Elena Hwang
Credentials: Licenciada Gestión educativa y fonoaudiologia
Insurance Accepted: No
Business Name: Centro Hwang
Treatment Locations: Clinic/Office, Virtual Telepractice
Address: Parana 833, 2A, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, 1017, Argentina
Phone: 5491130782766
Email: slphwang@gmail.com
Minimum Age Treated: 2
Percent of CAS cases: >76%
Any additional languages services are provided in besides English?:
Korean and Spanish
Overall Treatment Approach:
In my experience when I get family involved in therapy, I can see a child showing better results since their support system can have better understanding about their difficulties and personal worries. Family also brings great activities ideas according to their own style of playing games with the child. Working with families give me the opportunity to understand better the context, the culture, the boundaries but most importantly what they are going through emotionally with their fears and anxiety. Therefore, I firmly believe that working with the child’s family is THE KEY to achieving any goals. Therefore, I start by getting to know the child first, meanwhile with the closest members of the family (parents and siblings). We all think together the therapeutic goals as we learn together, as a team, about the child’s speech difficulties and how we can help each other with our own weakness and strengths while we walk together into therapy process.
Community Involvement:
I was born and raised in Argentina. My parents are from South Korea. I have been always involved in the bilingual community and curious about how we learn languages in a way that is still hard to yet get final conclusions. I met this beautiful 4 years old child who was a non verbal child and CAS was not a subject very well taught back then and I had no idea how to start my intervention for that reason I took a specific workshop just to have more tools and knowledge on how to help this child. The next session I re-assessed the child speech and amazingly she was starting to say her first words ¨mama¨. Since then my curiosity for CAS has never stopped growing. At the same time I started to think and look for information about how CAS can impact in bilingual population and till this date I am still learning and really passionate about.
Parent Involvement:
When it comes to working with parents, I like to be honest with them and I expect them to be honest as well. I ask sincerely how involved they want to be in session without making them feel that they have to say ¨all the say if they don´t feel like it. I do believe that we all need our own time, we all have lots of responsibilities and we all try to do our best. So, according to their answers we make the therapy goals.
AAC Use/Implementation Expertise:
Using AAC system it is always an emotional rollercoaster for everybody because it is not easy to implement and for all the parents who are reading this, do not forget, IT’S OK NOT TO LIKE IT. Working a step by step as been a great tool. Involving siblings, friends from school and not only being centered with parents if they are not ready. When a child uses AAC device it opens and opportunity to communicate and that communication is the child’s window to socialize, learn, EXPRESS emotions to others. I remember this specific child that i worked with AAC and his first sentence he built on his device was ¨estoy contento¨ which means ¨i am happy¨ and then he switches to ¨estoy muy contento¨ ¨I am very happy¨, he was trying out this high tech device for the first time after practicing in a low tech device.