Speech

Meet Mrs. Peck

Tell me about yourself.

My family relocated to Thomaston 23 years ago. I have two daughters, one son-in-law and two grandsons, 2 cats, an old truck and the yearning to spend as much time as possible outside. Activities that I find rewarding and fun are the following: playing with my grandsons digging in the dirt and moving plants and playing word games, such as, Boogle, Scrabble, Bananagrams and Upwords and word scrambles.

My professional background includes the following experiences: employment in a neuro-rehabilitation center in Effingham, N.H., and Portland, Maine; a private practioner with services provided to the Rockland and Union Head Start programs and Child Development Services in Rockland, contracted speech services have been provided with a number of local school systems and currently, I do per diem speech pathology work for Kno-Wal-Lin.

Why do you like being a speech and language pathologist?

Language is critical to learning and having friends. It is very rewarding to see children understand language and be able to use it to communicate their wants and needs. Having a solid foundation of language is vital to academic success, as a good understanding of the lower level language skills supports the higher-level language skills. A sampling of language areas include phonology and sound production, receptive language (understanding language), expressive language (verbal output), written language, pragmatics (social language skills), augmentative communication (technology for multiple disability children) and swallowing skills.

What are your favorite student units?

My favorite student unit is building a rocket from plastic soda bottles to enhance the facilitation of language, specifically: concepts, turn- taking, motivation, pronoun usage, auditory memory, vocabulary and writing.

What is your plan for parent contact?

During school conferences I am available and will provide information regarding the tasks that are done with your child and the areas that are being concentrated on. Any questions will be addressed. If there is a need to contact me, you can do so via the school phone, school e–mail system, an informal drop-in or by a written note. I do travel between three schools and have many meetings, but I will try to contact you within a day.

What are your homework guidelines?

Most children are seen 2x’s a week, so usually 1x a week I will send home a worksheet or template for the children to work on at home. Typically, one session is a game or hands- on activity and the second session will have a worksheet to support the area that is worked on. Most of the time, I will write on the top of the sheet, practice daily or until the skill is learned.