Elective Accent Expansion Services
The Elective Accent Expansion Program provides group and individual services for adults for whom English is not their first language in order to improve communicative effectiveness and confidence through instruction and practice.
- In this Program, participants learn to develop competency with the prosodic features of Mainstream American English or MAE (stress, rhythm, pitch, intensity and intonation) and convey meaning and intent through individual words as well as simple and complex messages in formal and casual speech.
- Participants are given practice to increase their phonological awareness and production of the English phonemes through rhyming, segmentation and elision tasks.
- English language learners attending this program, become familiar with the functional application of common American idiomatic expressions for improved understanding and use and have opportunities to practice them in casual speech.
Evaluation
Evaluation services are designed to provide information to determine and/or confirm a diagnosis, develop a treatment plan, and monitor progress over time. These services include an interview, assessment and preliminary feedback immediately following the evaluation itself. Additionally a follow-up written report is provided in order to document evaluation results and recommendations.
Individual Therapy
Individual therapy sessions teach clients and their families to help regain communication skills and compensatory strategies to manage their disorders in activities of daily life. Goals are established jointly with each client and his or her family member(s). Innovative treatment strategies include computer-assisted learning, video taping, and role-play in everyday communicative contexts.
Therapy sessions are tailored to the specific needs of each individual. Clinicians use a variety of techniques and strategies to facilitate progress.
Group Therapy
Group therapy sessions provide a realistic communication context in which adults can practice communication skills. This approach provides a supportive social environment with peers to assist in generalization of skills.
In addition to working on dialectical issues, our graduate students understand the interpersonal dynamics of a culturally diverse adult population and provide familiarity with American idioms and casual speech to non-native speakers of English.
