Author: Wee Speech PC

Literacy is defined as the ability to read, write and understand language and text. Emergent literacy regards the precursor skills necessary for formal literacy training. Skills such as book orientation and handling, directionality of print (left to right,) comprehension that books contain stories which remain consistent every time they are read, print corresponds to pictures on the page and early sequencing (i.e., there is a beginning, middle and end to stories) all contribute to early literacy. A child’s exposure to literacy before entering formal schooling is imperative. Research has shown that the birth-to-three developmental period is crucial to developing oral language skills and a foundation for literacy. In fact, researchers have found that the age at which parents/caregivers begin reading

According to Fox 32 Chicago, researchers surveyed the concept of ‘parent burnout’ across the globe and found that American parents were among some of the most exhausted. The study also found that identifying with a “westernized culture” played a large role in a person’s perception of burn out. Researchers described the concept of ‘burnout’ as including perceptions of emotional exhaustion, lack of self care, loss of pleasure in parenting, as well as emotional distancing from children. Participants in the United States, Belgium, and Poland had the highest reports of parent burnout with parents in Thailand, Asia, and South America reporting the lowest levels. ‘Parent Burnout’ is reported to be more common within cohorts of younger parents, parents who live in

A recent article published in the New York Times eluded to the long running debate regarding the true benefits of preschool.  Systemic socioeconomic variations prove to be a large indicator of children’s readiness for learning given the quality of their preschool education. For instance, a study showed that children who attended federally supported Head Start programming presented with more solidified math and reading skills in early elementary years, but presented with fading academic gains beyond primary school compared to their peers who attended privatized preschools. President Biden has recently stated that in his administration, his intention is to make preschool universally accessible to narrow the divide between children of different socioeconomic backgrounds. Aside from test score measures, children who attend

Verbs are an important part of a child’s early language development. Learning verbs is beneficial for building syntax (the rules of word order and word combinations to form phrases and sentences.) For example, if a child has 10 words in their repertoire, all of which are nouns, there’s a limited amount of communication that can occur. However, if the repertoire is expanded to include verbs, a child can begin to combine words and begin utilizing simple sentences (e.g., ‘eat cookie, hit ball, go car.’) Books are just one way to promote verb learning. Listed below are a few examples of books that utilize a repetitive script with a lot of exposure to verbs. ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle: target

Parent involvement is a crucial component to speech and language intervention with toddlers. Your therapist may provide you with specific language strategies to utilize during daily routines or play activities at home. Parent coaching should include joint interactions with the clinician, the parent, and the child as well as opportunities to practice the techniques with clinician support. After the parent coaching session, it is often expected to try the strategies at home and discuss the outcomes at the following session.  Prior to returning for the following session, it is important to think about successes and challenges over the past week. Below are some questions to ask yourself in order to prepare for your next parent coaching session.  1. What moments

During the COVID pandemic in July of 2020, firework complaints in the city of Chicago increased by 700%. In the United States, total consumer sales of fireworks nearly doubled in 2020 in comparison to 2019. Firework injuries are most common in young children ages birth to four, with injuries most common to the face, ears, and head. Hearing protection is often overlooked during Fourth of July and other summer firework celebrations. Here are several ways to practice safe hearing methods while using or attending firework celebrations: Use hearing protection such as basic earplugs or protective headphones for very young children or those who are susceptible to sensory overload from loud, sudden noises Keep a safe distance from firework launch pads

When families come in for an initial evaluation, I sometimes get questions like “What age should my child be able to…?” Or “What should my child be doing at this point in development?”. While this information can be easily provided at the time of an evaluation, the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) and a nonprofit called Bright by Text came together to help families receive this information at home. After a survey was completed, it was determined that speech and language development is currently one of families top concerns. Thus Bright by Text developed a system called “Identify the Signs” that can send you information about speech and language milestones, warning signs of speech language delay or disorder, activities to

In an article from Fox News 13, Led Bradshaw, a father with a life-long interest in drawing, designed a comic book series “The New Adventures of Jake Jetpulse” to help his son Jake, diagnosed with Autism, learn more about the world. In the comic series, Jake (the main character) has the super power of Autism and encounters many different obstacles which have been recorded from Jake’s own imagination and experiences with peers. These comic book stories have paralleled social stories, an evidence based strategy for supporting children with Autism, which are commonly used to teach different social nuances (e.g. sharing, bullying, etc.) When Jake was diagnosed with Autism, Led’s research as a parent helped encourage his use of visual supports through

Due to the pandemic, there has been limited in-person interactions. While interactions via Zoom have been helpful to continue working on social skills, it can still be hard to work on some areas of verbal and non-verbal communication. In the article, “Approaches for Helping Students Recoup Social Communication Skills”, Diana Paul discusses different ways to help rebuild social communication skills which may have regressed due to the pandemic. Some recommendations to help rebuild these skills are as follows: –Get communication partners involved: Peers, Parents, Caregivers, and Teachers. This allows a student to learn how to adapt their communication skills with a variety of communication partners in different environments. Additionally, having the communication partners ask a variety of questions (not just single