Developmental Therapy Services

of Sacramento

Speech & Language Camp

Welcome to Developmental Therapy Services of Sacramento’s (DTS of Sac) Speech & Language Summer Camp! We are so excited for you to join us and look forward to aiding in the growth of your children. Registration happens in person or over the phone and will require completion of a registration form and a few waivers for an emergency policy, COVID, and HIPAA disclosure/ release of information. Payment(s) will be required in full up front with registration.

QUALIFYING CRITERIA

Children must be ages 6 to 12 for the Reading & Literacy group, or 3 to 12 for the Autism & Social Skills, Articulation, and Language-Based groups. Children older than 12 will be considered for groups on a case-by-case basis; please call for questions related to this. Children will be ready for the group setting when they can (at a minimum) interact in a play based manner, follow single step directions, are easily reinforced with verbal praise or age appropriate toys and reinforcers, and have a good sense of treatment or academic expectations in small group settings. Students who have trouble attending for greater than 5 minutes at a time, have aggressive behaviors, excessive refusal, or non-compliant behaviors are better suited for our 1:1 sessions.

GROUPS AVAILABLE

Autism & Social Skills: Ages 3-12. Pragmatic language is the social skills necessary to interact with others. These social skills include understanding non-verbal language, such as facial expressions and body language and conversational skills, such as social greetings, asking and answering questions, making appropriate comments, gesturing, and using body language to convey messages. Group activities will focus on increasing verbal and non-verbal social interactions, as well as decreasing less meaningful communication, such as scripting and echolalia (repeating words or phrases without conveying meaning).

Reading & Literacy: Ages: 6-12. Literacy is not only reading and writing, but also understanding what is being read and written. Reading and literacy are important because they help us apply learned concepts to personal experiences in our lives. Literacy provides the ability to recognize important ideas and grasp the more obscure parts of reading such as imagery. Skills such as grapheme (letters) to phoneme (sounds) relationships, understanding word families, and completing phonological awareness activities, such as rhyming, are foundational to reading and literacy. Group activities will focus on increasing phonological awareness skills, increasing decoding speed, and reading to children to encourage questions, comments, and ideas about what is being read.

Articulation: Ages: 3-12. Articulation focuses on using the tongue, teeth, lips, and mouth to form correct sounds while verbally speaking. Articulation is important because it helps us clearly convey messages we are trying to communicate. Activities will focus on improving speech sound productions at all levels. Intense practice will include understanding how to make the sounds, practicing while focusing on sounds, and while playing games. Students will be working on individual sounds and goals while also working to support others.

Language-Based: Ages 3-12. Language is separate from intelligence; some students have a specific difficulty in language acquisition and use. These students may struggle to use specific vocabulary, and might use replacement words such as “this” and “that” instead. They may have trouble growing their utterance length, using only 2-3 words when other kids their age might be using longer sentences, or they may not understand what little parts of words mean, such as the ‘s’ for plurals. Difficulty with understanding language can inhibit a child’s ability to learn the curriculum in class, tell stories with meaning, and effectively communicate their wants and needs. Activities will focus on increasing vocabulary and teaching concepts such as plurals, past tense, etc.

DATES & TIMES

DTS of Sac is offering two 4-week camps: one at the beginning of summer and one at the end of summer. Four (4) groups will be offered in each camp, and each group will have eight (8) sessions per camp. Sessions are one and a half (1.5) hours each and are held twice a week.

Camp 1: June 19, 2023 – July 13, 2023

  • Autism & Social Skills Group: Monday and Wednesday, 10:00 – 11:30 AM
  • Reading & Literacy Group: Monday and Wednesday, 1:00 – 2:30 PM
  • Articulation Group: Tuesday and Thursday, 10:00 – 11:30 AM
  • Language-Based Group: Tuesday and Thursday, 1:00 – 2:30

COST

Registration fee will cover ONE group per camp. You may register for more than one group in either or both camps, but separate registration fee(s) will be required.

  • Early registration: March 13, 2023 – April 23, 2023
    • 10% off of regular price (pay a total of $540 for eight (8) one and a half (1.5) hour sessions for a four (4) week camp).
  • General registration: April 24, 2023 – June 2, 2023
    • $600 for eight (8) one and a half (1.5) hour sessions for a four (4) week camp.