Author: Wee Speech PC

According to the ASHA Wire (March, 2023) In a society where being health conscious and mindful is prioritized, more evidence is available supporting having a strong “language diet” in childhood is equally as important for brain development as is our actual “diets.” According to the article, “Evidence shows us how early exposure to rich, abundant language, or “language nutrition,” nourishes a child neurologically, socially, and linguistically, and helps set them up for literacy and communication success. The following three suggestions were made in the article for parents to support the language “diets” in their children” Talk Directly to Kids~ Given that parents are the primary source of language exposure for their children, parents are encouraged to highly prioritize use of

  According to the ASHA Wire (November 2020) , research has been showing increasingly that children experiencing chronic, low-grade stress such as living in a home environment with instability or less parent involvement can be negatively impacted as much as from a single traumatic event. Signs of trauma in children can range from subtle to overt and can include: ~hyperactivity ~aggression ~unpredictable behaviors ~withdrawal To best support children with trauma experiences, it is recommended to: ~Avoid modeling strong emotions: It is reported that modeling strong emotions to kids who have experienced trauma can be triggering. Surprisingly, even showing extreme positive emotions like high levels of enthusiasm, excitement, and praise can also be triggering. ~Don’t force connections: For some kids with

  According to the ASHA Wire (May 2020), a study from Princeton University suggests that babies and parents experience similar brain activity during play.  According to the article which was published in Psychological Science, “the study found that during live, natural interactions of play, measurable connections occurred in the neural activity of adults and babies. Participants included 18 children (ages 9–15 months) and their parents. During the first part of the experiment, the child sat on their parent’s lap and interacted face-to-face with an adult researcher directly—playing with toys, singing nursery rhymes, or reading. In the second part, the adult researcher interacted with another adult, leaving the child to play with their parent off to the side.” They found that during one-on-one play,

  According to EatPlaySay (Instagram November, 2022), the following list of 13 words and expressions are considered to be some of the best vocabulary to support and model early speech-language in infant level play. Research supports that modeling functional nouns, verbs, sound effects, animal noises, and location concepts such as the ones listed helps to provide the best foundation for 2/3 word combinations expected of children later on. 1. Open 2. Up 3. On Top 4. Bang Bang 5. Quack Quack 6. Push 7. Turn 8. Out 9. Shake Shake 10 Close 11 Off 12 Banana (or another familiar food/drink) 13 Go

  Internalized Anxiety is believed to be one of the largest hurdles to learning for all people. As stress is experienced in the body, adrenaline levels increase, forcing us into a flight or fight response. According to an article taken from the Washington Post (June 2011), studies show that anxiety for children in a home or classroom environment can be predictive of learning and social-emotional challenges. According to Primary Times Cornwall (Instagram April 2019),  childhood anxiety can take on many forms and can manifest as ‘something else’, suggesting children externalize anxiety in varied ways. Recognizing these indicators provides parents with helpful insights into supporting  children who demonstrate signs of anxiety at an early age. 1. Anger~Research shows that anger is often a major

    I had the opportunity to take a course regarding working through parents’ reactions to a diagnosis of a child with special needs. Just like every child is different from one another, so too is the process parents may have in response to their child’s diagnosis. Some may grieve the diagnosis – whether that be immediately following it or delayed in the weeks and months after.  Some may be familiar with the Kübler-Ross model which describes the grieving process through five different stages including: denial & isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Parents and caregivers may be going through some of these stages. A thing to keep in mind is that their experience with these is not always linear and

‘Technoference’ refers to the interruption of social interactions by personal technology. An example of this might be if you’ve ever been out with friends at dinner and someone repeatedly checks their phone. This can happen when interacting with children as well. Correlational research suggests that technoference is associated with increases in challenging behaviors for children, relational difficulties for couples and co-parents, and aspects of parent- child attachment. It’s easy to just suggest to parents to “get off your phones” but consider a more compassionate and empathetic viewpoint: in a survey of mothers of children under six (self- reported,) mothers with higher levels of stress engaged in more problematic smartphone use, such as checking notifications. This use was then associated with

Jen Richardson is an educational audiologist who works with those with hearing needs in grades K-12. She was recruited by a young client’s mother who worked for the American Girl company. Richardson provided her expertise on creating a hearing aid for the company’s new doll, Joss. In addition to providing pediatric hearing aids and various accessories to the company to help with the physical design, Richardson provided information that contributed to the character’s story. According to the book, Joss wears a hearing aid in her right ear due to a bilateral hearing loss and occasionally utilizes sign language. Richardson was also contacted for her input on a new Barbie doll. This posed a challenge due to Barbie’s tiny features but

The kids’ TV show “Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go” recently introduced a new character who has autism. The character’s name is Bruno the Brake Car and he is voiced by child actors who also have autism. Chuck Smith voices the U.S. version of the show, while Elliot Garcia voices the U.K. version. The TV show’s production company, Mattel Television, consulted with various autism organizations and Autistic people when developing the character. Refer to Shelley D. Hutchin’s article from the ASHA LeaderLive listed below. Hutchins, Shelley D. (2022). Thomas the Tank Engine Introduces Autistic Train Voiced by Autistic Actors. The ASHA LeaderLive. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/2022-1011-thomas-autistic-train-slp/full/

  Speech Pathologists and other service providers are often complimented by parents as being “patient” in their work with the pediatric population. It is said that having patience (by maintaining a reduced pace or giving adequate wait time to children) is not only a virtue but also a necessary skill for interacting with young children. Many parents might find it challenging to provide this wait time when interacting with their children as it can feel forced and time consuming in our busy day to day lives. However, implementing use of pausing, silence, and delayed response tactics are important traits of strong communication partnering that all children need. This wait time strategy, often referred to as The OWL strategy (Observe, Wait,