Overview

First Words Preschool Speech and Language Program focuses on the prevention, early identification and treatment of speech and language problems. All our resources and services are free for Ottawa families and children (until they are eligible for Senior Kindergarten). These resources and services include:

Prevention:
Our outreach workers attend playgroups, fairs and child-friendly events and offer parent workshops throughout the City of Ottawa.  See “Workshops & Events” for more information.

Milestone Brochures:
These brochures describe some of  children’s skills at different stages of their communication development up to the age of five years.  You will find these brochures in the ”Downloads” section.   Check out these brochures or click on “How is my child doing?” to see if your child is on track.

Screening Clinics:
If you have concerns about your child’s speech and language development, bring him/her to a screening clinic. The screening, which will take about 20 minutes, with a speech-language pathologist will determine if further speech and language follow-up is needed as well as provide suggestions and answer any questions you may have.

Assessment and Therapy:
Upon visiting a screening clinic, the speech-language pathologist may suggest that your child could benefit from a complete speech and language assessment. This could lead to your child receiving speech-language therapy.