Nationwide there is tremendous opportunity for speech and language professionals to grow their career and income by offering accent reduction services and becoming a corporate communication specialist. Accent Reduction 101 fully outlines how to identify accented patterns and provides a full step-by-step guide on how to offer accent reduction programs. Our program motto is, “By Monday, you will be ready for your first client.”

Learning Outcomes , Day One (.55 ASHA CEUs)

By the end of day one, participants will demonstrate the ability to:

• List and contrast accented habits across cultures.
• Describe how to eliminate accented traits.
• Apply American intonation techniques and understand how they are the foundation for accent reduction.
• Explain how to teach consonant and vowel sounds.
• Assess and profile accented speech samples.

By the end of day one, you will have the program materials, teaching techniques and assessment skills needed to successfully analyze and reduce your client's accent. The Accent Reduction 101 Instructor's Manual is included with your price!

Day two will continue with teaching vowel sound accuracy through oral resonance principals. Focus on speech and voice aspects such as optimal pitch and diaphragm breathing and how it relates to effective communication will be profiled. More assessment and how to clinically build 12 week programs is also included. Business basics and how to launch a practice will be taught. Key features will include presenting fees with confidence, establishing corporate contracts, finding clients, marketing and advertising.

Learning Outcomes , Day Two (Total 1.0 ASHA CEUs)

By the end of this program participants will demonstrate the ability to:

• Explain vowel sounds, resonance and vocal pitch relationships.
• Explain how to teach voice improvement basics such as optimal pitch and diaphragm breathing and how it relates to corporate communication.
• Apply deeper assessment techniques and clinically build 3 different accent reduction 12 hour programs.
• Summarize how to launch a business with the ability to:
  -Demonstrate techniques for presenting fees with confidence. -List insider tips for approaching corporations.
  -Understand the basics for writing “Service Level Agreements” for companies
  -Summarize marketing and advertising strategies that work.
  -Summarize other aspects of corporate communication opportunities.

Agenda for Day 1

8:00-8:30 Registration
8:30-9:00 Accented behaviors across cultures
9:00-9:30 How clients can use their skills functionally in the real world
9:30-10:15 Intonation: The foundation for accent reduction

• Slowing down fast speech
• Eliminating facial and laryngeal tension
• Oral resonation application
• Eliminating foreign speech traits

10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-11:00 Practicum : Teaching intonation and reducing muscular tension
11:00-12:00 Assessing and profiling regional and foreign speech

• Analyzing auditory and videotaped accented speech samples

12:00-1:00 Lunch (on your own)

1:00-2:30 Pronunciation of consonant sounds

• The expanded /R/ and /L/ program

2:30-2:45 Break
2:45-3:30 Teaching vowel sounds to clients
3:30 Adjourn

Agenda for Day 2

8:00-8:30 Sign in
8:30-9:00 Teaching American vowel sounds and importance of oral resonance and vocal pitch tones

• Techniques on how to present fees with confidence
• Marketing and advertising
• Free local and national business resources
• Building clientele and practice management

9:00-10:00 How to teach optimal, vocal pitch and diaphragm breathing.
Practicum : Teaching the skills to others
10:00-11:00 Practicum: Deep Assessment and Program Design: Clinically build three 12-week programs for 3 cultural groups: Japanese, French, Columbian/Spanish. Identify similarities and differences across programs.
11:00-11:30 Turn your skills into cash! How to start a small business

• Building clientele and practice management
• Marketing and advertising skills

11:30-12:30 Lunch (on your own)
12:30-2:00 Business Development Continued…

• Techniques on presenting fees with confidence
• Key points for writing service agreements with corporations
• Practicum: Building a business plan

2:00 Adjourn