Nikosi Darnell is a speech-language pathologist and founder of Clearview Speech and Consulting Services, and will be sharing her expertise in two sessions at FETC 2020, in Miami in January.
Her efforts are helping to increase the understanding of dyslexia and other speech-language disorders and the individuals most impacted. Although there has been an increased awareness of dyslexia in education, Darnell believes further advances are possible. By expanding the role of speech pathologists to work in collaboration with coaches and teachers, students can reap the benefits.
“From a speech pathology perspective, we focus a lot on what we call the ‘phonological awareness’ and the development of that aspect of communication. Whenever we see children having difficulty with rhyming, segmentation, or pre-linguistics skills, we see the possibility of dyslexia. Sometimes, there are precursors that speech pathologists see before students even get into the classroom on a consistent basis.”
Darnell advises that a working relationship between student, pathologist and teacher should be a constant classroom objective.
