Meet Cait

(Caitlin Downie- M.S., CCC-SLP)

Cait (Caitlin) is the founder and lead clinician at Connecting Dots Speech Therapy. Cait is an ASHA certified-speech language pathologist (SLP). She received her Masters degree in Speech Language Pathology at Florida State University in 2016. After working in various school districts and Early Intervention settings around the country as a traveler, Cait established Connecting Dots Speech Therapy to set roots and focus on her specialty interests. Cait is passionate about working with Autism Spectrum Disorders, severe speech sound disorders and motor speech disorders (Apraxia).

In her free time you can find Cait adventuring outdoors, playing beach volleyball, painting, and teaching Acroyoga.

Contact Cait

CAIT SPECIALIZES IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:

  • DELAYED ECHOLALIA (AKA- SCRIPTING): Certified in Natural Language Acquisition (NLA). Gestalt Language Processors (most Autistic children) require a specialized approach to language treatment. We use a CHILD-LED approach to engage your child and help them move through the NLA stages toward self-generate language. Learn more about echolalia

  • CHILDHOOD APRAXIA OF SPEECH: Apraxia is a neurological impairment that affects motor programming of speech movements. Apraxia involves a unique/specialized approach in terms of functional target selection, blocked practice and specific feedback. Trained in PROMPT and DTTC.

  • SPEECH SOUND DISORDERS: PHONOLOGICAL DISORDERS focus on rule-based errors that affect more than one sound (e.g., fronting, stopping, and final consonant deletion). Phonological Disorders can impact a child’s ability to be understood and their early literacy skills. ARTICULATION DISORDERS focus on errors in production of individual speech sounds (e.g., lisp or /R/ difficulties). Learn more about SSD

  • ALTERNATIVE AUGMENTED COMMUNICATION (AAC): children who are non-verbal, limitted verbal, or have low intelligibility may benefit from high-tech devices, sign language, communication boards etc. Cait is experienced with Proloquo2Go and TouchChat

  • SELECTIVE MUTISM: i.e- Selective Mutism is defined as a consistent inability to communicate in specific social situations despite speaking in other situations. We treat these anxiety based disorders, in collaboration with mental health professionals with a behavioral approach, environmental accommodations and teacher/caregiver training.

“All kids need is a little help, a little hope, and somebody who believes in them”

— Magic Johnson