If you treat speech sound disorders (SSD) and you’re not seeing the gains you expect, this episode is your playbook. We cut through the noise and name the 10 research-informed predictors of slower progress—attention/self-monitoring limits, sensitive temperament, co-occurring language/working-memory load, hearing impairment (fricatives/affricates), motor speech factors, structural constraints (e.g., open bite), low stimulability, later start to intervention, low therapy intensity/irregular attendance, and environmental barriers. Then we pivot hard into the three levers that consistently move outcomes: choosing complex, maximally distinct targets (e.g., SW-blends), delivering dynamic temporal tactile cueing (DTTC-style), and holding the ~80% challenge point to avoid reinforcing error patterns. Concrete therapy examples, parent carryover, and generalization strategies included.

What you’ll learn:

📈How attention and self-monitoring mask progress until generalization “pops”

📈Why a sensitive temperament demands predictability and a responsive start

📈How co-occurring language and limited verbal working memory can look like CAS—but aren’t

📈What hearing loss really means for fricatives/affricates and consonant deletion patterns

📈Practical expectations for motor speech and structural constraints (e.g., open bite)

📈How stimulability with maximal cueing informs prognosis

📈Why start age and habit strength matter for entrenched /r/ and /s/ errors

📈Why frequency > duration for home practice, and how to embed one daily rep

📈The “no-data-during-DTTC” mindset: probe quickly, cue deeply, fade fast

The 3 levers (non-negotiables):

📈Target selection: Complex, maximally distinct clusters (SW > ST/SP/SK) to drive system-wide change.

📈Delivery: DTTC-style, moment-to-moment cueing (choral → fade), with brief probes to verify learning.

📈Challenge point: Keep accuracy near ~80%—high enough to learn, low enough to adapt. If you’re reinforcing errors, pivot.

00:00 Why progress “flatlines” then explodes

03:10 Predictor #1: Attention/self-monitoring

06:20 #2: Sensitive temperament & predictable routines

10:00 #3: Language/working memory vs. “looks like CAS”

14:15 #4: Hearing impairment (HF cues, fricatives/affricates)

17:10 #5: Motor speech considerations

20:05 #6: Structural constraints (open bite, dental)

22:40 #7: Stimulability with maximal cueing

25:00 #8: Older start age, entrenched habits

27:10 #9: Intensity/attendance

28:45 #10: Environmental barriers

30:45 The 3 levers: complex targets, DTTC, 80% challenge point

38:00 One-rep-a-day home carryover that actually sticks

Call to action: Stop reinventing materials. Make your work easy with effective, educationally-rich SSD tools at your fingertips—complex target sentence strips, paragraphs, and movement-literacy activities ready so you can focus on cueing, not prep. 👉 Join the SIS Membership: https://www.kellyvess.com/sis

If you work with children with autism who are minimally speaking, this episode is a must-listen. We’re breaking down why the “Look at” sentence strip has been a total game-changer in my therapy room—and why it consistently helps children begin to speak, connect, and comment on the world around them.

After 25 years of practice, I can tell you this tool does more than encourage speech—it builds neurological pathways for speech to flow. You’ll learn:
✅ The neuroscience behind why repetition and motor consistency matter
✅ How DTTC and “look at” work hand-in-hand to build automaticity
✅ Why “look at” is far more powerful than “I want” for developing joint attention
✅ How to pair high-tech AAC with low-tech sentence strips for best outcomes
✅ The 10 reasons this strip transforms therapy for children with autism

This episode is full of practical insight, real-world examples from my SIS members’ “back porches,” and evidence-based strategies that rewire how we think about early speech intervention.

🎧 Tune in, and then grab your own Look at sentence strip and watch your minimally speaking students light up the room.

💫 Join the SIS Membership today for access to the weekly movement- and literacy-based therapy materials that pair perfectly with this episode—complete with parent emails and ready-to-go Google Slides for your whole group sessions.
👉 https://www.kellyvess.com/sis

Thanks for joining me at today’s drawing board for a better tomorrow, 💚Kelly

Discover how a 2025 Nature autism study transforms early intervention in speech language pathology. Learn how family history, genetics, and executive function shape assessment, therapy planning, and lifelong communication outcomes.

If you work with children with autism, this episode will change how you think about early intervention forever. A major 2025 study published in Nature titled Polygenic and developmental profiles of autism differ by age of diagnosis has revealed that early onset autism and later developing autism are not the same.

This is one of the largest autism studies ever conducted, examining more than 47,000 individuals around the world. The results reshape how we understand autism heritability, family psychiatric history, and executive function development.

In this episode, you will learn:
✅ Why early autism diagnosed before age three is genetically distinct from later developing autism that emerges in middle childhood or adolescence
✅ How family psychiatric history including ADHD, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and substance use predicts later developing autism
✅ Why the DSM 5 removal of the age three cutoff was not only progressive but empirically supported
✅ How this research should change your parent input forms and follow up recommendations
✅ Why executive function including attention, cognitive flexibility, and self regulation is the bridge between prevention and intervention

This study confirms that autism can emerge at any point in development when social and academic demands exceed a child’s executive function capacity. That finding changes everything about how we evaluate, how we plan early intervention, and how we empower families.

If you are ready to move beyond reactive labels toward proactive, capacity building intervention, this episode will show you how to do exactly that.

💡 Join the SIS Membership at https://www.kellyvess.com/sis
to access weekly movement based literacy and language activities that build executive function, the foundation for lifelong communication, learning, and independence.

If you work with minimally speaking children or children with autism, this episode is a must-listen. Speech-language pathologist Kelly Vess takes on the five biggest myths about high-tech AAC (augmentative and alternative communication)—and backs every point with current peer-reviewed research.

Learn why high-tech AAC devices:
✅ Do not require self-regulation or joint attention first
✅ Are not too complex for preschoolers
✅ Increase social interaction rather than limit it
✅ Should not be constantly customized
✅ Must be provided—and supported—by public schools under IDEA and ADA

Kelly breaks down each misconception, explains how to blend high-tech and low-tech AAC for multimodal communication, and challenges you to D.S.D.—Do Something Different—instead of waiting 17 years for “research-to-practice.”

It’s time to empower our minimally speaking students with robust, research-driven voices. Whether you’re an SLP, special educator, or early-childhood professional, you’ll walk away ready to advocate for access, staff training, and parent coaching in AAC implementation.

👉 Join today at www.kellyvess.com/sis

If you work with children with speech sound disorders, this episode is a must-listen. We’re diving into cutting-edge research on final consonant clusters—a treatment target that has been largely overlooked but may unlock powerful generalization gains.

For decades, evidence has shown that choosing complex targets leads to greater overall progress. Now, new research suggests that working on final 3-element clusters may be just as effective—and possibly more efficient—than the traditional initial cluster approach.

In this episode, I’ll break down:

✅ Why marked forms (like /skr/) accelerate progress more than unmarked forms

✅ What makes final clusters uniquely complex (morphological load, rarity, later acquisition)

✅ Key takeaways from a 2025 study on final clusters in intervention (8 children, 6 weeks, medium effect sizes)

✅ Practical strategies you can implement tomorrow on your back porch

✅ Why efficiency matters: getting gains in speech and language when time is limited

I’ll also share how to structure practice (limited exemplars, high repetitions, removing models for self-driven motor planning) so you can maximize impact.

Don’t wait 17 years for research to trickle into practice—try this approach now.

🎁FREE Resource: Download your Final Cluster Homework Flip Book here:
👉 http://www.kellyvess.com/finalcluster

✨ Want weekly ready-to-go resources?

Join the SIS Membership today and get instant access to:

• Theme-based movement + literacy activities
• Weekly treatment targets (including complex clusters + paragraphs)
• Parent + teletherapy Google Slides decks
• A full treatment target library

👉 https://www.kellyvess.com/sis

Source: Potapova, I., John, A., Pruitt-Lord, S., & Barlow, J. (2025). Extending complexity to word-final position via telepractice: Intervention effects for English-speaking children with speech sound disorder. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(1), 42–57. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_lshss-24-00020

speech sound disorders, consonant clusters, final clusters, complexity approach, marked vs unmarked forms, childhood apraxia of speech, phonological intervention, SLP podcast, preschool speech therapy, articulation therapy

If you work with preschool or early elementary students, this episode is a must-listen.

We’re diving into decontextualized language—a skill that’s rarely discussed but critical for literacy and academic success. Decontextualized language is when children talk about things outside the here and now—past events, future plans, ideas, feelings, and abstract thinking.

Why does it matter?
Research spanning over 20 years shows that children with strong decontextualized language skills in preschool perform better in reading and academics throughout elementary school. Yet, most SLPs and educators aren’t taught how to target it.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• What decontextualized language is and why it’s the foundation of complex thinking.
• Four powerful, evidence-based strategies to build this skill in fun, natural ways.
• How to use Halloween excitement to scaffold conversations about past and future events.
• Practical tips for using visuals, gestures, role-play, and parent collaboration.

💡 These strategies don’t just work for Halloween—they can be used for birthdays, field trips, and any special event to make language learning stick.

💚 Join the SIS Membership:

Want ready-to-go therapy materials that build decontextualized language every week?

Join the SIS Membership and get:

• A Google Slides deck each week packed with educationally rich, movement-based literacy activities,
• Home resources to bridge school and family communication,
• Evidence-based materials to target speech, language, and AAC in fun, engaging ways.

🎁 Download a FREE Halloween-themed Google Slides deck to kickstart decontextualized conversations in therapy and at home: https://www.kellyvess.com/halloween

👉 Join here: https://www.kellyvess.com/sis

Are you ready to go digital the right way in your therapy sessions?

Today, we’re diving into the latest systematic review research on using digital tools to improve preschoolers’ language and literacy outcomes. The evidence is clear: digital media can be a powerful tool — when it’s used intentionally.

In this episode, you’ll discover five key strategies that work, including:

• Why children should never be left alone with a device
• How to make digital activities multimodal and engaging
• The language modeling strategies that matter most
• Ways to make alphabet knowledge meaningful and connected to stories
• How to coach families and teachers for lasting impact

Want to skip the overwhelm and have ready-to-go resources at your fingertips?
Join my SIS Membership, where every week you’ll receive:

• A Google Slides deck filled with educationally rich activities
• Movement-based literacy ideas to target speech, language, and AAC goals
• Parent-friendly materials to bridge home and school learning

Make therapy easier, more engaging, and research-based — all while saving hours of prep time.

✨ Join the SIS Membership today: www.kellyvess.com/sis

If you work with minimally speaking children using low-tech or high-tech AAC, this episode is for you.

A brand-new systematic review just dropped — but the published research is sparse, messy, and often mislabeled. Today, we’ll dig through the “recycle bin” of studies to uncover what actually works, why commenting is more powerful than requesting, and how to take action on Monday morning.

You’ll learn:

• Why many so-called “commenting interventions” are really prompted responses, not true initiations
• The pivotal role of combining words in AAC for speech development and generative language
• Why modeling and scaffolding work — and what research says about prompting hierarchies
• How to apply the triangle of evidence-based practice when published protocols don’t exist
• Download my free 30 Minute M.O.D.E.L. workshop to share with colleagues and caregivers: https://www.kellyvess.com/aac

💡 Ready-to-Go Tools:
Don’t waste hours planning therapy. Get empirically-based, literacy-rich, movement-based activities delivered to you every week inside the SIS Membership
. You’ll get:

• Weekly theme-based Google Slides decks for individual, group, and teletherapy sessions
• Engaging multisensory activities that target speech, language, and literacy — all ready to use

Join now at https://www.kellyvess.com/sis
and transform your therapy sessions with tools backed by research and designed for real-world success.

Spencer, T. D., Tönsing, K., & Dada, S. (2025). Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions that promote commenting: A systematic review. Augmentative and Alternative Communication, 1–14.