Category: blog

Growing up, my mother and her sisters always placed a certain importance on the practice of “Coffee And…”   which for them meant having coffee, relaxation, bonding time, and of course great dessert.   My mother would become so excited at finding a new place the offered gourmet coffee and bakery items.  I couldn’t wait to be of age to fully enjoy the outings.   Interestingly enough, in searching for exciting things for parents and kids to do in the city, I came across a new trend in sites that offer a twist on our family idea.  There are so many places now that offer great coffee/dessert (for the adults) and . . . .   exercise, learning, and play experiences for children.   They

August is typically the hottest month of the year…we’ll see if it rivals the heat we’ve experienced so far this summer.  When it’s hot, try heading over to one of the Chicago Park District’s parks/playgrounds that have water spray features… the perfect combination of enjoying the weather, playing at the park, and getting wet to cool off.   Bonus- you don’t even need to bring a towel if it’s very warm!  Besides being a fun and memorable experience, visiting a water park incorporates many aspects of language, from “packing the bag” as detailed in a previous blog to vocabulary (temperature of the water, color/size/shape of the sprayers, feel of the ground, drain) to relating the experience afterwards to another person.   Below

Summer is a time for picnics, barbeques, sandwiches and light meals. It is exciting to explore the foods that can be a part of our summer meals. Taking a trip to the grocery store and the farmer’s market can be educational for the child who is picky about eating. Teach your child where fresh fruits and vegetables come from and the ways in which they can be prepared and eaten. Allow your child to smell and touch foods without having to eat them. Fruits and vegetables are plentiful and generously offered at one or more meals daily. These offerings can be new opportunities to try new foods or learn to eat familiar foods in new ways. For example, maybe your

Hey Mom and Dad are you planning on taking a trip to the beach with your kids soon?  Why are you packing the bags?  A great activity to boost a variety of language skills during the summer would be to “pack that bag” together.    You can have your kids make a list of things they think they would need for the beach.  They can sequence through all the events from getting to the beach to getting home, and what objects and actions they would have to have and do.  Additionally you can have them locate the necessary objects within your house as a way to categorize by location.  Your kids will be learning and problem -solving, you will have less

Need a change in environment? Want to learn something new? Try visiting one of our great state’s many museums. Chicago museums offer free days throughout the year. You can check the schedule on this website: http://museumfreedays.com/ Click on Chicago on the left and scroll down to the bottom to click on “Calendar” for an easy-to-read overview. Many free days are offered in the fall as visitation decreases at this time of year. The Chicago Public Libraries offer museum passes for free; however, the most popular museums are often hard to get. You can call various libraries to ask what they have “in stock” but they will not reserve them so you have to pick it up right away if you

The Wee Speech/Timber Ridge Picnic went on as planned last Thursday, despite the heat!  The burgers and dogs were tasty and we all enjoyed the treats brought by families.  Erin’s Nature’s Creature’s thrilled us once again with the exotic and the cuddly!  Hope to see more families out next year!

Come One, Come All!  The date for our (rescheduled) Wee Speech Annual Picnic in the Woods has been set!  Please join us on Thursday, June 28th from 6:30-8pm at Linne Woods Grove #1 (Dempster & Lehigh) in Morton Grove for a picnic dinner and Natures Creatures Animal Show.  We will provide hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and beverages (kosher Romanian meats/grill will be available as well).   Please bring a salad or dessert to share. Thank you to all of the families who RSVP’d to our rained out date last month.  We are hoping for warm, beautiful weather on the 28th and that even more families will be able to join in the fun on this date!

by Katharine Elsbree M.S., CCC/SLP With May flowers comes a special time of year for speech-language pathologists…Better Hearing and Speech Month.  This annual event provides our profession opportunities to raise awareness about communication disorders and to promote treatment that can improve the quality of life for those who experience problems with speaking, understanding, or hearing. When I tell people that I am a speech-language pathologist, I get many similar questions and responses like, how is that different than a speech therapist, or a speech teacher?  So you work with speech? And, my personal favorite…”Ooooh.  So what are you doing this weekend?” In reality, unless people received speech therapy themselves or know someone that has, they probably don’t know exactly what

      by Katharine Elsbree M.S., CCC/SLP Autism.  It’s in the news.  I would venture to say most people outside of the “therapy world” have heard news stories, read headlines, or personally know of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  A wealth of information on funding, fundraising, research, diagnosis and treatment litters the web.  The most amazing part of this is the publicity that this disorder has received in the last ten years alone.  This is the people’s response to the disorder’s prevalence reaching 1 in 88 children (1 in 54 boys) and growing still. We are here to help.  Children with a diagnosis of ASD often receive speech-language, occupational, and/or physical therapies as part of an intensive