I like to shop for therapy materials and sometimes it is a nice break in the day to sift through the toy aisles and take a gander at what’s new and exciting! But, there is always a but, I am continually hopeful the toy manufactures do not take some of the good ones away. In my … [Read more…]
I wanted to lead with a shout out to one of my high school cronies. She said “I don’t know anything about speech therapy but I will gladly follow your blog. Throw in a high school story and that will even better.” (We will eek one or two in at some point!). So, thank … [Read more…]
I have been on vacation this week and I was thinking about our little language learners while walking through the streets of New York! First time visitor and I feel blessed for the opportunity. And, I felt compelled to take a bunch of pictures. Why share this information in a speech blog post? Between the … [Read more…]
Many of the kids I see learn from direct teaching vs. spontaneous learning from the environment. (What does this mean?) And, often times, the child is demonstrating skills but not consistently. Do you have a child that has many skills but does not answer on a regular basis when you ask a question? The child might … [Read more…]
Over the next couple of months I am going to share some posts about my favorite toys and how I use the toys in therapy to encourage receptive and expressive language. We will also discuss ways the toys can be used to help with attention and joint attention. If you enjoy my weekly posts and want … [Read more…]
Toy selection… So many toys, options and opinions about toys. Ha! No One Asked Me But… The toy stores are inundated with colors, numbers, shapes and letters. I love finding some good ole simple toys that provide tons of playing options and allow for a variety of learning opportunities. Especially for our concrete thinkers who … [Read more…]
This week I wanted to discuss coinciding topics that I have observed often in the past couple of years: low tone and reflux. (Take a gander at my two other posts touching on our “low tone” kiddos: Low Tone: It Is Not Just a Speech Thing and Kiddos Who Overstuff at Mealtimes.) A colleague and I were … [Read more…]
Sometimes in life we are turned to look at ourselves and our own social emotional well-being. Life presents us with a challenge, a loss, a change so we turn to our support system and to ourselves. Us therapists are human beings too. We make mistakes. We go through life’s trials and tribulations. I need to … [Read more…]
One of the consistent challenges I encounter in my practice is getting others on board with the idea that the child who is not verbally communicating his/her needs might benefit from other therapies. I often hear that “my only concern is speech; he is not talking.” Many times that same child is running through the house, is … [Read more…]
Food! Great topic for this week’s post! I love going to the grocery store and thinking about food that some of my kiddos may eat. For today, the focus will not be so much on picky eaters but my “mouth stuffers”; the kiddos that like a lot of food in their mouth at once. These … [Read more…]