Beth Waite-Lafever, MA-CCC/SLP-ATP, recently retired from a 30 year career providing speech/language services at EasterSeals/Crossroads and in the Greenfield, IN public schools and surrounding counties. Never one to rest on her laurels, Beth is now working at CRG on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She provides a wealth of services to children, teens, and adults. Beth conducts evaluations and provides educational services related to her two areas of expertise: speech/language issues and educational technology.
In order to share some of her knowledge with families, educators, and community partners, Beth has launched a video series on CRG’s YouTube channel, which can be accessed from our website.
Beth plans to post a new video about once a month. With many years of experience working with students and families, teaching college courses, and making state and national presentations, Beth’s own communication skills are tremendously “user friendly.” She combines practical information with a clear, straightforward speaking style. These brief educational videos will provide information about a current topic and explain related services at CRG that can assist clients/families with these issues. Her first video is about pragmatic language skills, which refers to the appropriate use of speech and language in social situations. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, pragmatics is a social language skill that falls into three categories. Using Language helps us greet people, make requests, and gather information. Changing Language allows us to alter our speaking style to the needs of the listener and determine how much detail that listener may need. Following Rules allows us to take turns, stay on topic, and rephrase what we’ve said if we are misunderstood. As children grow up, effective pragmatic language skills can have a profound effect on social well being, making and keeping friends, and being viewed as intelligent. Many students with speech/language issues and those on the autism spectrum, however, need direct instruction in order to develop these competencies.
Be sure to check back each month for Beth’s latest video about topics of interest to a wide group of people!
