This course was created to be a comprehensive resource for therapy with emerging communicators. You'll learn how to take a systematic approach to early language therapy using the Four I Model of Prelinguistic Skill Development. We will cover how to:

• conduct an early language assessment and write strengths-based goals
• select intervention strategies for emerging communicators based on their unique support needs
• plan and execute early language therapy sessions

The price is $249 and includes lifetime access to the course and all course materials. You'll receive a certificate for 7.5 professional development hours and two digital course workbooks with over 100 pages of printable resources.

1. Identify the prelinguistic skills that create the foundation for symbolic communication.
2. List three general strategies that support early communication skills in areas in each of the following domains: reciprocal play, gesture development, language comprehension, and imitation skills.
   
3. Use the Four I Model of Prelinguistic Skill Development and the corresponding checklists to identify a child's support needs for early language therapy.
4. Select interventions for emerging communicators that are aligned with each child's support needs.
5. Describe the elements of a strength-based early communication goal.
6. State the five components of effective parent coaching.
7. Plan an early language therapy session by identifying a context/activity for embedding individualized strategies to target the child's goals.



Requirements for Satisfactory Completion

Students must do the following to earn a certificate for professional development.

1. Watch all of the self-paced video modules and reach 100% completion of the course.
2. Score 80% or higher on the course completion quiz. This 25 question quiz is untimed and can be taken as many times as needed.
   

This course was amazing! I was able to identify aspects of my clinical skills that are evidence-based and learn new interventions to better the approaches I use in my sessions. I enjoyed the video modules and handouts provided for my own reference, as well as a form of education for my families. Additionally, the guided learning group was a wonderful place to work collaboratively with other SLPs to discuss the topics of the week and build additional resources to use as well!

I've been a practicing SLP for 14 years and in that time a lot has changed within our field and the world. I've also been treating early intervention families for most of my career with play-based therapy being my passion. It was time for a refresher and the First 50 Words Course was everything I hoped it could me and more. It's been the perfect tool to take directly from my learning, into my private practice office. I love that there are included videos that I can watch in tandem with my clients and great handouts for families to keep at home as reference. This course has expanded my knowledge as a play-based SLP and I'm incredibly grateful for the learning.

Overall, I feel like the content provided in this course was amazing. Not only were the evidence-based strategies shared helpful, but the guided learning and videos were all helpful in allowing me to understand and process the information easily. I enjoyed the content and the handouts from the course workbooks are so clear and easy to understand. I can't wait to share them with my EI families!

I loved this course and was able to take away so much useful information. This course has allowed me to feel competent and confident in my clinical skills when working with early communication skills. The video lessons and handouts/workbook have provided me with useful knowledge that I can start using in treatment immediately. This course has really gotten me excited to work with limited verbal children and their families. Thank you so much for this course! 

This was a fantastic course. The presenter is versatile and extremely knowledgeable. She created these wonderful videos and handouts which could be shared with the parents and are simple and informative. The information was broken down into smaller lessons which made it easy for the listener to access and process. I would highly recommend this course to SLPs.

This course was just what I needed! It has been almost 10 years since I worked in EI. I enjoyed the easy to follow format and materials provided to allow me to share information with the families that I currently serve. Utilizing the First Words Workbook in my sessions, I have already noticed a change in how I work with this age group and in the progress that the children on my caseload are making.

I love that I can now specifically provide research-based information to parents regarding the use of strategies. The video examples of how to model strategies have been very helpful to me. The supplemental handouts for each section of the course are extremely helpful and parents have responded well to using them. I have highly recommended this course to other EI SLP'S. 

This is just the type of early intervention continuing education course I was looking for! After not taking an early intervention course in graduate school, this course helped take me step by step through the research to provide evidence based early intervention assessment and treatment. For an online course, Laura is extremely responsive and available to answer any questions and provide extra resources and ideas. The course handouts are one of the highlights of the course! The course materials are all parent friendly and can be provided for home programming after the session is over. I would highly recommend this course!

As a pediatric SLP who works with birth to teenagers, this course contained so many clear strategies for my three and under crowd! I loved the inclusion of evidence based research and I’ve already implemented strategies taught. The handouts provided are perfect as visual aids for family. I would recommend this course to anyone working in the early intervention realm.

I have already recommended this course to an SLP friend. I love the structure of the course and how after each session I was ready to use what I learned immediately. There are so many good tidbits and ideas that are ready for therapy room and to share with parents. Perfect for the therapist that wants access to good materials for parent coaching.

This course is PERFECT for all early intervention speech therapists. As a seasoned speech therapist myself, I was so impressed with how comprehensive this course was and how much I learned. Laura’s four-step framework makes the “road to first words” extremely clear, and I will without a doubt be using her framework with parents in my speech sessions. My favorite parts of the course were the visuals provided, as well as the example videos of Laura implementing the strategies with her little one- so helpful! I could not recommend this course enough!

I have been working in EI for 10 years but have never taken a true early intervention course. I have been struggling with my caseload of mostly prelinguistic kids and this course has rejuvenated me with new strategies and handouts to help me feel like I did fresh out of grad school. 

I have been an SLP for over three decades but didn't start working primarily with preschoolers until four years ago. This was a great refresher course and highly applicable to therapy. I have been looking for well organized, parent friendly information that I could share with my families. This is exactly what I got in this course! And, I can't start using it immediately. Well worth the cost!