Category: blog

In her TedTalk, pediatric occupational therapist Angela Hanscom discusses three trends that teachers have reported over the course of the last 30 years: increases in children experiencing difficulty paying attention in school,  changes in spatial awareness (possibly evidenced by children running into each other or into objects/walls or falling out of chairs) and an increase in children’s frustrations. In an effort to discover the causes behind these trends, Hanscom completed a study to look at core strength and normal balance reactions and compared these results with standardized norms from 1984. Her results indicated that only 1 out of every 12 children was meeting the averages of those children in the 1980s. Why? A factor that may have contributed to these

Due to the surge of COVID-19 cases in the last few months, your child may have transitioned to using a teletherapy platform when receiving services. If your child is receiving a speech/language evaluation, here are some important tips a caregiver may take into consideration to make the process smoother: Have your child positioned in a quiet environment with minimal distractions; when possible, a chair that allows for a child to have their legs positioned at a 90-degree angle is optimal (small benches/boxes can be used for foot support if a smaller chair is not available) A headset with a microphone is beneficial – not only can headsets cancel out external noise, it can ensure a higher quality of audio input

According to the ASHA Leader, a shift in the typical school paradigm of providing 30-minute group therapy sessions is increasingly being recommended to be adjusted to a more individualized and intensive frequency of service. In a school setting, because children are theoretically accessible for seven or more hours in a day, over five consecutive days in a week, the traditional, “one size fits all” therapy recommendation for providing 30 minutes a week to a group of 2-5 students at once is said to be limiting to a child’s overall progress and their individualized attention. It is said that 30-minute group therapy sessions do not fit with the guidance and philosophies from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) nor the

According to the ASHA Leader, one of the many devastations of the COVID-19 pandemic has involved the number of children in traditional school settings who have under-identified speech-language needs. As students have increasingly returned to “brick and mortar” school settings, outpatient clinics around the country have reportedly observed an influx of parents seeking out speech-language evaluations for their children by private entities. Part of this influx is reported to be due to school-based evaluations not being as readily available during the remote learning phase. It has been reported that in outpatient clinic settings, therapy providers often have the time and resources necessary for assessing a child’s communication needs in quick turn around from when parents initially pursue services. It has

One question that is often asked is, ‘How can we work on our child’s speech goals outside of therapy?’. While doing worksheets for homework can be helpful, another way to target speech goals outside of therapy is incorporating activities into the child’s everyday life. In the article, ‘We left the Therapy Room, Now What?’, Coaching Families on Carryover Skills for Children in their environment’, by Jestina Bunch, Autumn Sanderson, and Ashley Irick,  different activities and strategies one can incorporate into their everyday lives to aid in goal progress are discussed. Some fun and easy ideas from the article are listed below. -Auditory Skills: Say before you show: make appropriate sounds before showing the associated item(i.e. vroom vroom; I hear a

Holidays and seasons are a great way to incorporate new vocabulary and build your child’s language and understanding of traditions or routines! Below are some easy and inexpensive themed-activities for you and your child to do at home: -Get a box of Valentine’s Day cards for their class and look at what is the same or different with each card (e.g., they both have superheroes; one has Iron Man and the other has Spider Man). You can also practice describing what is on the cards. -Get a bag or box of candy hearts and complete one or more of the following activities: Pick out the hearts with action words such as “Hug me”, “Kiss Me”, and “Call Me” and have

Does your child struggle to play simple games or take turns? Some children may not have the attention to wait for their turn. This blog will highlight some strategies to use to help children learn to play a board game with the whole family. The first skill that is important for any type of game is taking turns. While some kids might have the patience to wait their turn, others may think it is life-shattering to watch their sibling move a game piece! Here are some ideas that you can use to help your child understand how to wait their turn: *Carpet Squares: have your child sit on something like a piece of carpet, towel, or piece of paper. This

Introducing your baby to solids can be an exciting yet nerve-wracking experience. You may be thinking: What is the best way to introduce new foods and make my child a happy, healthy eater? Responsive Feeding is an approach that helps foster your child’s awareness of his or her hunger or fullness and assists in developing a healthy eater. Responsive feeding requires the parent to watch and monitor their child for hunger cues and offer their child food when those cues occur. Likewise, the parent will monitor their child for fullness cues and stop feeding. The first step to responsive feeding is learning about the various cues that babies may provide. Hunger cues for babies may include fussing or crying, moving

  According to Scholastic, shared book reading is one way to build a child’s vocabulary and object recognition skills, spark their curiosity in different experiences, and create wonderful moments of engagement from birth. Selecting books can be challenging given the vast array of choices and styles of children’s books.  Research suggests that one of the best means for selecting books relates to the age appropriateness. Babies and toddlers are reported to do best with high contrast board books that are simplistic, repetitive, and durable with their design. Bath and sensory books which are made of vinyl or cloth are engaging for young infants and can be incorporated in different environments such as when taking a bath or playing at the