|
Comprehensive Communication Specialists, owned by Barbara Prakup, M.A./C.C.C.Sp. and Robin Angell, M.A./C.C.C.Sp., was founded in 1990. As a young woman, Robin found she enjoyed working with children as a result of her mother's volunteering at a pre-school. During summers in high school, she would go with her mother, and eventually worked at the pre-school as a volunteer, also. Barbara became fascinated by people's speech while attending Catholic School. Instead of walking home during her lunch break, she would volunteer to play with the children attending the special school. Many of these children had Down syndrome, and Barb thought, "Why do their tongues do that?", and she'd ask, "Can you do this?", basically performing a rudimentary version of speech therapy. In time, these partners would form the foundation for the Medina community's foremost center for speech therapy. We visited with Robin and Barb recently, and listened as they outlined their services and qualifications;
Comprehensive Communication Specialists is a private speech-language pathology practice. We offer speech therapy for articulation disorders, childhood language delays, weakness or in-coordination of speech muscles, tongue thrust, and dysphagia (difficulty swallowing). We also work with those having communication difficulties following stroke or head injury, communication difficulties associated with disorders such as Parkinson's disease, M.S., and Lou Gehrig's disease. We also see patients with voice disorders, in addition to providing laryngectomy rehabilitation and foreign accent modification therapy. Our practice treats children and adults, addressing all disorders that may affect communication.
We're very family-friendly, and encourage family involvement in all therapies, both to observe the sessions and then to work with the patients at home. Each parent is offered the option of participating in the therapy session, or just kicking back in a chair and taking a break, if they wish. Should they decide to be a participant, we strive to teach them how to replicate our methods at home which enables their child's therapy to be much more effective and provide quicker results.
Speech Therapists in the State of Ohio must hold at least a Master's Degree. After attaining our Master's, we then do a nine month internship, much like a physician does a residency. During this time, we practice under the direct supervision of a certified licensed professional who supervises and signs off on everything we do. During this internship, we take state and national exams that test our knowledge through a rigorous examination containing multiple choice and essay questions. Once we've passed these tests, we're qualified to place M.A./C.C.C.Sp. (Master of Arts, Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech) after our names. We then have to be licensed in each state where we intend to practice, and must continually earn Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) to maintain our license. We have to stay current with the latest understanding of the field and never finish going to school. This exacting process assures our patients that we're thoroughly qualified, and we're familiar with the most recent developments in our field.
Comprehensive Communication Specialists strives to adhere to standards higher than the Code of Ethics which all Speech Therapists must follow. We have higher moral standards, and endeavor to respect our clients and treat them kindly, with as much caring and support as possible. We treat them the way we'd want someone to treat our family members.
As part of our vision for expanding the practice over time, we plan to open what we will, tentatively, call a Voice Center, meaning that as specialists in voice, we will offer services to the community that will focus on voice quality. These services will address voice aesthetics for those who aren't happy with how their voice sounds, in addition to providing help for those having a medical problem with their voice which renders them unable to produce a proper tone or a proper volume. We plan to have our Voice Center operational within the next five to six years.
Comprehensive Communication Specialists has extensive experience treating a wide variety of communication and swallowing disorders. Call Comprehensive Communication Specialists today, and don't forget to tell them The Advocate sent you!
|
