Author: Wee Speech PC

  Dysregulation affects how children (and their caregivers) interact with their environment and other individuals. Difficulty with sensory processing affects how many children process their environment and can present in various ways (increased energy, quickly moving throughout their environment, or slow, passive wandering with reduced energy). It is important to attempt to reach optimal arousal in order to encourage learning; this can be done by trying to assess a child’s arousal level and attempting to either increase their arousal by providing input or reducing their level of arousal by decelerating into a calm state. Start by asking yourself, “Can I adjust my own energy level to affect the child?” Jessie Ginsburg, CCC-SLP provides strategies to alter states of arousal in

Mealtimes in a household with a child with feeding difficulties can be stressful, not just for the parent, but for the child too! Increased stress at mealtimes often results in reduced willingness to try new foods. Luckily, there are many strategies available to create happy, enjoyable mealtimes. Below are some strategies that you can try at home!  Help your child transition to mealtime by giving a verbal warning (e.g., “dinner is in 5 minutes”) and setting up a meal time routine (e.g., go wash your hands then go to the table).  Eat meals as a family. Pass the food around family-style and allow your child to see you eating and enjoying food. You can assign mealtime roles, such as setting

As of July 2021, the ACT is now allowing students with communication disabilities to qualify for accommodations via their IEPs and 504 plans. These changes will apply for the 2021-2022 school year. To receive testing accommodations, one only needs to submit their IEP or 504 plan that shows the testing accommodations to ACT when they register to take the test. They are also offering accommodations to those without IEPs or 504 plans when documentation from a licensed professional identifies a physical or mental impairment, which limits one or more life activities. People can also submit current and official accommodations or an expired IEP or 504 plan if no longer a student. Deppe, J. (2021, September 1). Act Test Will Now

    Your child may be using augmentative or alternative methods (AAC) to communicate. When introduced to AAC, users may initially use it primarily to request. However, once they’ve reached success with requesting, how do we begin to move beyond that? Better yet, what other ways are there to communicate? Communication goes beyond just requesting items. Communication can also be used to ask and answer questions, to comment, to express our opinions, to protest and to retell individual experiences. How do we model these functions? One way is through aided language input, defined as a communication partner highlighting symbols on an AAC system as they interact verbally with the individual using AAC with a goal to teach language (Goosens, Crain,

  Self-advocacy can play a significant role in a child’s success in the classroom. It is important to evaluate a child’s ability to self-advocate for their needs or when they need help. Children may not self-advocate for themselves if they have reduced awareness for their skill level, feel anxious when needing help, or if they are unable to find the words to use to request assistance. Self-advocacy also requires executive functions such as planning, inhibition, and organizing. Teaching self-advocacy using graphic organizers, visual supports, and rating scales can help children become more confident in their self-advocacy skills. See the article from the American Speech and Hearing Association regarding self-advocacy for more information: https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/leader.FTR1.26082021.32/full/