Saturday, October 29, 2016

The Power of Choice

We are in the weeks of the Big Election, the thought "the power of choice"
stood out to me.  I actually saw that this ad was written for a local power energy company but it made me think of personal choices for many other areas in life.

This blog deals with speech and language services so I will tie this statement "the power of choice" with parents, teachers and therapists.  Each of us may be the first line of defense for bettering a child's life and refer particular help that a child may need at a critical moment.

1. Parents have "the power of choice" for their child's therapy service.  They can refer their child for an evaluation at any time they feel their child isn't keeping up and see if the child qualifies for free school speech and language services.  They then can seek out other additional private therapy if they wish. Research shows that early intervention is the way to go.  Of course, It's never too late to get help.  ASHA Developmental NormsMilestones from Michigan UniversitySpeech Sound Disorder Chart

2. Teachers see many children so they have a good idea what skills are being met or not.  They may be the first to refer a child for testing too.  Most schools have a tier method where the teachers will try a few extra supports to see if the child responds to the support or will need more direct intervention.
Milestones ProEd

3. Therapists have an obligation to refer parents/clients to more testing if they observe deficits or  referral to other professionals (not in their scope of practice) as needed. This may save a child's life literally.  I've only referred parents to specialists when three out of three questions confirmed a need to refer them.  In every instant it was needed.  Pediatric referrals for speech





Tuesday, October 18, 2016

My Pinterest Links

Please check out my Speech Pinterest Links for ideas for homework or therapy ideas.
 Stay tuned for weekly updates

 Articulation        Auditory Processing      Autism, Aspberger

Behavior Management    Cognitive        Conversation skills

Kid's Dramatic Play    Language Ideas   Literacy Activities 
 
Speech Therapy    stories and Narratives   Stuttering

Theory of Mind Activities   Voice

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

What Quality Is Best?


 What quality do you want in an SLP for your child and you?

I was reviewing a blog by Erik Raj where he discussed this question. Here is a list from my notes taken from his blog and video.  For full details visit his site.

Choice Qualities listed below.

     Trait                                        Reason
1. Encouragement          Let's clients take risk to try 
2. Patience                      Helps build trust
3. Humor                        Laughter heals self and others
4. Self Awareness           Increases growth
5. Imagination                Allows creativity
6. Empathy                     Perspective taking
7. Organized                   Prepared to work
8. Humble* (I added)    Willing to learn 

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Beware of consequences for your child, if you do nothing to help your child's speech and language.


It's spooky how long it can take to correct speech and language errors the longer you wait.
Why do witches wear name tags?  So you know Which Witch is which? Learning figurative language is critical for advancing both receptive and expressive language skills.