Author: Margaret Morris MS CCC SLP

Why involve siblings in your child’s speech and language practice? For a child to master new speech and language skills, they should practice several times a week, outside of their speech therapy sessions.  This can be a challenging task for parents who are juggling busy schedules.  With fun, age-appropriate games and activities, your child’s siblings can learn to become helpers to make speech-language practice more enjoyable and enhance carryover of skills. By setting clear expectations and limits, the older sibling can also benefit from this experience.  If everyone has an opportunity to feel special and appreciated, it will create a positive experience for all and ultimately strengthen the sibling relationship. To keep the experience fun for both children: 1- Let

Young children often have difficulty identifying how they are feeling and how to express their emotions appropriately.  Parents may observe behaviors such as hitting, biting, tantrums or outbursts at these times. While these moments can be challenging, they can also be a learning opportunity for your child in understanding and using “thinking and feeling” words. According to The Hanen Centre, studies show that children typically learn these types of words from their parents during everyday activities and conversation. Young children’s first thoughts and feelings revolve around their own wants and needs (“I want juice”) and their physical feelings (“I’m hungry”). As early as age two, they learn to talk about what other people are feeling (He’s sad”). It will take

Even as we all look forward to increased availability of the COVID-19 vaccine in the upcoming months, it is clear that we will continue to need to wear masks for some time to come. Kids with special needs, such as autism, can experience sensory issues that make it more difficult for them to tolerate wearing a mask.  Certain fabrics may be uncomfortable, or they may not like the feeling of the loops around their ears.  It may be helpful to have your child pick out their mask. They can touch it, and make sure they like the texture and color or pattern.  You can also experiment with a variety of mask alternatives, including those that tie behind the head or

Speech and language disorders are among the most common disorders that young children experience. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 11% of children ages 3–6 have a speech, language, voice or swallowing disorder. Most speech and language disorders are highly treatable, but the earlier parents and caregivers seek help for their child, the better. Now there is a free and convenient resource for parents and caregivers who have concerns about their child’s speech and language development. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (ASHA) Identify the Signs campaign and Bright by Text , have joined forces to provide a free resource for families of children ages 2–6.   Bright by Text, a national nonprofit that sends parents and caregivers

Using Household Items to Play with Your Kids As families continue to spend more time at home, and outside activities are more limited, many parents think they need the newest toys and games to entertain their kids and support their development.  Don’t overlook the wealth of materials you already have in your home!  Many common, everyday household objects can be used to develop play skills, encourage your child’s imagination, and expand speech and language skills. Here are a few items you can use: Paper towel and toilet paper rolls can be used as “tunnels” for pushing cars or other toys through, or as a telescope for playing “I spy”. Try taping a few to a wall with painter’s tape to

“Fake News” isn’t a new phenomena, but the ease with which people can copy, paste, click and share content online, allows it to spread so pervasively that it has become a major issue.  With young people- especially teenagers- constantly exposed to a flood of information found online, knowing how to sift out the truth from falsehoods, is a critical skill.  When teens receive information that is deceptive, disturbing, or inflammatory, it can promote feelings of anxiety, fear and anger.  Although social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter have made some attempts to flag or remove troublesome articles and videos, there simply aren’t enough resources to check each one.  Here are some tips for parents to help their children

What is Speech Intelligibility?  Intelligibility refers to the clarity of speech, or how much of someone’s speech a listener can understand. Parents often worry when their child is not understood by others.  It is common for young children to make mistakes as they learn to say words. There is also a lot of variability in speech development between children.  However, as your child learns to talk, their ability to be understood by others should steadily increase.  So, how can you tell if your child’s speech intelligibility is on track or falling behind? Dr. Peter Flipsen, Jr.  has developed a simple formula to use as a guide to evaluate a child’s speech clarity in conversational speech with unfamiliar listeners (Flipsen, 2006).