"The need to take things slowly and not focus on a correct response is something that I sometimes struggle with. I liked the methodical way he explained the steps and what was expected as an outcome." C.S. (Feb. 2024)

"I appreciated the reminder to help the child focus on us / people, not on toys, their clothing... I liked this focus on us as mentors and guides and the source of new learning and interaction." N.L. (Dec. 2023)

"The clearly stated 10 steps were beneficial. Clear and concise information overall." S.M. (Dec. 2023)

"I liked the step-by-step goals and strategies. Talking slow and slow like molasses not to elevate the situation and dysregulate the child was helpful." J.D. (Nov. 2023)

"All topics were beneficial. I enjoyed the entire course." R.S. (Nov. 2023)

"Well organized and clearly presented course. The importance of helping to provide effective support for a child to view others as social partners." J.H. (Nov. 2023)

"Information was relevant. I liked the specific goals and areas to focus on." A.O. (Sep. 2023)

"Specific, actionable suggestions." A.P. (Aug. 2023)

"Teaching parents to stay focused on what to do with their child was beneficial." S.A. (May 2023)

"I liked the suggested goals for starting with children at this level. Great suggestions and ideas on how to engage children in reciprocal engagement. Liked the practicality and honesty, and the validation in a lot of what I've felt was appropriate and more beneficial for children with ASD." C.I. (May 2023)

"The steps for focusing more on people were beneficial. And I liked the toy demonstrations." K.W. (Apr. 2023)

"I liked the goals for object-oriented learners." L.R. (Mar. 2023)

"The suggested goals and strategies for moving from object to people-oriented goals were/are the most beneficial for daily practice. The strategies that were provided, such as clearing the room, presenting one toy at a time, etc., were what I liked best about this course." L.A. (Feb. 2023)

"The presenter provided strategies that I can implement tomorrow in my practice. He was very knowledgeable about the topic discussed." M.H. (Jan. 2023)

"I liked the quote "this toy comes with me" and teaching the social priority. All of the examples for getting children to engage with people over toys were beneficial and I liked the idea of being a mentor vs. teacher." L.H. (Dec. 2022)

"Reminder to slow down and use a soft, low tone voice and to not feel the need to "entertain" the child. I liked the repetition of ideas and that the presenter offered ideas for goals regarding this stage of social communication." C.G. (Dec. 2022)

"I liked the step-by-step format." M.H. (Dec. 2022)

"I liked clearing the room of toys and distracting items. And less talk to gain attention of autistic students." L.W. (Dec. 2022)

"Dr. Rydell is so easy to follow. He presents his information in such an organized fashion." L.K. (Dec. 2022)

"Quick, specific ideas to share with families and caregivers. Examples and explanations were great." K.F. (Dec. 2022)

"Being a source of information to the child - this changed my thinking about my approach and set-up to therapy sessions." M.E. (Nov. 2022)

"The slides were excellent and I appreciated the presentation with the speaker in the corner of the screen." M.S. (Oct. 2022)

"Setting goals to achieve precisely what needs to be achieved, and reviewing techniques in therapy i.e. setting, materials, etc was helpful." M.S. (Oct. 2022)

"The information on how too much talking and the tone of our voice can make the autistic person withdraw or become anxious was interesting. I liked how we should not give up but continue to Reset and Repeat our activity until we notice a change in the individual. I also liked the handout." R.F. (Oct. 2022)

"Practical suggestions. I liked everything - especially the emphasis on basic things like tone of voice and physical proximity of therapist and child." A.S. (Oct. 2022)

"I LOVE this! This is such a great way to build trust and rapport and COMMUNICATION." D.J. (Sept. 2022)

"I liked the concept of clearing the room, and that I was able to see and hear the presenter." E.J. (Sept. 2022)

"The information was presented in a simple, easy format to follow." E.J. (Sept. 2022)

"Clear and specific strategies to help kids become more people oriented." A.G. (Aug. 2022)

"Course was easy to process and follow along with. I liked the basic principals of attention and methods to aid in increased directed and focused attention." A.R. (July 2022)

"I appreciated learning about the differentiation between the vital role of mentoring verses teaching skills especially during the early stages of intervention." A.M. (June 2022)

"I felt the biggest takeaway was that our models do not need to have a verbal component." R.H. (June 2022)

"Strategies are easy to use. I liked the use of slow and deliberate actions and speech." E.R. (June 2022)

"I liked the practical steps for the environment and manner to approach the student. I enjoyed the content and how the presenter paced the course as well as brought in real life examples." D.A. (May 2022)

"I liked the idea of not chasing, enticing children to come to you and view you as a source of information. Handouts will be great reminders of key points, especially when teaching assistants and parents." A.R. (Apr. 2022)

"I liked the breakdown of object vs people oriented with examples – great explanations." D.P. (Apr. 2022)

"Valuable information specifically on helping children become more people-oriented." V.A. (Mar. 2022)

"I appreciated the clear strategies for implementing this approach. To have a concrete guide for how to go about this was helpful. And the emphasis on the importance of establishing joint attention, which is so critical for working with this population. I also appreciated that the presenter provided some ideas of goals that could be relevant to this process." M.H. (Mar. 2022)

"I was interested in hearing about the importance of low energy levels.  The slides were helpful in following along."  J.R. (Mar. 2022)

"I loved the step-by-step hierarchy of achieving this, most vital, goal for children with ASD."  M.F. (Feb. 2022)

"I appreciated the simple break downs presented. Great slide information to support speaker's focus." A.K. (Feb. 2022)

"Clearing the room, simplifying and not talking. As an SLP, I've been preaching 'not talking' to colleagues for many years - it's nice to have back-up!" E.M. (Jan. 2022)

"I will be more conscious of clearing the space of additional toys and stimuli and prompting less. The instructor was pleasant to listen to and covered the points in the outlines and goals presented in the beginning of the session." K.M. (Dec. 2021)

"All of the topics presented in the course were beneficial for my daily practice." A.M. (Dec. 2021)

“Loved the overall review of how to approach this issue. The presenter's knowledge and the examples he offered were great. I liked his teaching style.” A.N. (Dec. 2021)

"I enjoyed the discussion on reducing distractions in the space and focusing on showing play first before letting the child take the object."  S.W. (Nov. 2021)

"The entire discussion about the 10 strategies to increase a child's people oriented learning style was great! It was a clear discussion with well spelled out points and very geared to parents. I felt that it was very important to make this course parent friendly because it works and trains these strategies across settings, the home being the child's main setting for working on these strategies. This brings home and school closer together for generalization of this learning style."  A.H. (Oct. 2021)

"Content presented in a well organized sequence, a lot of information presented at a non-hurried pace." R.T. (Aug. 2021)

"Establishing joint attention and using modeling and demonstration, can set a child up for life-long learning. I liked the direct style of instruction." K.M. (Aug. 2021)

"The idea that establishing social orientation and focus comes before requiring the student to give correct responses is helpful. The course was very organized."  A.S. (Aug. 2021)

"Learning to slow down and consider that your energy level could be a factor in creating anxiety or withdrawal will be beneficial in my daily practice.  The course presented clear principles to help change a child's focus." H.L. (Aug. 2021)

"The topic that is most beneficial for my daily practice is that you should use others to help with the social interaction as models and to make things as natural as possible." C.M. (July 2021)

"The reminders of how to 'control' environment for interaction was helpful for my daily practice. The importance of interaction/engagement foundation skills first was great!!" J.M. (July 2021)

"The hope that ASD kids will not always view others as an annoyance." M.H. (July 2021)

"The 10 strategies to follow when trying to establish people oriented vs object oriented interactions. The behavior styles of modeling, providing new information, modeling conventional actions with objects, of the adult being the "wingman" and source of useful information for the child to learn to seek them out will be beneficial for my practice.  I liked the visuals that were printed out on the screen to follow as Dr. Rydell discussed." S.L. (July 2021)

"Goals and strategies for building strengths in social communication, with establishing a primary focus on people versus objects.  The relevance of the topic, practicality, and presenter style is good." L.K. (May 2021)

“The entire program is very beneficial. It was presented in a wonderful way for implementation.” L.B. (Mar. 2021)

This program is offered for 0.1 ASHA CEUs (Intermediate Level; Professional Area).

ASHA CEUs: NSS online courses are registered with ASHA and are offered for ASHA CEUs. The number of ASHA CEUs is noted above. Note that 0.1 ASHA CEU = 1 contact hour = equals 1 CEE.

ASHA CEUs: Attendees must meet at least one of the following conditions in order to be eligible to earn ASHA CEUs:

• Current ASHA Member.
• ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) Holder.
• Licensed by a state or provincial regulatory agency to practice speech-language pathology (SLP) or audiology.
• Credentialed by a state regulatory agency to practice SLP or audiology.
• Credentialed by a national regulatory agency to practice SLP or audiology.
• Engaged in a Clinical Fellowship under the supervision of an individual with their ASHA CCC.
• Currently enrolled in a master's or doctoral program in SLP or audiology.

If an attendee is not an ASHA member or CCC holder but meets any of the above criteria, they may inform the ASHA CE Registry of their eligibility by visiting this site.

Customer Support: Please phone 888.337.3866 or email info@northernspeech.com.

Course Completion Timeframe:

You have unlimited time to complete our online courses. You may log off and log on as often as you’d like to in order to complete all sections of a course.

However, completion dates are based on Eastern Standard Time. Therefore, if you need your CEUs by a certain date, be sure to complete the course test before 11:59pm EST on that date. For example, if you need CEUs before January 1st, you will need to complete the course test before 11:59pm EST on December 31st.

Content Access:

Access to course materials and content does not expire, even after completing the post test. You may continue to review course material by logging into your NSS account, clicking the My Online Courses tab, and then viewing your desired course.

Certificate of Completion:

On successful completion of the post test (80%), a certificate will be immediately available for download and/or printing. This certificate will include your name, date of completion (based on Eastern Time Zone, USA/Canada), and number of contact hours (CEUs / CEEs). Please note that CEUs are awarded on the date of successful test completion, not the date of course enrollment. Please ensure that you successfully complete the post test prior to any licensure renewal dates.

ASHA CE Registry Submission:

During the enrollment process, if you select to receive ASHA credit for this course and if you provide your ASHA number, NSS will automatically submit your CEU information to the ASHA CE Registry after successful course completion (80% on post test). This submission happens once per month, during the first week of the month. For example, if you complete your course on November 7th, NSS will submit all November online course CEUs to ASHA during the first week of December. When ASHA inputs the information into their database, they will mark the course as completed on the last day of the month in which it was completed, so November 30th using this example. The certificate of completion available for you to print immediately, however, will reflect the actual completion date, November 7th in this example. Due to ASHA processing procedures please allow 2-3 weeks, from the submission date, for the course to appear on your ASHA transcript.

Purchase Orders:

Purchase orders are currently not accepted for online orders, if you wish to submit a purchase order please do so at info@northernspeech.com or fax to 888-696-9655.

What is an Online Course?

Our Online Courses consist of video, audio, and/or text content and are offered for ASHA CEUs. Unlike a webinar, which requires participants to be logged on and at a computer at specific times, our Online Courses are available to you at any time, from any device, via your NorthernSpeech.com online account. You may work at your own pace and start and stop your course as you wish. Your course will conclude with a short post test. On successful completion of the post test (>80%), a printable certificate of completion is presented to you.

Receiving CEUs:

Northern Speech is an ASHA CE Provider and our online courses are registered with ASHA and offered for ASHA CEUs. Please note that successful completion of the online post test is required prior to the awarding of CEUs. Please contact your state licensing board for acceptance policies related to CEUs earned online. Please note that courses offered for university students are not applicable for CEUs.

Registering for an online course:

You may browse all online courses by clicking the Continuing Education tab above, then Online Courses. Once you find a course, click Enroll Now, and you will be asked to either log into your existing Northern Speech account or create a new online account. Once you’ve entered your account information and provided your credit card payment, your course will be immediately available to you.

Accessing your purchased course or returning to a purchased course:

You will be able to access your online course by logging into your Northern Speech account and then clicking the My Online Courses tab on your profile screen. Click the course you would like to start or to resume. From there, proceed through the course sections until you are ready to complete the post test. You do not have to complete your course all at once. You may log on and off as you wish.

Testing requirements:

Each online course concludes with a post test consisting of multiple choice or true & false questions. Scores of 80% or greater are required for successful course completion and awarding of CEUs. You may revisit course materials and retest as needed to achieve a passing score.

Number of CEUs offered:

We offer courses from 1 to 21 contact hours. Each course will note the number of CEUs offered. Please note that 0.1 CEU = 1 contact hour = 1 CEE.

State licensing boards and online CEUs:

NSS is an ASHA CE Provider and most state licensing boards DO accept ASHA CEUs earned online (usually classified as home-study credits). Some boards do, however, place a limit to the number of CEUs that can be earned via home study/online courses. For the most current information, we suggest that you contact your licensing board or agency to verify acceptance policies and/or any CEU limits related to home-study courses prior to enrolling in an online course.

Course formats:

Our course formats include: text, audio, video, and PowerPoint with author narration. Each course will note the format on the course description page. Most courses include closed captioning.

Course handouts:

Most of our online courses provide a link to download the accompanying handout as a PDF file. 

Group discounts:

Groups of 3 or more are eligible for a 20% discount on each registration on most of our online courses. To receive this discount, registrations need to be processed together via the "Group Rates" tab on the Online Course of your choice.

Computer requirements:

For our online courses to function best, we recommend that you update your computer to include the newest version of your Internet browser (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Internet Explorer, etc.) and newest version of your computer's operating system. Also a high-speed Internet connection is recommended (cable or DSL). Speakers or headphones will be required for many of our courses as many contain audio components.

Course Cancellation Policy:

A purchased online course can be exchanged, refunded, or transferred to another individual if contact is made with NSS (via phone or email) within 30 days of purchase and the course materials have not been viewed or downloaded. 

Special Needs:

Please click here for any special needs requests, and we will do our best to accommodate them. 

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