Category: blog

Stuttering issues have a new spotlight, as President Joe Biden has openly discussed his experience with stuttering. This not only normalizes stuttering in the culture, but also provides hope to children and adults across the world who stutter. It’s a great time to revisit what we know about this disorder. What causes stuttering? There is no single cause of stuttering, but ASHA has detailed several correlating factors:  Family history – Many people who stutter have a family member who also stutters. Children with family members who continued to stutter into adulthood are more likely to continue stuttering. Brain differences – People who stutter may have slight differences in the way their brain functions while speaking. New research has highlighted important

            For my clients that work on speech sound goals, I’m always brainstorming ways to promote practice outside of therapy sessions. One way to do this is by giving ‘homework’ with target words; however, worksheets week after week may become boring. To switch things up, I may suggest to parents some of the activities listed below to encourage sound production and practice outside of the therapy room in a way that’s engaging and fun for the child as well! Scavenger hunt: Formulate a list of items containing your target speech sound that you’d find inside the house; to make this task more challenging for older children, you can even time them to see how long it would take to collect

With siblings and busy schedules, it may feel difficult to find time to sit down with your child one-on-one to work on speech and language targets or homework. It is important to know that even if you are not spending as much one-on-one time with your child as you would like, they are still gaining crucial input and exposure during each conversation you have with them. Implementing therapy techniques and practice does not need to only be limited to individual practice. While one-on-one time is beneficial, it is also important for your child to learn how to use language in everyday routines and when interacting with family and friends. Speech and language development techniques can easily be implemented into daily

When you hear play-based therapy, most of the time you think of younger children, however, that is not the case. Play-based therapy can be appropriate for older children as well. In the article “Using Play-based Approaches to Build Language in Older Students”, Claudia Doan discusses appropriate ways to utilize play-based therapy when working with older children. The use of dramatic, constructive, and exploratory play can all be easily adapted for older children and allow them to use their creativity and imagination throughout therapy sessions. Dramatic play can consist of mock interviews, role playing, or dramatic readings of shows, movies, or books. By using dramatic play it allows the children to work on their sentence formulation, comprehension, and pragmatic skills all

Over the past year, mask wearing has become an essential part of our daily lives in order to keep ourselves and the people we love safe from COVID-19. As adults, we have tried our best to learn how to interpret facial expressions by just seeing someone’s eyes and eyebrows. We have had years to fine-tune this skill, yet it can still be difficult. So, how can we help our youngest population be successful in our mask-wearing world? An article released this month discussed the potential developmental impact of mask wearing on infants and young children and provided suggestions to reduce the potential impact of mask wearing. Before jumping into mask-wearing recommendations, let’s talk about why exposure to the entire human

Using Household Items to Play with Your Kids As families continue to spend more time at home, and outside activities are more limited, many parents think they need the newest toys and games to entertain their kids and support their development.  Don’t overlook the wealth of materials you already have in your home!  Many common, everyday household objects can be used to develop play skills, encourage your child’s imagination, and expand speech and language skills. Here are a few items you can use: Paper towel and toilet paper rolls can be used as “tunnels” for pushing cars or other toys through, or as a telescope for playing “I spy”. Try taping a few to a wall with painter’s tape to

The use of technology and screen time has increased over the years and even more so during the pandemic. While it may be convenient and an easy way to entertain, sometimes it can be nice to unplug. In the article, “Non-Tech Holiday Gifts Build Kids’ Language and Learning”, written by Diane Paul, she discusses a variety of ways to use non-tech toys to help encourage language development, problem solving, and social skills. Some ideas she provides are as follows:  Vocabulary: Toys: Shape-sorters, ring-stackers, nesting cups, blocks, and balls. These toys can help teach vocabulary such as shapes, colors, and numbers. They also help develop concepts such as prepositions (i.e. in, on, under, above), action words, and adjectives (i.e. color, size, shapes).  Speech Sound

“Fake News” isn’t a new phenomena, but the ease with which people can copy, paste, click and share content online, allows it to spread so pervasively that it has become a major issue.  With young people- especially teenagers- constantly exposed to a flood of information found online, knowing how to sift out the truth from falsehoods, is a critical skill.  When teens receive information that is deceptive, disturbing, or inflammatory, it can promote feelings of anxiety, fear and anger.  Although social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter have made some attempts to flag or remove troublesome articles and videos, there simply aren’t enough resources to check each one.  Here are some tips for parents to help their children

Happy New Year! The New Year is an excellent time of the year to set goals and resolutions for the coming year. What goals do you have for your child’s speech and language for 2021 Here are some ideas for New Years resolutions related to speech and language to help kick of 2021. Practice speech sounds for five minutes at least five days a week. Life can get busy for everyone, but research shows daily practice even for just five minutes can make a huge difference in a child’s progress. Ask your child’s therapist for speech targets.Go to the library and read each day. Going to the library is a fun activity which leads to bringing home new, exciting, and

In a typical year, there would be many opportunities during the school and holiday season for children to separate from their parents to engage with other adults away from home (e.g. teachers, grandparents, aunts, uncles.) Research confirms that separation anxiety is common for children staring from early infancy up through 4 years of age. Beyond the age of 4, children may need increased support for successfully separating from their parents. There are several strategies parents can implement if separation anxiety is an area of challenge for their child. These strategies include: *Regularly and routinely practicing separation: giving children multiple opportunities to separate from a parent (e.g. going on play dates, going to the park, small groups, spending the night with