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Business Excellence Awards: Richmond's Advantage wins Small Business

Advantage Speech-Language Pathology is dedicated to providing assessment, treatment and consultative services for children, adolescents and adults.
Advantage
Shari Linde (left), founder and director of Advantage Speech Language Pathology, received her award from Carrie Wertheim of Vancity.

Advantage Speech-Language Pathology is dedicated to providing assessment, treatment and consultative services for children, adolescents and adults. 

The clinic is located in Steveston, but they also frequently travel into homes, schools, daycares, community settings and private facilities.

Advantage SLP was initially established as a solo practitioner in 2003.  Since that time, it has grown to 13 therapists, four administrators and eight volunteers and assistants.

Communication is a critical skill across the lifespan. For example, in very young children, speech-language pathologists will work on teaching strategies to parents and caregivers to facilitate communication and social skills development. 

As children age, therapists will address concerns such as language development, pronunciation, stuttering, vocal issues, oral motor skills, literacy development and social interaction. 

In adults, therapists may assist clients to improve their accents to succeed in the workforce, provide strategies for a healthy voice, or utilize exercises to address communication difficulties arising from neurological causes.

When verbal communication is not possible, a speech-language pathologist will assist with setting up both low-tech and high-tech communication systems.

Speech-language pathologists are also key members of the team for feeding and swallowing disorders in individuals of all ages.