Understanding PROMPT Therapy

PROMPT stands for "Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets”. PROMPT therapy is a tactile-kinesthetic approach designed to help individuals with articulation disorders, phonological disorders, and motor speech disorders such as Childhood Apraxia of Speech and Dysarthria. PROMPT integrates the following key components:

1. Tactile Feedback: The therapist uses touch to guide the client's articulators (i.e., lips, tongue, jaw, larynx) into the correct positions for producing speech sounds. It provides individuals with the necessary sensory input for how speech sounds should feel and how they should sound.

2. Motor Planning: The therapy supports the development of motor planning by giving a clearer understanding of the coordinate and sequence of movements of the articulators needed to produce speech sounds accurately.

3. Individualized Approach: Each client is unique, and PROMPT assessment targets the client’s speech abilities, motor skills, and overall communication goals.

To become a PROMPT certified clinician, a speech-language pathologist must complete the PROMPT training courses and fulfill various certification criteria set by the PROMPT Institute. Parkwood Clinic has speech-language pathologists who are PROMPT trained and are ready to provide support.