Day: May 12, 2019

Amy Jandrisevits, a former Wisconsin social worker in pediatric oncology realized that play dolls marketed for children were lacking in inclusivity and diversity. She decided to passionately pursue doll creation starting with GoFundMe to raise funds for providing dolls to children in need.  Through access to her website “A Doll Like Me”, dolls are available for purchase for children of all colors, genders, and body types. She also stressed the importance of having dolls available to children who may have limb differences, cleft pallet, birthmarks, etc. to ensure all children with differences and disabilities are represented in the world around them. Her initiative is growing in popularity, with thousands of followers on Facebook and Instagram supporting her in this cause.

May is Better Hearing & Speech Month (BHSM).  It is a great time to spotlight the importance of early detection and treatment of communication disorders. Speech-language pathologists assess and treat difficulties in: speech (pronunciation) language (understanding and using words and sentences) stuttering literacy (reading and writing) social skills listening and auditory processing voice feeding and swallowing How do you know if your child should see a speech-language pathologist? Some potential warning signs of speech and language problems include: you or other people are having difficulty understanding your child (by age 3, a familiar listener should understand at least 75% of what your child says; by age 5, children should be able to say most speech sounds.) people think your child