or too low or a monotone quality.) Some voice problems are caused by vocal abuse which can give the speaker a hoarse voice quality and are frequently seen with occupations working in loud environments or when the voice is used continually such as with teachers, aerobics instructors and customer service representatives, to name just a few.  I can help my clients to optimally utilize their voices with easy and effective techniques thus reducing time off work or draw attention to the information in a presentation instead to the unusual vocal quality. This will also improve the quality of the voice over the phone.

Fluency

Many highly qualified people stutter. Frequently this holds them back from expressing themselves freely during meetings, making phone calls and interacting with coworkers as they are concerned that they will stutter. Therapy can teach this individual various techniques that will be useful in generating more fluent speech. Fluent speech will in turn increase the person’s confidence make them into an effective and productive worker.

Conversational/Interviewing Skills Training

Many professions require you to talk to the public or other employees, clients and various groups on a daily basis. This doesn’t come naturally to many people and they are at a loss as to what to talk about in order to develop a rapport. I can teach you how to engage in conversations, keep it going, appropriate ways to begin and end a conversation and how body language affects communication.

Intonation

Intonation is an umbrella term that covers the more musical aspects of speech. It includes the concepts of pitch, stress, duration, and speech rate. Most second language learners do not recognize how critical intonation is to meaning. They believe the key to listener understanding is pronunciation. When you use the correct intonation pattern, you help your listener focus on the most important parts of your message.  If the correct intonation pattern is not used, the listener needs more time to understand the message. Communication breakdowns occur, frustrating all parties. 

Grammar/Syntax

Using incorrect syntax can make it very challenging for the listener. Second language users frequently use incorrect verb tense which can change the entire meaning of what they want to express. For example: “I work in an office” , but meant to say : “I worked in an office.” Other frequent mistakes are omitting articles such as “the” and “a” and when it is appropriate to use them; using plurals correctly (person/people; animal/animals). These are only a few that are typical. Each individual has his/her own grammatical issues which are influenced by their first language.

We offer the option when needed of clinical speech therapy

Adults can have many types of overlooked speech problems such as fluency, difficulty in articulation, voice problem and lisps. We are dual specialists in accent and regional modification and speech and language pathology. This allows us to specifically identify and correct often overlooked speech issues so you can effectively communicate .

Example: Depending on the country of your first language, when speaking English, you may have a natural difficulty using certain sounds. People who speak Chinese often distort the “R” sound and make it sound like “L”, when speaking in English. A Spanish speaker pronounces /b/ and /v/ the same; a Russian speaker produces the /h/ sound with a heavy fricative that’s produced in the back of the throat; Accent modification training can address this concern, however if the speaker has an articulation disorder then speech therapy is required to help the speaker learn how to produce these sounds before accent modification training can succeed

How common are adult clinical speech problems?

Around 6% of the adult population has clinical speech problems. Depending on their job role this could have a significant impact on their effectiveness and promotional status.

The initial evaluation will uncover whether your speech and communication is interfered by any clinical concerns. If it is, then addressing this need would be part of your program.