Author: Elizabeth Novak-Czech MA CCC SLP

The New Year is a great time to teach kids the value of goal setting. It’s a chance to practice and build skills such as planning, persistence, and self-reflection while boosting their confidence. Tips for Goal-Setting with Kids: Explain Goals Simply Discuss what goals are and why they’re important. Keep Goals Age-Appropriate Tailor goals to your child’s age. Younger kids can aim for simple goals, like reading a new book, while older kids can tackle longer-term objectives. Write It Down Have kids write their goals, draw their goals, or create a vision board. Celebrate Progress Acknowledge milestones to keep them motivated, whether through words of encouragement or small rewards. Stay Flexible Help kids adapt their goals if needed. Flexibility is a valuable skill for overcoming challenges.

Valentine’s Day is an excellent opportunity to engage children in interactive language activities. These activities encourage kids to express themselves, expand their vocabulary, and strengthen their communication skills.  1. Valentine’s Vocabulary Hunt Create a word scavenger hunt with a Valentine’s Day twist! Write Valentine-themed words like “love,” “heart,” “friendship,” and “kindness” on small cards, and hide them around the room. Provide kids with a checklist and challenge them to find and talk about what each word means. 2. Love Letter Writing Encourage kids to write letters to someone they care about. It could be a family member, friend, teacher, or even a pet! Provide paper, stickers, and markers to make their letters extra special. For younger children, provide sentence starters

  Speech therapy for young children is play-based and may look exactly like play time. How this differs from play time with the child’s mom, dad, or other children is the strategies that the speech therapist uses during play with the child. During play-based therapy, therapists will often follow a child’s lead to best support engagement and promote communication opportunities. While engaging with toys and activities, the therapist will use techniques such as getting on the child’s level on the floor, parallel talk (i.e., narrating wth the child is doing), adding an additional word to the child’s utterance, setting up turn-taking opportunities, and modeling different types of play. While it may look like a therapist is just playing with your

Fall provides many opportunities to expand your child’s speech and language skills. Here are some fall-related ideas: 1. Make Leaves: Use construction paper to cut various sizes of leaves. You can then sort by color, shape, and/or size. 2. Count Apple or Pumpkin Seeds: Cut an apple in half or cut open a pumpkin and count how many seeds are inside. If you choose to use a pumpkin, you can also roast the pumpkin seeds. Talk with your child about the steps you take (cleaning the seeds, laying them on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, and bake, etc.). 3. Collect Leaves: Go on a nature walk around your school or neighborhood. Allow your child to collect different colors, shapes,

Have you noticed that your child has trouble saying the /r/ sound? The /r/ sound is one of the most used sounds in English. Therefore, when it is not produced correctly, speech can sound distorted. The /r/ sound is typically acquired later in development with it maturing completely around the age of 6. As this sound develops later, it can be wrongly decided to do nothing about it. Sometimes waiting is the right thing to do, but other times intervention and therapy are needed. As a child grows older and may not be able to produce the /r/ sound in their language, they become more aware of their problem and this can negatively affect their confidence. The right thing to do is to have

Development of  Play Play is engaging with an activity for enjoyment. Young children learn and explore their  environment through play. Play develops and becomes more complex as children age. It reveals multiple aspects of a child’s development such as ability to take turns, problem solving, gross and fine motor skills, sequencing, etc. The following describes each type of play and behaviors that are observed during each period of development: *Unoccupied play (birth-3 months): Babies engage in body movements with no clear purpose. *Solitary play (birth-2 years old) : Children engage with toys appropriately on their own such as rolling a ball, pushing a car, and hugging a doll. *Onlooker play (2-2.5 years old): Children will watch others play or ask questions about

Writing assignments can be overwhelming and challenging for kids with a language disorder. The following are steps or “chunks” that can be utilized for a variety of writing tasks to support your child in completing the assignments. Review the type of writing: Determine what type of writing is needed to complete the assignment (e.g., persuasive, narrative, analysis, research, etc.). List the tasks and develop a timeline: Generate a to-do list for the assignment and assign each step a due date. Steps may include gathering research, completing a graphic organizer, developing a thesis statement, etc. Gather resources needed: This may include the text that needs to be read or for  research. Read and highlight information. Support your child in determining the most

Reading is composed of two different concepts which include word recognition and comprehension. A breakdown in either one will lead to reading difficulties. Presently, there is no specific data connecting sound production to literacy skills; however, speech sound disorders can be an early warning sign for dyslexia. Dyslexia is a phonological processing disorder that is not curable, but it is treatable. Red flags for dyslexia in late preschool and early kindergarten include poor phonological awareness and poor speech sound production. Early screening is recommended so your child can have all the necessary services to be successful.

Speech therapy is a commitment that goes beyond an evaluation. It is not a one time fix and requires attendance, hard work, and consistency. Speech therapy requires a commitment of time, energy, and effort from both the family and child. With dedication to the process, speech therapy can provide growth in communication skills and promote a successful future. Parents and caregivers can support gains in speech therapy by first educating themselves on their child’s disorder and treatment options. Additionally, they can bring their child to treatment, celebrate and praise successes in speech, and support completion of homework/carryover assignments. Speech therapy is not an overnight fix, but if you stick with it, you will see results. It is important to be

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has developed a new resource on feeding and swallowing milestones for the birth to 3 population. The milestones reflect the ages in which at least 75% of children from around the world have mastered the skill. The milestones can be found here: https://on.asha.org/feeding-milestones. In addition to the milestones, ASHA has also developed a brief video detailing feeding and swallowing skills that should be mastered by age, information on why some children may have difficulty meeting milestones, and who to contact if a child is having difficulties eating or drinking. The video can be found here: on.asha.org/feeding-milestones-video.