Author: Elizabeth Novak-Czech MA CCC SLP

Open mouth breathing can effect your child’s health, clarity of speech, and oral-structural development. Oral-Structural Development For closed-mouth breathers, our tongue rests up against our hard palate, which helps to maintain its flat shape. Open-mouth breathers’ tongues rest in the lower jaw. When the tongue does not rest on the hard palate, the palate tends to grow high and narrow, which could impinge on the nasal cavity. Health When we breathe through our mouths,  we do not have as strong of natural air filters as we do in our nostrils. The main function of our tonsils is to trap bacteria and viruses; however, after a prolonged period of open-mouth breathing, our tonsils tend to get enlarged and swollen from being

Parents tend to say “no” much more often throughout the day than “yes”. And it can be exhausting. Telling your children “no” and “stop” all the time is not only hard on you, but it is discouraging for your children to constantly hear what they are doing is wrong. Furthermore, saying “stop” or “no” doesn’t give them enough information. It leaves them to wonder what they should stop doing. Some would argue that you can simply expand your wording to include what your children should not be doing, for instance, “Stop standing on the couch”. However, using negative language is much harder for a child to understand. When we say, “Stop standing on the couch,” the child first has to

When you say, “Time to do your speech homework,” do your kids hide under the kitchen table? Offer to do chores instead? Homework, or home practice, in speech therapy for articulation can be enjoyable. Home practice can be so much more than flashcard drills. These are ideas for practicing sounds: Before you get started: Know your child’s current therapy goals. Pick a sound (like /r/, /s/, /l/) or a group of sounds (velars, /k,g/). If you are not sure, contact your SLP for a therapy update. Use the picture cards and practice pages your therapist has sent home or make your own simple cards. Ways to play: Cut apart the picture cards. Hide them around a dark room. Turn off

A simple trip to the grocery store provides an endless source of topics to discuss. Here are a few ways to support speech and language while grocery shopping: -Practice descriptive language. Describe the foods you see (e.g., What does that bin of apples look like?, What does the cereal box look like?, describe the bag of animal crackers, etc.). -Practice categories. For example, you may ask, “How can we find breakfast bars, would they be with the hamburgers or the cereal?” or “We need ice cream, what part of the store do you think that will be in?”. -Practice prepositions. At the grocery store you can create a fun “find it” challenge by using prepositional phrases to help kids correctly

Holidays and seasons are a great way to incorporate new vocabulary and build your child’s language and understanding of traditions or routines! Below are some easy and inexpensive themed-activities for you and your child to do at home: -Get a box of Valentine’s Day cards for their class and look at what is the same or different with each card (e.g., they both have superheroes; one has Iron Man and the other has Spider Man). You can also practice describing what is on the cards. -Get a bag or box of candy hearts and complete one or more of the following activities: Pick out the hearts with action words such as “Hug me”, “Kiss Me”, and “Call Me” and have

Does your child struggle to play simple games or take turns? Some children may not have the attention to wait for their turn. This blog will highlight some strategies to use to help children learn to play a board game with the whole family. The first skill that is important for any type of game is taking turns. While some kids might have the patience to wait their turn, others may think it is life-shattering to watch their sibling move a game piece! Here are some ideas that you can use to help your child understand how to wait their turn: *Carpet Squares: have your child sit on something like a piece of carpet, towel, or piece of paper. This

How often do we ask kids, “How was your day?” and hear, “Good,” as a response? You may ask, “How do we ask questions that warrant more than a one word response. 1. Ask the right questions. Asking your child specific questions will get you specific answers. 2. Keep the conversation flowing with follow-up comments and questions. Here is a list of questions you can ask instead of how was your day: What was the best part of your day? What was the funniest thing you saw today? What books did you read today? What games did you play at recess? Which kid in your class needed to be cheered up today? What made you feel happy today? What do

We’ve made gift giving super simple for you by breaking down toys and games into categories. Top Toys for Toddlers1. Ball Popper2. Lucky Ducks3. Surprise Eggs or Presents4. “Put in” Toys5. Simple Puzzles Turn Taking for Toddlers & Preschoolers1. Zingo2. Pop the Pig3. Jumping Jack4. Pop Up Pirate5. Bunny Hop Board Games for Elementary or Middle Schoolers1. Guess Who2. Life3. Headbandz4. Apples to Apples5. Clue Pretend Play1. Critter Clinic or Pet Vet2. Puppets3. Farm Set4. Little People Home5. Camper Set

Children begin to develop skills through imitation in infancy. A research review, Leford & Windsor, 2020, outlines current intervention research for increasing imitation in children with disabilities. The research recommended the following:-Include support and rewards for planned, systematic, and frequent instruction and practice.-Start young and teach imitation to toddlers.-The instruction and practice should be based on functional learning and individualized goals.-Practice and teach imitation activities in different environments such as home, school, out in the community, etc. Here are some examples of imitation activities and games you can play with your child:-Encourage imitation in daily routines such as turning off the lights, filling the dog’s bowls with water and food, and cleaning the kitchen counter.-Play Simon Says or Follow the

Drawing outside is a great way to get outside and enjoy the sunshine while also practicing speech and language skills. Go outside and draw with chalk on the driveway or sidewalk. Talk about the colors you’re using, the size of the chalk (big/small) or how the chalk feels on your hands (filmy/dusty). Draw a rainbow and describe all the colors you chose to use for the rainbow. Trace your child’s hand or outline their body and let them add colorful decorations.  Draw a hopscotch board.  Practice writing letters/numbers.   Play hangman.  The options with chalk are limitless.  Just remember to have fun and enjoy! You can encourage the following concepts with this activity:-Verbs: draw, color, make-Adjectives: colors, shapes, dirty/clean, small/big-Word Combinations: