Professional Development

The Hanen Centre’s two and three day workshops provide intensive, experiential training to speech-language pathologists/therapists who provide services to preschool children with language delays (birth to six years) and their families and caregivers. Certification is provided upon completion of the workshop.

Hanen workshops train SLP/Ts to involve parents and teachers in the child’s early language intervention so they gain the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively facilitate the child’s language development. Grounded in research, the Hanen model of early language intervention constitutes an innovative, family-focused approach that has become world-renowned.

Each workshop addresses a particular population of children, helping speech-language pathologists recognize and meet the particular needs of the group being served.

Hanen Intervention Program Workshops:

Hanen Prevention Program Workshop:

Workshop Objectives

• At a Hanen certification workshop, SLP/Ts will learn to:
  Involve parents/teachers in the child’s early language intervention, and empower them to take an active role, so that intervention is an ongoing part of the child’s everyday life
• Use adult education principles to help parents learn to apply responsive strategies with their child in naturalistic contexts
• Use coaching, videotaping and feedback to facilitate parents’ generalization of strategies to multiple contexts
• Teach parent in groups so they benefit from the support of others in similar situations

Workshop Format

Hanen Workshops are intensive and experiential. Participants take part in hands-on activities to experience the process of leading a Hanen Program or applying the Hanen approach, which draw heavily on principles of adult learning and family-centred practice. Participants plan and present part of a simulated group session. They also simulate conducting individual video feedback sessions, which includes analyzing videotaped parent-child or teacher-child interactions and providing feedback geared to the child’s needs and the parent/teacher’s stage in the learning process. Discussion regarding application of the Hanen approach to general clinical practice allows speech-language pathologists to plan how to utilize program principles and strategies in their own settings.

Since Hanen workshops are highly interactive and require each participant to practice leading various components of a Hanen Program, the number of participants is limited to 14 with one Hanen Instructor and 24 with two Hanen Instructors.

Professional Accreditation

The Hanen Centre’s workshops for SLPs are approved by the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and are registered for ASHA CEUs (workshops in the U.S. & Canada).

Hanen Instructors

Specially trained Hanen Instructors lead Hanen Workshops for SLP/Ts around the world. Our skilled instructors, from Canada, the United States, The United Kingdom, Ireland, The Netherlands and Australia, have received extensive training in leading Hanen Workshops.

Hanen Certification for Speech-Language Pathologists

Our certification process for speech-language pathologists ensures the continued quality and consistency of all Hanen Programs around the world.

Upon completion of the 3-Day Hanen Certification Workshop on Takes Two To Talk – The Hanen Program® for Parents, speech-language pathologists become Hanen Certified for two years. They receive accreditation of their certified status upon signing a Cooperative Agreement with The Hanen Centre. This agreement licenses them to run It Takes Two To Talk – The Hanen Program® for Parents according to specified guidelines and to use the Hanen name and logo when running the program. Certification is renewable every two years for a nominal fee.

With this Level One Certification, speech-language pathologists who maintain their certification are eligible to attend Advanced Hanen Workshops that enable them to run other Hanen Programs.