About Mary-Jane
My name is Mary-Jane Slingerland and I have worked as a certified Speech-Language Pathologist for over 32 years with children as young as 6 months. My training as an Early Childhood and School Aged Educator, and Speech-Language Pathologist has provided me with the developmental knowledge base and experience to work with children presenting with communication difficulty. I also have extensive experience working with toddler to adult aged individuals with global developmental delays, but presently work mainly with children 6 years and under. I am sole owner of my private practice. Please note that therapy can only take place within the province of Ontario as this is where I am registered to work in Canada.
My Approach to Working with Young Children
I believe children’s early communication, speech and language learning needs to be experienced in a naturalistic environment and with responsive adults. Parents need support as well, so education and guidance around communication and speech/language skill development is necessary and is provided.
Service Modality
I am able to meet with you and your child virtually "in person" if you are using a desk or lap
top computer, tablet or smart phone. I do provide individual and group virtual care services
(consultation, assessment and therapy). Virtual care via the internet has been researched and
found to be an effective modality to inform and improve overall communication and speech
and language skills. Fun and laughter are still byproducts of the experience.
What Assessment and Therapy Looks Like Online for Children age 3 and over
Speech-Language Pathologists interact virtually with children and parents/caregivers in their homes sharing motivating materials. Children respond favourably during sessions while participating in live action play and game scenarios, in addition to play based virtual therapy activities that are geared to their interests and abilities.
Early Intervention for Toddlers
Early communication intervention with toddlers (under 30 months) relies on a teaching/coaching approach for parents and caregivers, to give them essential skills to support their children's early communication development through play interactions at home. During my virtual assessment and consultation sessions, I work with you to determine your toddler’s needs.
Areas of Clinical Interest and Experience
My Approach to Working with Young Children
I believe children’s early communication, speech and language learning needs to be experienced in a naturalistic environment and with responsive adults. Parents need support as well, so education and guidance around communication and speech/language skill development is necessary and is provided.
Service Modality
I am able to meet with you and your child virtually "in person" if you are using a desk or lap
top computer, tablet or smart phone. I do provide individual and group virtual care services
(consultation, assessment and therapy). Virtual care via the internet has been researched and
found to be an effective modality to inform and improve overall communication and speech
and language skills. Fun and laughter are still byproducts of the experience.
What Assessment and Therapy Looks Like Online for Children age 3 and over
Speech-Language Pathologists interact virtually with children and parents/caregivers in their homes sharing motivating materials. Children respond favourably during sessions while participating in live action play and game scenarios, in addition to play based virtual therapy activities that are geared to their interests and abilities.
Early Intervention for Toddlers
Early communication intervention with toddlers (under 30 months) relies on a teaching/coaching approach for parents and caregivers, to give them essential skills to support their children's early communication development through play interactions at home. During my virtual assessment and consultation sessions, I work with you to determine your toddler’s needs.
Areas of Clinical Interest and Experience
- Early Intervention with children ages of 30 months and under
- Articulation and phonological disorders for children 3-6years (speech production delays)
- Social Language Delays and Challenges ( conversation skills including turn taking, eye contact, initiating and ending conversation, staying on topic, etc.)
- Childhood Receptive Language Delays (auditory processing of language deficits which impacts following directions, understanding questions forms, following conversations/discussions, etc.)
- Childhood Expressive Language Delays including: narrative/discourse skills or the organization of thoughts into sentences to retell a past event or experience), vocabulary (naming skills), grammar or syntax may be impaired
- Phonological Awareness Deficits: pre-reading skills like identifying and generating rhymes, identifying sounds heard at the beginning, middle and end of words, identifying syllabic structure of words, identifying sounds in a word, etc.
