Day: December 12, 2023

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is warning parents to pay more attention to noise in their everyday activities. Not only can environmental noise, such as traffic noise, or a television playing in the background, affect learning, sleep, and quality of life, chronic noise exposure can harm hearing in infants, children and teens. Common sources of indoor noise include appliances, infant sleep (white noise) machines, video games, toys, and televisions. Personal listening devices are being used more frequently, even by young children. The concern is not only with the volume of the noise, but also how long and how often children are exposed to noise. Children are more susceptible to harm because their hearing system is still developing. Additionally, the

To help educate parents, caregivers, and related professionals about the development of speech, language, hearing, feeding and swallowing skills, the American Speech Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) has recently updated its developmental milestones for hearing, speech, and language (birth to 5) and added a new resource on feeding and swallowing milestones (birth to 3). The communication (hearing, speech, language) milestones show the ages by which at least 75% of American English–speaking children have developed communication skills. Each milestone is supported by research and includes a reference list. The feeding and swallowing milestones checklist (which is also available in Spanish) reports the ages by which at least 75% of children worldwide have mastered the skills. They are based on international research

Siblings, older or younger, can be an excellent peer model for kids receiving speech and language therapy and this can be very motivating Have siblings help with turn-taking activities. Choose a fun game and get siblings involved by taking turns appropriately while playing a game with their brother or sister. Learning to take turns appropriately can help siblings get along better outside of therapy Siblings can help set appropriate goals; have the siblings help create functional goals in the home setting. For example, you may ask your child “when is it hard for you to understand what your brother/sister is saying?” He or she may provide examples which is helpful to establish functional goals at home Siblings can be helpful

As the holiday season approaches, check out some of these fun treats to make at home or during therapy sessions! Working together to make treats can address a variety of skills: following directions, expressive language, speech targets, executive functioning to name a few. Strawberry Santa Hats: https://www.iheartnaptime.net/strawberry-santa/ No Bake Christmas Tree Cookies https://www.thereciperebel.com/bake-christmas-tree-cookies/ Melting Snowman Cookies: https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/melted-snowman-sugar-cookies/91c4a274-78a1-4cba-b890-52563d6cd670 Candy Dreidels https://toriavey.com/candy-dreidels/ Kwanza Rice Krispies https://www.ricekrispies.com/en_US/recipes/kwanzaa-treats-recipe.html New Years Clock Cookies https://everydaydishes.com/holiday/new-years-eve-clock-sugar-cookie-recipe/