Zaira Buttaccio Tardio
Credentials: SLP
Insurance Accepted: Yes
Business Name: Private Practice
Services Provided in: English & Italian
Treatment Locations: Clinic/Office
Address:
Strada San Fortunato N.12
San Costanzo
Pesaro Urbino, 61039, Italy
Phone: +39 3703095370
Email: zaira.buttaccio.tardio@gmail.com
Minimum Age Treated: 2.5 years
Maximum Age Treated: 18+ years
Percent of CAS cases: 11-25%
Overall Treatment Approach:
The therapy session for a child with CAS (Childhood Apraxia of Speech) is organized in accordance with motor learning principles (e.g., frequency and intensity of practice and repetition, performance and result’s feedbacks), which are essential to support the child in learning speech movements. The child will also be supported by the speech therapist, in case of difficulties, with different types of cues (tactile, auditory, visual), to ensure effective, errorless learning in an enjoyable way that avoids frustration and helps the child always feel successful. The words chosen for therapy will respect the child’s motor abilities, interests, and everyday life needs.
Parent Involvement:
Parents are invited to attend the child’s therapy sessions so they can become familiar with identifying the features and speech production errors typical of children with CAS, and better understand the world of speech sound disorders. The parent will also be made aware of the motor learning “do’s and don’ts,” and will be guided—either directly during the therapy session, through pre-recorded videos, or with written instructions—on how to use the therapy targets in daily life to support generalization.
AAC Use/Implementation Expertise:
Parents will be informed about AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) and why it is important to use it, how it can support communication and language development, and how it can reduce the frustration children may feel while speaking. If possible, the use of AAC is encouraged both at home and at school, with teachers also receiving training on its definition and importance. Each AAC tool will be constantly updated according to the child’s current preferences, interests, or needs.
Letizia Beciani
Credentials: SLP
Insurance Accepted: Yes
Business Name: Private Practice
Treatment Locations: Clinic/Office
Services Provided in: English & Italian
Address:
Via Don Orione, 5
Ostra, Marche, 60010, Italy
Phone: +39 3663559828
Email: letizia.beciani@gmail.com
Minimum Age Treated: 2.5 years
Maximum Age Treated: 18+ years
Percent of CAS cases: 11-25%
Overall Treatment Approach:
A fundamental component of the treatment lies in structuring the intervention around the child and their various dimensions. Upon entering the therapy room, one will observe a carefully arranged setting, designed to direct the child’s attention toward the speech-language pathologist and their oral movement. The selection of targets, which marks the starting point of the treatment, includes a range of motor, functional, and emotional aspects carefully tailored to the child. These targets will be practiced following the Principles of Motor Learning (PML), which are essential for children with CAS and represent one of the cornerstones of the treatment. Both the assessment and treatment phases will be guided by the constant effort to answer the “whys” that arise, continuously providing rationale and motivation for the collaborative work between the speech language-pathologist and the child.
Parent Involvement:
The family plays a central role in the therapy process. Communication with the family must be clear and aims to provide accurate and up-to-date information about CAS. Parents may attend speech therapy sessions to observe therapeutic progress and, as a result, strengthen the therapeutic alliance. It is the responsibility of the speech-language pathologist to facilitate communication and serve as a mediator between the family and the key figures involved in the child’s care, with the goal of educating everyone about CAS.
AAC Use/Implementation Expertise:
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) is a valuable support for a child’s communication. It is not intended to replace or hinder spoken language, but rather to support it, as every child has the right to communicate and express themselves and their inner world. Therefore, it is important to explain to parents what AAC is and how it will be used during therapy sessions, at home, and at school, in order to guide everyone involved in its use.
Caterina Apruzzese
Credentials: Catap
Insurance Accepted: Yes
Business Name: Logos
Treatment Locations: Clinic/Office, School, Client’s Home, Client’s Preschool/Daycare
Address:
Via Pietro Nenni 6
Studio Logos
San Giovanni Rotondo
Foggia, 71013, Italy
Phone: +393483634674
Email: caterina.apruzzeselogo@gmail.com
Minimum Age Treated: 2
Maximum Age Treated: 18+
Percent of CAS cases: 26-50%
Overall Treatment Approach:
The fundamental aspect of CAS therapy is that the focus is on speech movements. This means that it is of fundamental importance, following a careful evaluation, the selection of the targets that will be the principles of motor learning. Sessions of about 30 min are preferred but more frequent during the week (4 times) to respond to the principles of quantity of practice, distribution of practice, type and quality of feedback so that the child with CAS can learn and generalize these aspects of movement on the generative component of language, with particular attention to the vowel and prosodic hold.
Community Involvement:
I have always paid attention to the motor aspects of speech, finding these aspects also for language disorders traditionally defined as purely phonological. I have been working with CAS for at least 6 years and over the years I have identified many children with this characteristic. I did specific training in Italy, the UK and the USA.
Parent Involvement:
Parents are an integral part of the therapeutic process. In fact, in order for the child to generalize, the parent is asked to use the chosen targets both at the time of training and as a functional lexicon. The parents are present at the therapy and I ask them to pay particular attention to prosody and not to require pure repetition, worse if spelled out.
AAC Use/Implementation Expertise:
My educational path also introduced goals related to AAC which is used with children with CAS on multiple goals. First of all, the AAC provides a modeling between child and interlocutor which helps the associative mapping between word, symbol and concept. The AAC supports the cognitive, linguistic and socio-emotional circuits of relational exchanges that help children with impaired speech. I always tell parents that while waiting for the voice, all other social skills and communication relationships must be supported. I also use AAC to support narrative skills and morphosyntactic components that we know are lacking in children with CAS.
Giorgia Margary
Credentials: I am a Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist who deals with Neurodevelopmental Disorders and is specialized in Speech and Language Impairments, Executive Attention, Developmental Dyspraxia , Childhood Apraxia of Speech and Learning Disorders.
Business Name: Child Neuropsychiatry Department (Complex Unit), Local Health Authority City of Turin – Italy
Business Address: via Monginevro 130, Torino, 10138, Italy
Business Phone: 303479801784
Business Email: giorgiamargy@gmail.com
Locations Available: Clinic/Office, Virtual Telepractice
Additional languages in which you provide services: French
Minimum Age Served: 1.5 years
Maximum Age Served: 18+ years
Percent of CAS cases: 51-75%
Overall Treatment Approach:
Clinical management of CAS requires first of all a systematic motor speech assessment for a differential diagnosis between Speech Sound Disorders, in order to focus on a specific approach for motor planning disorders. In the meantime, due to the comorbid issues found with CAS, it is very important to keep an holistic perspective of the interconnections through the domains of a child’s developmental profile (cognitive, linguistic, motor and social-emotional levels).
Encompassing all of these information in the therapy process enable to draw up a treatment plan, with hierarchical motor goals, based on the principles of motor learning: selection of the appropriate motor targets, quantity of motor practice, distribution of practice, support strategies, kind of feedback. Therefore, after a careful assessment and clinical return, an individualized treatment plan will be granted. Motor speech priorities will be embedded in the client’s functional language to support communicational needs and the adaptive functions of the child’s everyday life.
Parent Involvement:
Parents are involved in every session of training, both directly, attending the treatment session and/or with a treatment return which includes instructions for home workout or generalization activities in everyday life.
Apraxia Community Involvement:
I am trained in Prompt Method – Phd. Hayden : Prompt Bridging Trained , Prompt Technique Practicum Project + Mentoring and clinical cases supervision. Moreover I attended DTTC Training ( Phd. Strand), REST TEMPO Training ( Phd. Mc Cabe) and The Kaufmann K-SLP Method ( Phd. Kaufmann), first Level. I’m involved in CAS Community as a member of Prompt Italia Group and I attend periodical workshops with colleagues, clinical trainings and supervision of clinical cases. I’ve been working with Speech and Language Impairments since 1992, integrated with a clinical approach and overview to Motor Speech Disorders since 2015.
AAC Use:
I have used AAC when the motor and/or linguistic abilities of the child were not sufficient to support verbal communication compared to the communicational needs required. ACC is a very useful support of communicational, interactive, functional language and learning abilities goals, both in non verbal children and in verbal, but not fluent ones. It can be used as well to support specific morphosyntactic, lexical and narrative skills, verbal short term memory and early reading abilities.
Vittorio Graziano
Credentials: SLP with a Master’s Degree in Rehabilitation Science, PROMPT Bridging Trained
Insurance Accepted: No
Treatment Locations: Clinic/Office
Address: Via Beata Francesca, 58, Avellino, Campania, 83100, Italy
Phone: (366) 398-5055
Email: vittoriograziano7@gmail.com
Minimum Age Treated: 2
8
Percent of CAS cases: 11-25%
Any additional languages services are provided in besides English?:
Services are provided in Italian only
Overall Treatment Approach:
My therapy is based on new techniques and principles for CAS and involves several activities like playing, structured activity, and parent coaching.
Community Involvement:
Since I have become a SLP, I have studied several techniques and have taken care of some children with CAS in Italy.
Parent Involvement:
Parents should be aware of their child’s goals in order to practice at home, too. It is important to generalize what we do in my therapy session.
AAC Use/Implementation Expertise:
I usually use both low and high tech AAC to support speech activities and child’s motivation to communicate.
