Author: Missy Thompson MS CCC SLP

  As the school year starts, the amount of time that families have to interact with their children will become less and less. Moreover, as the weather turns colder, obvious family centered outdoor activities will become harder to plan for. The natural tendency for screen time will increase as a way to unwind.  Children and parents alike will reach for the devices with greater frequency. Additionally, as technology has changed, screen time has moved further away from a shared experience at a fixed time and place to isolating experiences available all of the time with endless content available.    Research has uncovered and continues to uncover a slew of negative byproducts “increased” screen time has on the developing brain. From

  Its Fall and apple picking is underway.  When gazing down the long rows of trees you will notice signs indicating the vast number of apple types and even apple hybrids there may be in any given orchard, and if you ever decided to make anything with those delicious apples you will notice that different recipes call for different types of apples.  We need to know the type of apples to know how to use it.  Similarly,  speech therapists need to investigate the type of speech sound errors their clients and patients may make in order to best provide the right treatment method.  This may be straightforward and understood at the time of the initial evaluation, may need follow up

Winter is here, holiday activities are mostly over  bringing with it a significant decrease in  feasible “park days” for parents and kids to easily incorporate movement into their busy schedules.  However, movement is essential for healthy development with speech and language development as no exception. In fact, physical activity likely plays a larger role in a child’s development than previously thought. Research suggests that promoting movement and activity in young children can help increase memory, perception, language, attention, emotion and even decision making. When language is combined with movement, learning has been shown to increase 90 percent. Some ideas to consider increasing movement opportunities during these bleak months may include dance party movement breaks, nature walks with scavenger hunts, activities