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Top 3 Ways to Encourage Language Development in Babies and Young Children May is National Speech-Language-Hearing Month and here are the top 3 things you can do to support and develop your young child’s speech and language skills: TALK Narrate what you are doing and what your child is doing. Use short sentences and keep language simple, but don’t use “baby talk”. You can engage your child with infant directed speech (parentese): try different pitches and tones of voice and be animated. Call objects by their correct names and do not mispronounce words. For examples of parentese, see the video below: How to Talk to With Your Baby When your child starts to talk, expand what they say by adding

  As the weather is getting nicer, you can use nature and outdoor activities to help build your child’s language skills. Take a walk around your neighborhood and talk about what you and your child see, hear, smell and touch. This can help develop their vocabulary and ability to describe things. You can use NOUNS like grass, flower, sky, cloud, tree, branch, and trunk and ADJECTIVES like soft, sticky, rough, smooth, noisy, sweet and stinky. If you have a yard, include your child in some simple gardening activities. Get some shovels, a bucket or a watering can and talk about ACTIONS as you dig, dump, pull, plant, bury, pour, etc. You can reinforce BASIC CONCEPTS like full, empty, more and

  Materials Needed: -Plastic eggs -Small pieces of paper -Basket to hold the eggs -Speech and language prompts or targets Setup: -Prepare speech and language prompts or targets based on the goals of your therapy session. These prompts could include vocabulary terms, articulation targets, sentence formulation prompts, WH- questions, describing objects, etc. -Write each prompt or target on a small piece of paper and fold it up. -Place one prompt or target inside each plastic egg and close it securely. -Hide the eggs around the therapy room or designated play area. How to Play: -Explain the rules of the game to the child or children participating in the therapy session. -Encourage them to search for the hidden eggs around the

Occupying a child with special needs on a long road trip requires planning and creativity to ensure their comfort and engagement throughout the journey. Here are some strategies you can consider: Prepare a Travel Kit: Pack a travel bag with familiar items that provide comfort and entertainment for your child. Include favorite toys, books, sensory items, and comfort objects such as blankets or stuffed animals. Create a Visual Schedule: Use visual aids, such as a schedule or checklist, to help your child understand the sequence of events during the trip. This can provide a sense of predictability and reduce anxiety. Plan Regular Breaks: Schedule frequent stops along the route to allow your child to stretch their legs, use the restroom,

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has developed a new resource on feeding and swallowing milestones for the birth to 3 population. The milestones reflect the ages in which at least 75% of children from around the world have mastered the skill. The milestones can be found here: https://on.asha.org/feeding-milestones. In addition to the milestones, ASHA has also developed a brief video detailing feeding and swallowing skills that should be mastered by age, information on why some children may have difficulty meeting milestones, and who to contact if a child is having difficulties eating or drinking. The video can be found here: on.asha.org/feeding-milestones-video.

  Most children say their first word around 12 months of age. How can you tell your child’s first word from other sounds that they make? A word is when a child uses sounds consistently and meaningfully. When children say words, they may not sound exactly like adult words. It is common for young children to use word approximations. A word approximation is a word. Children simplify the way adults say words to make them easier to say. For example, a child might say “mama” for mommy, “baba” for bottle, or “ma” for more. Children usually make other sounds that aren’t words, called babbling. Babbling is when children use sounds that adults use to talk, like “b,” “p,” and “m” sounds paired with vowel

  January National Birth Defects Month January 4- World Braille Day January 20- International Day of Acceptance January 24- Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day February Turner Syndrome Awareness Month February 15- International Angelman Day February 28- Rare Disease Day March Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month Kidney Awareness Month Multiple Sclerosis Month Social Work Awareness Month Trisomy Awareness Month March 1- Self-Injury Day March 1- International Wheelchair Day March 21- World Down Syndrome Day March 26- Purple Day for Epilepsy April April 2- World Autism Awareness Day May Better Hearing and Speech Month Ehlers-Danlos Awareness Month Mental Health Awareness Month National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month Prader Willi Syndrome Awareness Month Williams Syndrome Awareness Month May 1- Global Developmental

@speechsisters -A great resource for parents of early learners! These SLP sisters provide easy tips and tools for parents and caregivers to use in daily routines. @weetalkers -Carly and Katie are SLPs who provide doable tips and encouragement for parents looking to increase and improve their child’s communication skills. They provide communicative milestones, book recommendations, activities, and crafts to aid in increasing language output. @jenya_cma_lab -Jenya Iuzzini-Seigel MS. CCC-SLP is a professor at Marquette University and director of the Communication, Movement, and Learning Lab.  She specializes in diagnosis and treatment of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and developmental language disorder. She is a great resource for parents and SLPs working with children who are diagnosed with CAS. @grahamspeechtherapy -Amy Graham

The Power of Mindset in Speech Therapy   There are two types of mindsets we often encounter in therapy; the first is a fixed mindset and the second is a growth mindset. A fixed mindset occurs when you experience challenges and you have a negative attitude towards yourself. A fixed mindset can often delay therapeutic gains as a portion of sessions may be spent focusing on factors that are out of your control, such as focusing on what went “wrong” in the first place. A growth mindset refers to identifying that there is a challenge and coming up with a plan to overcome the challenge. A person with a growth mindset often looks at the larger picture and recognizes that

    Joint attention is the action of two people sharing a common focus on an object or task. Joint attention tasks can be, for example, rolling a ball back and forth, looking at a book together, or blowing and popping bubbles. The ability to establish joint attention is important for developing social-communication  and cognitive skills. By age three children are able to maintain joint attention with a peer or adult.  One way to promote joint attention is by playing a game that requires turn taking such as holding a book and having the child turn the page. Additionally, if the child is playing with a puzzle or block, you can take turns stacking or adding pieces to the puzzle.