At Easterseals Central Illinois, our culture is made up of each individual employee’s commitment to their profession and the clients they serve. With over 200 employees across six locations, our diverse roles and responsibilities wrap up into one outcome for our families: progress. Progress looks different for every child, and that is the beauty of it.
For Meghan Feldmann, Speech-Language Pathologist at Easterseals Central Illinois, progress combines detective work and education. A recent graduate of Eastern Illinois University, Meghan exudes a passion for helping children communicate.
“When I talk about my job, I talk about how much fun it is. I get to work with early intervention kids (ages 0-3) and older kids. I get to work in clinics and in 1:1 settings. I get to play, build relationships and help clients use functional communication with their families and caregivers.” shared Meghan.
Building functional communication skills is the foundation of what Speech-Language Pathologists do every day. Functional communication is being able to communicate for more than just your wants and needs. It is being able to request, protest, comment, describe, take turns, join, and advocate. It is vital for individuals to communicate in a way that works for them. As Meghan stated, “Communication is at the heart of everything we do.”
Hooked on Progress
A high school job shadow assignment had Meghan paired with a Speech-Language Pathologist in Germantown Hills Elementary School’s PreK program; after that, Meghan was hooked. “You can do so much with the 1:1 setting of speech therapy. Kids learn through play and are more engaged when we can meet them at their level,” shared Meghan.
“Being able to take something the child is really interested in- like a TV show character or game- and making it part of our sessions is so helpful. We are able to be flexible; to meet the clients’ communication and sensory needs, which is so impactful.”
Meghan Feldmann
The flexibility of speech-language therapy kept Meghan motivated and focused during her undergraduate and graduate programs. “I graduated from St. Ambrose University with a degree in Early Childhood Education, which was a great springboard into the Speech-Language program at Eastern Illinois University. It gave me a different perspective,” Meghan shared. “I had an advantage because I had so much hands-on experience working with children before entering the program.”
Opening Doors to Progress
Through her schooling and the beginning of her career, Meghan has already established a solid foundation of progress. One of her passions is supporting children with Augmented & Alternative Communication (AAC) devices. AAC devices are tablets, computers, or apps that assist with communication. Preloaded words and phrases allow an individual to communicate their wants and needs. These devices are a lifeline for children and their caregivers. (Click here to see an example)
It is estimated that as many as 65% of children with an autism diagnosis also have apraxia of speech (AOS). According to the NIDCD: AOS is a neurological disorder that affects the brain pathways involved in planning the sequence of movements involved in producing speech. The brain knows what it wants to say but cannot properly plan and sequence the required speech sound movements.
With the assistance of an AAC device, children are able to communicate with their caregivers and peers. The AAC device opens up a world of progress for them at home, in school, in therapy, and in social settings.
“I had experience working with children who utilize AAC devices during my graduate work. I knew kids could benefit from them, but I had no idea how to make it functional and useful for them,” Meghan shared. Since initially beginning to understand the devices, Meghan has been committed to helping clients and families get established with one and sticking with it. “You see a lot of device abandonment,” she shared. “It is easy to get overwhelmed, but it is just a matter of finding the right tools. In Early Intervention, I can expose families to these devices and work alongside them as we find what works for their child.”
“It’s not just teaching the child to communicate, it’s teaching the caregivers as well. Families must learn alongside the child because communication is a two-way street.”
Meghan Feldmann
Discovering Pathways for Progress
For most people, we think of learning speech and language through analytical language. This approach builds up from one word to stringing a few together and eventually using complete sentences. For example, a child learns ‘All Done’ to signal they are done with an activity, and eventually, this turns into them saying, ‘I am ready to play something else.’
Gestalt language acquisition flips this process around. Children will repeat phrases or sentences before they use single words to communicate. This typically requires some work on the caregiver’s end to understand what the goal of that communication is. For example, a child may say, “Let’s ride the trolley,” to signal they are done with an activity and ready to move to the next. It may seem like the child is repeating nonsense or trying to play a game. However, those who know the child loves the show Daniel Tiger recognize that the trolley is what takes Daniel from one place to the next.
Autistic individuals often repeat words, phrases, and sounds they have heard. The term for this is Echolalia or scripting. Sometimes they repeat it immediately; sometimes, it is delayed. For the 80% of children with autism who are Gestalt language learners, this is how they start communicating.
Meghan has helped several families understand the breakdown in analytic versus gestalt language learning during her first year of graduate school. “It is natural to try and get your child to understand language the same way you learned it, and it can be really eye-opening to families when they realize that their child has been communicating in their own way all along.”
Encouraging Progress
For autistic individuals, the need for communication support does not go away when they reach adolescence. For some, it becomes more prevalent. Meghan’s other passion is helping her older clients learn to self-advocate. “Just like you or I would prepare to go to a meeting or give a speech, my older clients need to feel prepared for how they would self-advocate in a situation,” she shared. Meghan works with her clients to practice informing someone of their neurodiversity, such as autism or ADHD. She helps give them a toolbox full of scripts and suggested language to use with peers or adults in their life when asking for accommodations or explaining why they are going about something a little bit differently.
Whatever the age of her clients, Meghan brings a passion for learning, teaching, and investigating to each of her sessions. Families and clients in our community are so lucky to have her, and so is Easterseals!
There is a shortage of Speech-Language Pathologists in our area, and the need is continually growing. We are so grateful to have Meghan as a part of our team at Easterseals. If you are interested in joining the team at Easterseals, visit Eastersealsci.com or call (309)686-1177.
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