Resources · Documents & tools

The tools Nicole reaches for every day

Free screeners, assessment charts and references for SLPs and students. Download them, print them and use them in your next session.

Browse the tools
1Start with the child3Find the learning stage7Track every trial
Step 1 on a phone: start with the child, with an example child loaded
Step 3: the planner suggests the child's learning stage, from acquisition to learning
Step 7, in session: tap correct or incorrect for each trial and see when to fade support

Made by Nicole · Coming soon

Connecting the Dots Planner

A free, interactive planner that walks you through the principles of motor learning for one child, then helps you plan and run the session. Every suggestion links back to a principle.

  1. 1The child
  2. 2Pre-practice
  3. 3Learning stage
  4. 4Practice
  5. 5Cueing
  6. 6Feedback
  7. 7In session
  8. 8The plan
  • Find where the child is on the path from acquisition to learning
  • Set practice conditions, cueing and feedback for that stage
  • Track every trial in session and see when to fade support
  • Download a filled-in PDF of your plan when you're done

A companion to Nicole's invited session at the 2026 ASHA Convention, Connecting the Dots of Motor-Based Intervention: Principles of Motor Learning in Real-World Practice. The planner will be available here soon.

First page of the Model and Replica Chart Assessment

Made by Nicole

Model & Replica Chart Assessment

A quick addition to a comprehensive speech assessment for your more challenging cases. It guides you to look at syllable position against the child's current skills, so the treatment plan follows from what you find.

You'll be amazed how much you learn when you take the time to do an independent analysis of a child's skill level.

Fill it in right in Adobe Acrobat Reader, Mac Preview, Chrome or Edge, then save it (in a browser, use Download) before you close it. Your answers stay in the file.

Download the MRC 0.5 MB

Free for clinicians

Three CAS tools Nicole uses in sessions

The two pages of the original ProCAD: the Auditory-Perceptual Feature Rating Checklist and the diagnostic flow chart

ChecklistIuzzini-Seigel, Allison & Stoeckel, 2022

ProCAD Feature Rating Checklist

Rate auditory-perceptual speech features to help tell childhood apraxia of speech apart from pediatric dysarthria. Includes the ProCAD diagnostic flow chart.

Download PDF 0.4 MB
The CAS ABCD Framework for Goal Writing, a figure from Case, Caspari, Aggarwal and Stoeckel (2024)

FrameworkCase, Caspari, Aggarwal & Stoeckel, 2024

ABCDs of Goal Writing for CAS

A step-by-step framework for writing motor-based goals for children with CAS: Actor, Behavior, Conditions and Degree.

View article
The DTTC Hierarchy chart from the PRACTICE network, developed according to Strand (2020)

ChartStrand, 2020

DTTC Hierarchy Chart

The DTTC steps from simultaneous production to spontaneous speech, with rate and prosody changes and the cues to adjust as the child responds.

Download PDF 0.4 MB
Cover of The STRIVE Framework for target selection in childhood apraxia of speech, marked coming soon

Framework

The STRIVE Framework for Target Selection in Childhood Apraxia of Speech

A step-by-step way to choose DTTC target words and phrases for each child, weighing meaning, function and challenge point, with the child and family's input.

Coming soon

More essential resources

Screeners and references

Cover of the Dynamic Evaluation of Motor Speech Skill (DEMSS) Manual

AssessmentStrand & McCauley · Brookes Publishing

DEMSS: Dynamic Evaluation of Motor Speech Skill

The dynamic assessment Nicole relies on for young children with severe speech sound disorders: it shows how much motor planning is part of the picture, and helps tell CAS apart from other disorders. Watch Nicole use it.

Get the manual from Brookes
First page of the Articulation Screener

ScreenerFrom Mommy Speech Therapy and Little Bee Speech

Articulation Screener

One of Nicole's favorite free articulation screeners. Point to each picture, mark the sound in the initial, medial and final position, and see at a glance where a child's errors fall.

Download PDF 0.9 MB
First page of the Oral Motor Function & Early Speech Screener

ScreenerClinical checklist

Oral Motor Function & Early Speech Screener

A one-page checklist for imitation of oral movements, early sounds and syllable shapes, plus the feeding and sleep questions to ask a caregiver.

Download PDF 10 KB
First page of the Severity and Intervention Matrix

ReferenceAdapted from ASHA

Severity and Intervention Matrix

Mild to profound ratings for articulation, language, fluency and voice, with the matching service level, on one page.

Download PDF 22 KB
First page of the IPA Symbols Chart

ReferenceInternational Phonetic Alphabet

IPA Symbols Chart

The full International Phonetic Alphabet chart for transcription: consonants, vowels, diacritics and suprasegmentals.

Download PDF 1.0 MB

On Substack

The Thinking Clinician

Clinical reasoning in pediatric motor speech: a space to explore the thinking behind therapy.

Latest: What Are You Actually Watching For?

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Free essays on the thinking behind therapy. Read the latest