Signing gives your child the ability to communicate earlier Children use gestures before they begin talking and by encouraging gestures and signs, you promote your child's overall communication development. Overall, gestures and signs provide a child with a way to express himself and their immediate needs. Signing to communicate supports behavioral regulations Your child being able to express themselves better with signs/gestures can result in less crying when the child can r

Have you ever caught yourself or your child singing a new tune and somehow remembering every word in the song? Research suggests that music activates the right side of the brain to compensate and strengthen pathways for language and speech on the left side. Furthermore, music and language seem to grow from a common source of interest ever since birth, and musical elements aid in learning linguistic functions such as sound patterns, meaning, and syntax. And, you do not need to

Tennis elbow, known as lateral epicondylitis, is a relatively common condition affecting athletes and common folk of all ages. This condition tends to affect the elbow and arm, causing pain and discomfort with continued use. How does one acknowledge, prevent, and treat a relatively common phenomenon? Given the nature of most humans to be sedentary, these individuals aren’t moving enough to keep their joints and muscles functioning in an optimal capacity. Similar to a car bein

In the wintertime, being creative with family outings can be a more difficult task for parents. For parents of children with sensory needs, the task may be even more daunting to find sensory-friendly establishments that can be fun for the whole family including neurotypical siblings. The following companies offer environments that are specifically catered to sensory needs including dimmed lighting, lowered volumes, limited crowds as well as accessibility via ramps and accommo

The amount and quality of sleep an individual receives each night is the foundation for their participation in daily occupations. For children, their sleep is essential to their wellbeing and growth but their ability to sleep well affects the entire family too. When children have difficulty with sleep, the balance of the family can be thrown off center because parents’ have increased stress and impacted sleep cycles as well. The addition of environmental modifications and cha

The three main learning styles are auditory, kinesthetic, and visual. Everyone has different learning styles (or mixtures of them), and we spend our school years figuring out which ones work best for us. When brainstorming ways to practice speech and language at home with your kids, it’s important not to forget about our potential visual learners! Visual learners remember information better by seeing charts, diagrams, pictures, or shapes. Extensive auditory input may not be t

A language disorder is when a child has difficulty with understanding or use of spoken or written language. When a child’s language disorder impacts their ability to understand spoken or written language, this may explain not following directions, answering questions regarding reading content, or understanding longer, more complex sentences. Ways in which language use can impact academics is a child’s ability to use grade-appropriate vocabulary, grammar, sentence formation, a

Why Upper Body Strength is Important Developing stability at the shoulder joint and in our core musculature is the essential first step in the development of complex fine motor skills required for activities such as cutting with scissors and writing. We need adequate core strength in order to maintain an appropriate upright seated posture while seated at a table. Sports Participation Fun Activities for Development of Upper Body Strength 1. Gravity resistive sticker activity L

A sippy cup is not the first thing that comes to mind when we think about a child developing a delay. In fact it’s something most parents don’t pay any attention to, until it becomes a problem. However, hard sippy cups spouts can affect the swallowing development as a baby matures. It also affects tongue elevation, making the tongue rest forward in the child’s mouth, which can cause a speech and language delay. Lastly, when a tongue rests forward, a child’s mouth tends to sta

What is code-switching and why is it important? Codeswitching refers to any switches between languages that occur within or across sentences during the same conversation or discourse. Codeswitching is commonly used by people who know 2 or more languages. Very few bilinguals keep their two languages completely separate, and the ways in which they mix them are complex and varied. Bilinguals often codeswitch when speaking with other bilinguals, however it may occur when speaking

Mealtime can be difficult for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) due to sensory processing or behavior patterns. Challenges commonly seen by caregivers include picky eating, refusal to try new foods, attempting to escape the table, throwing food, and tantrums. This can lead to more severe consequences such as nutritional deficits due to the child’s limited intake from preferred foods. Because children with ASD thrive with rituals, establishing a set mealtime routine

A common question for parents who are starting speech therapy with their child is “What can I do to help my child be successful?”. The goal for speech therapy is to help your child get to a point where they don’t need us anymore, and a major part of helping your child ‘graduate’ from speech therapy is completing a Home Exercise Program, or HEP. Your speech therapist will likely go over the HEP with you after each session. By targeting your child’s goals across multiple settin

In speech therapy there are many areas that may be targeted. These include everything from swallowing and cognition to language and articulation. Articulation therapy is when a therapist works with clients to guide them in learning to make sounds correctly. Common sounds targeted in articulation therapy include the ‘r’, ‘l’ and ‘s’ sound. There are many approaches to articulation therapy and each speech-language pathologist likes to do things a little differently. However, on

Electrotherapy is the use of “electrotherapeutic currents and waveforms to influence physiological effects on client body structures and functions (Bellew, 2016).” It is a mechanical modality that uses a mechanical device to administer the treatment. There are both clinical and home units available to provide electrotherapy along with the use of electrodes of varying sizes to deliver electric currents into the skin. Before using or receiving electrotherapy, always be sure tha

Before a child can begin speech therapy they will go through testing to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Then, the speech therapist will write goals to address areas that can be strengthened. After the speech therapist completes the testing and goals, they will likely go over the report and goals with you. When working with a speech therapist, you will be working as a team. Your input is important and always welcomed. Once you begin speech therapy you may or may not be

We aren’t JUST cutting. It is bigger than that! Cutting with scissors actually helps to develop many other essential skills which translate into our ability to perform a variety of important daily activities. Strengthens hand muscles Opening and closing scissors helps children build up the small muscles in their hands required for everyday activities such as drawing, brushing teeth, and getting dressed. Bilateral coordination Bilateral coordination is the ability to perform o

There are many reasons a child or person might need speech therapy. Speech therapists, or speech-language pathologists, can focus on many different things. These include articulation (speech sounds), expressive (spoken) language, receptive (understood) language, feeding and swallowing difficulties, stuttering or fluency difficulties, cognition, social language, using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), voice differences and some hearing difficulties. If your chi

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases, and it’s largely associated with the progressive loss of motor control. According to a write-up from the Parkinson’s Foundation, around 60,000 new cases of this mysterious and difficult condition are diagnosed each year in the US alone; PD affects an estimated one million Americans and 10 million people worldwide. And with no existing cure for the condition, PD can trigger a number of devastating e

Handwriting at times can be difficult, especially if you’re having trouble holding your writing utensil appropriately. A functional pencil grasp is important for handwriting speed and legibility. Thankfully there are a wide variety of tools that can help improve you or your child’s pencil grasp! Butter Grip- helps prevent joint hyperextension during writing tasks which can cause pain and hand fatigue. Elephant Grip- This grip has a handy loop for middle finger positioning. CL

There are common misconceptions people have about teaching their child another language. Many believe it to be harmful or detrimental to their child’s development and or education. In fact many educators not too long ago would have recommended parents only speaking one language at home. However, this recommendation could not be farther from the truth. Some common misconceptions some people may hear are: Exposing babies and children to more than one language may cause a sp