Laura McCormick

 

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Mrs. Laura McCormick, MS, CCC-SLP

Certified Speech Language Pathologist

Contact Info 

Phone: 303-387-6671
laura.mccormick@dcsdk12.org

 About me

My name is Laura McCormick and I am the Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) at Sand Creek Elementary. I attended the University of Colorado (BA) and Purdue University (MS). I live in the Sand Creek Community and have three boys (ages 13, 15, 18) who all attended SCE.  This is my 22nd year as an SLP and my 6th year at SCE. I have worked in a variety of settings including preschool, elementary school, pediatric clinic, hospital clinic, and private practice.  I work closely with Kendra Delaney and she is the speech-language pathology assistant (SLPA) at SCE. This will be Kendra's 8th year as the SLPA at Sand Creek. 

I am proud to be a member of the American Speech Hearing Association (ASHA). ASHA's website offers valuable information regarding normal speech/language development and suggestions for parents.

 

Articulation Groups

If your child is receiving speech services for an articulation impairment (difficulty saying certain speech sounds), we will be practicing his/her sounds at different levels during our speech sessions. 

The following hierarchy will guide our practice:
1. Isolation - saying the sound itself with no other consonants (e.g, sssss)
2. Syllables - adding a consonant to the sound (e.g., sa, se, so, su)
3. Word - practicing the sound in the initial (e.g., sock), final (e.g., bus), and medial (e.g., bossy).
4. Phrase - adding 2-3 words together (e.g,. a yellow sock).
5. Sentence - using the words in a sentence of more than 3 words
6. Conversation - able to tell stories and produce the sound correctly at the conversational level.

I will be sending home words for home practice. Here are some friendly reminders for home practice sessions:
* Praise your child for good effort
* Keep it fun! Play Hide N Seek, Memory, Go Fish, BINGO, Tic Tac Toe, etc. with the speech cards
* Keep a mirror handy for reference so your child visually monitor what his articulators (lips, tongue, teeth).
* Offer breaks if your child is getting frustrated
* Please let me know if you need a new set of words to practice!

Fluency Groups

Our fluency groups are working on producing speech that is fluent and smooth. Students will be learning strategies to enhance their fluency such as the following:
* Easy Onsets
* Stretchy Speech
* Pausing/Breathing Techniques
* Light Contacts
* Cancellations
The Stuttering Foundation has a number of resources that you may find helpful if your child is experiencing speech dysfluencies.

 

Language Groups

Students in our language groups will be practicing receptive/expressive language skills such as following directions, answering questions, listening comprehension, recalling/retelling stories, vocabulary, describing, grammar, etc. 

You can support your child's language development at home by reading a variety of books together. Before the story, have your child try to predict what might happen next in the story. After the story, you can ask your child to answer story comprehension questions such as the following:
What was the setting?
Who were the main characters?
How did the story begin/end?
How did the characters solve their problems?
What was your favorite part of the story?
How would you change the end of the story?

Have your child RETELL the story to you. Challenge your child to CHANGE the characters or setting in the story to CREATE a new parallel story! For example, the Three Little Bears could become the Three Little Penguins. 

Students in intermediate grades (4-6) will be practicing higher level language skills such as completing analogies, making inferences, comparing/contrasting, drawing conclusions, understanding figurative language (idioms, similes, metaphors), and using the context to understand new vocabulary words.

 

Social Language Groups

Students in our social skills groups will be practicing social language skills such as initiating/maintaining conversations, greeting others, understanding another person's perspective, social thinking, and problem solving various social situations. 

Many of our activities will focus on how to be a good friend and how to communicate effectively with our teachers and classmates. We will talk about expected and unexpected behaviors, how to be a social detective, and how to see things from another person's perspective (see socialthinking.com for more info). As we read books together, we will be looking closely at the characters and discussing their thoughts and actions. We will practice making predictions and inferences about how the characters might be feeling (e.g., "How do you think she might be feeling?"). Many students in our social language groups are also working on recognizing and expressing emotions. We will be introducing new emotions vocabulary words such as "irritated", "frustrated", and "embarrassed" so our students will be able to communicate their feelings more effectively. 

Remember to model feelings vocabulary throughout the day so your child will hear these words regularly (e.g, "I am feeling NERVOUS about my interview today", "I was so EMBARRASSED when that happened", etc). At home, you can discuss how characters in movies and books are feeling. Practice problem solving by asking them questions like, "What could he do?" or "What would you say?". You can also work on perspective taking skills by asking them questions like, "How is she feeling?" or "What could he be thinking about?"