The Hanen Centre, a Canadian-based charitable organization, aims to “provide parents, caregivers, early childhood educators and speech-language pathologists with the knowledge and training they need to help young children develop the best possible language, social and literacy skills.” Attendees of the program received extensive training in the Hanen-based philosophy of parent-implemented early language intervention and were certified to lead the evidence-based “It Takes Two to Talk - The Hanen Program® for Parents of Children with Language Delay.”
Bob Serianni, MS, CCC-SLP, director of the SLP Department’s clinical facility, the Speech-Language Institute, explained the importance of the program for SLPs who work with young children with language delays (birth to 5 years) and their families.
“The “It Takes Two to Talk®” workshop was developed to provide Speech-Language Pathologists with the strategies and coaching framework to empower parents to become an effective language facilitator for their child,” he said. “We believe that this is a great evidence-based professional development opportunity for our staff and professionals in the area.”
Stephanie Glazier, MA, CCC-SLP, a Hanen instructor and who works with young children with a variety of language disorders, led the program. She travels throughout the US each year lecturing to SLPs and parents about the Hanen approach to assisting children with language delays. During the sessions, attendees participated in a number of interactive activities such as presenting about the Hanen program as if they were explaining it to a group of parents and role playing as SLPs and parents.
“The workshop helps them take the info they’re already using in practice and package it differently so they can share it with families they’re working with more easily,” she said. “The experiential learning activities really help solidify what they’re learning as well.”
“I’m so thankful for the opportunity to participate in this training,” she said. “I really needed this information because teaching parents to be involved and how to be involved is my biggest challenge.”
Keisha Scovens, an SLP and co-founder of the community organization Let’s Go Outdoors, agreed that the parent-centered approach was valuable to assisting her clients.
“A lot of times, as a speech-language pathologist, we get parents that don’t really know how to work with their children and encourage language skills. This was very nicely formatted and it was easy to follow. I think parents will really resonate with that.”
