At Open Lines®, our accent modification program utilizes multisensory approaches to help you achieve your treatment goals. You will begin with an in-depth and comprehensive evaluation by a licensed speech-language pathologist (SLP) who will assess your ability to perceive differences in speech sound production and articulate the sounds of Standard American English. Speech rate, stress, and intonation patterns that characterize your individual speaking abilities will also be examined.

During the assessment, your clinician will determine how you produce the sounds of Standard American English and whether you are bringing the intonation or stress patterns from your native language(s) into English production. Information from the evaluation helps your specialist develop an individualized plan of action which incorporates your personal goals and speaking demands and uses tailored exercises, which target correctly and naturally modifying your accent.

In sessions, your SLP will help you target your ability to hear and discriminate subtle differences in speech sound production. Your SLP will also show you how to produce English with less of an accent by using standard stress and intonation patterns of standard American English.

You will progress from working on individual sounds in isolation to producing sounds at word, sentence, paragraph, and conversational levels. Your SLP will also guide you through techniques to shift your pacing, intonation, and stress at the word and sentence levels to be better understood.