Being "Mom" to My Daughter with Down syndrome

My daughter can say "mom" in a half-dozen ways. 

"Mom" is the name she calls when she sees me in the morning. Jaycee seldom wakes up grumpy, unlike myself. 

She giggles out a "mom" when I do something that amuses her. It could be the funny way I sing a Disney song or a family joke that I know will get her to laugh. 

Sometimes, "mom" is a call for help. The help Jaycee needs may be easy to spot or I may have to decipher what's wrong. 

"Mom" can be said in a frustrated tone. Jaycee may not understand what's happening in a particular situation, and I need to try to explain something to her. 

She has a scared voice that she uses with my name. "Mom" may mean I need to reassure her that everything will be fine. 

In the past year, Jaycee has developed a "mom" said in teenager tone. If I do something to embarrass or annoy her, she lets me know in the specific tone she says my name. 

The first few years of her life, I barely heard any words come from my daughter. Jaycee first called me "mama" much later than most children. Her tiny voice was so sweet and hearing my name even sweeter. 

I am her mom. It's a role I adore and take seriously. I haven't always known how to simply be her mom while navigating all of her needs. It's been a complicated journey. 

When my daughter was born with Down syndrome 14 years ago, I was a scared twenty-something, first time mother. I didn't have much confidence in my child rearing capabilities at that time period; I certainly didn't think I was equipped to tend to Jaycee's unique needs. It is no exaggeration to say that her care was extremely intense for the first few years. At first, the primary concern was her heart defect that needed two open heart surgeries, oxygen at home for a few months, and medications for awhile. My calendar became filled with specialty appointments for her heart and other medical conditions. I had barely ever stepped foot in a hospital prior to this; I was suddenly forced to learn the ropes quickly. 

Back then, I was a new mother who wanted nothing more than her daughter to be healthy. Her care required me to do a bit of nursing at home. Being her "nurse" was something I was unprepared to do. I did not know the basics like filling up a medicine syringe let alone more difficult tasks like watching for signs of worsening congestive heart failure. It was overwhelming, and I second-guessed myself often. I felt the weight of being responsible for her little life. If she wasn't gaining weight or keeping down her medications, I felt it was my fault. Being Jaycee's mom meant doing the medical stuff that sometimes made me feel stressed, uncomfortable, and worried. I did all that was required of me and then some, but my motherhood encompassed medical aspects that many moms do not understand. 

It was a heavy burden that I tried to carry far too long. I felt that if I did everything right, I could achieve her healthiest self. What I didn't understand at the time was that there were many variables out of my control. My parenting and nursing skills couldn't prevent all the issues with her eyes, heart, lungs, and ears. Finally understanding that was freeing in a way. 

Early on when my thoughts were consumed with medical issues or basic baby care (like those months of lovely round-the-clock feedings), her developmental needs kept me busy too. We started her in home therapies when she was two months to address her low muscle tone and delays. It was a blessing and a curse to have home therapies. I loved having access to well educated therapists in our home, but I put way too much pressure on myself to address her delays in our mother-daughter time. I became my daughter's therapist, which wasn't always a good or noble thing. Being a speech-language pathologist who works with children only intensified the blurry lines I created between assisting my child in her development and personally trying to fix her delays. Therapy was part of my motherhood experience but sometimes it became too much of my focus. 

These are examples of how I struggled to find balance in being mom to Jaycee. I let aspects of her care take center stage. It was hard for me to simply sit down in a rocking chair, hold my baby, and be in complete peace. We had those moments; don't get me wrong. Her diagnoses and extra needs often kept my mind and actions busy with a running lists of concerns, to-dos, and fears. 

I'm so thankful for personal growth because I eventually found the balance I desperately needed. I discovered how to take care of my daughter's medical needs and help her achieve new skills while being a fun and loving mother. I have become the mother that my child needs, loves, and appreciates. When she calls out for "mom," I am there, ready to help her with whatever she needs. 

I'm happy to do all of that for her. She's my daughter. I'm her mom. There's nothing more natural than that. 

October is Down syndrome awareness month. Each year, I try to spotlight some aspect of Down syndrome to bring understanding to those not personally acquainted with an individual with Down syndrome. I encourage you to learn about Down syndrome, appreciate those with differences, and celebrate the lives of those with the diagnosis.  

Therapy Tip: Fall Sensory Bin

Welcome to Therapy Thursday! This is the day I share a tip based upon my experience as a pediatric speech-language pathologist and a mother of a child with special needs. Today's tip is:

Fall Sensory Bin

Sensory bins are a fun and popular activity for young children. Sensory bins are simply containers filled with an item meant to provide some sort of texture to the child as they dig and feel around while playing. People often associate these with children with autism or sensory processing disorder, but these are useful and fun for all children.

Generally, the base of the sensory bin contains something like uncooked macaroni noodles, rice, beans, shredded paper, pom-poms, etc. (The picture above does not have a base yet added to it.) Next, additional items are placed in the bin based upon the fine motor skills that are being targeted or vocabulary that is being addressed.

Working in homes of toddlers, I try to make up small sensory bins several times a year. Traveling from home to home to conduct therapy sessions, I use a small container to serve as my sensory bin. A small container is perfect for one small child to play in and is easy for me transport. I generally don't fill the container completely full since some of the toddlers I work with will end up dumping out the contents.

For my fall sensory bin, I use a typical base item which is generally rice or noodles. Then, I use small fake pumpkins, turkeys, fake fall flowers, and fake leaves. You could use real leaves, but I try to avoid this due to my own child's allergies. The little turkeys I use were originally on top of cupcakes sold at a grocery store. So, I did purchase the cupcakes just to have the turkeys to keep for therapy. The pumpkins and fall leaves were purchased on the clearance rack at the Dollar General Store. I try not to spend too much money on these bins since toddlers are sort of destructive.

Using the items from my sensory bin, I can easily target many language skills in young language learners. These include:

-Adjectives: Red, orange, brown, little

-Actions: Hide (hide the turkey in the leaves), Jump (make the turkey jump in the leaves), Eat (make the turkey eat the pumpkin)

-2 word phrases: Red leaf, small pumpkin, eat pumpkin, two pumpkins, jump turkey

-Vocabulary: Turkey, leaf, pumpkin

-Counting: Since, I have multiple turkeys and pumpkins, I can count them as we find them. 

To work on these skills, I just play along side of the toddler as we dig through the bin and model words. It's that simple!

The most important thing about any sensory bin is to find something that will meaningfully engage the child you are working with. I hope this gives you an idea for creating your own. Don't forget to check out your local dollar store (and tops of cupcakes) for some seasonal items that are inexpensive for your bin!

Therapy Thursday is for educational purposes only and not intended as therapeutic advice.

Guest Post: A Hexagon, A Fat Cat, and A Rubber Chicken

My sweet little girl is home recovering from a recent hospital admission. To help me out, I have arranged some great guest posts by some writers I adore. First up is Tricia from Two Upside Down Turtles. Tricia is not only a blogger friend but a friend in my real life who I see at church. She has twin girls with Sensory-Processing Disorder and delays. I loved this story when I read it on her blog and hope you love it too! ~Evana


I allowed the words they spoke to keep me up at night.  They said the girls aren’t progressing. They’re not doing as well as they were several months ago.  It was one of those times when I wished I could put my fingers in my ears, hum a tune, and drown out what they were telling me.  I know what they said is true and fear began to grip my heart.  But then I began to truly look at our girls and I noticed that they are progressing in everyday life.

Hope crawled into my bed with her iPad and asked me to watch her play Monkey Math.  The game showed her 3 different shapes and she was supposed to press the oval.  Every time she pressed the oval it gave her 3 new shapes.  She was pressing ovals like crazy until she accidentally pressed the wrong shape.  She said “Oops…..that was a hexagon.  I need to poke the oval.”  What?  She knows what a hexagon is?  I had no idea she knew that.

We were working on auditory memory cards.   This is the story that I read individually to the girls.


These were the answers the girls gave me to the questions.
Who has a magic backpack?    
Hope: Zack        Mikayla: Jack (Oh….so close!)

Why is it magic?    
Hope: Because things won’t break     Mikayla:  Holds only things that aren’t heavy

If you look inside it, what will you see?    
Hope:  A rubber chicken    Mikayla:  A cat.  Zoe’s too big for the backpack.  (Zoe is our cat)

We worked on these same cards last year.  The girls could never remember the name of the person mentioned in the story.  Remembering names has always been hard for them.  But Hope got it right and Mikayla’s answer rhymed with the correct answer.  I couldn’t believe it.  That’s progress.

Why questions are the hardest questions for our girls to answer.  I didn’t expect them to answer the “Why is it magic?” question.  But they gave me answers. They weren’t the correct answers but I thought they were good answers.

When Hope blurted out rubber chicken I laughed and she grinned.   When Mikayla said Zoe’s too big for the backpack it showed that she’s developing critical thinking skills.  Our cat is huge and she wouldn’t fit in a backpack.  That’s the truth.

As I was putting the cards back in the case I was thinking about how I answer questions.  If I don’t know the answer I will say “I don’t know.”  It’s safe to respond that way.  I’m certainly not going to blurt out an answer and possibly be wrong.  That would be embarrassing and risky.  But our girls aren’t afraid to risk.  If I ask them a question they’re going to give me an answer.  If it’s the wrong answer they don’t care.  They just go on with life.  If they don’t know the answer then they’re going to make something up.  And let’s be honest.  Isn’t a backpack with a rubber chicken and a cat in it more fun than a sock, a rock, and a clock?  Oh how I need to be more like our girls.  They live life and they don’t worry about what anyone thinks.

Progress doesn’t always show up in a 45 minute therapy session.  But it shows up in the moments that we’re just living life.  It shows up when a little girl recognizes a hexagon.   It shows up when a fat cat can’t fit in a backpack.  Progress is important.  But I’m learning to not worry so much when progress doesn’t show up on a piece of paper.  Worrying takes away the joy of living life.   And sometimes I just need to stop, laugh at a rubber chicken in a backpack, and savor the grins on the faces of little girls who make my world a better place.


Click here to read the original post on Tricia's blog.

Therapy Tip: Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

Welcome to Therapy Thursday! This is the day that I share a tip based upon my experience as a mother of a child with special needs and a pediatric speech-language pathologist. Today's tip is:

Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

Winter here in the Midwest generally means snow. Although, this year the snow has been a rarity. Still, I like to use holidays and seasons to target different vocabulary words and mix up activities in my therapy sessions. 

Today, I'll show you how I used an Olaf craft to work on several different language skills for toddlers.

First, you'll need to download the pattern for Olaf. Click here for the link to Olaf. Not a Frozen fan? There are plenty of other snowmen patterns that you can find on-line.

Next, I like to do all the cutting prior to the sessions. Scissors and toddlers are a scary combination for me, so I like to have the cutting done beforehand. This way so we can just focus on the craft and language targets.

After you gather the glue sticks and construction paper to use as a base for all the parts, you are ready to begin.


There are a few different language skills that can be addressed as you put the snowman together. These include:

-Body Parts: Eyes, nose, mouth, feet, and arms can all be targeted in this activity. Generally, I use the Olaf as a tool to talk about our own eyes, nose, mouth, etc. Once the craft is made, parents can continue to review these parts with their child for the next few days.

-Following Directions: Depending on where the child is functioning, you can give 1 or 2 step directions as you put this together. "Get the glue and choose a part." "Put glue on the back, and then flip it over."

-Task Completion: Ever have a child who just won't finish an activity or loses interest after a minute? I love crafts like this because there is a beginning and an end that we want to get to. If the child is losing interest, I try to assist to make it go a little faster. Make sure you praise the child for completing it.

-Action Words: As you work with the child, you can model actions words as they are performed. I generally say "rub" as the child rubs the glue stick on the paper or "squeeze" if you are using liquid glue. After gluing, I model "pat" as we pat the parts onto the construction paper.

-Saying Own Name: Sometimes, it is difficult to get the child to say their own name, which is a skill that is tested on some language tests at age 2. I have used crafts as a way to work on this skill. When the craft is completed, I write out the child's name on the paper saying each letter as I write it. Then I say the child's name. Next, I cue them with, "What's your name?" Sometimes, I will give the child the pencil and let them imitate me trying to write out their name. Over time, this has been a successful strategy for me in sessions.


Enjoy building your snow man as you build your child's language!

Therapy Thursday is for educational purposes only and not intended as therapeutic advice.

Therapy Tip: Using Snow for Language

Welcome to Therapy Thursday! This is the day that I share a tip based upon my experience as a mother of a child with special needs and a pediatric speech-language pathologist.

Today's Tips is:

Using Snow for Building Language

Snow is something I use to enjoy as a child. As an adult, I don't appreciate it as much. Living in the Midwest here in America, we have a few snowfalls a year. Snow brings an opportunity for an activity that isn't available all the time.

I started bringing snow inside the house in a container when Jaycee was a toddler. Jaycee has only went outside and playfully dug in the snow a handful of times. Her lung issues make it difficult for her to breathe in the cold air. Therefore, we generally enjoy the snow inside the house where it is safer.

As I have mentioned in some of my other posts, building language can be done is almost every activity. Snow play is just another method to target language while simply playing or guiding a child. I think the activity is always more interesting for the child too when it is something relatively new or unique for them.

Here's what you need:

-A container 1/2 full of fresh snow

-A towel to place under the container for drips if needed

-Measuring cups, small cups, spoons, scoops, and other small items that allow the child to dig and move the snow around

-Food coloring if you are going to change the color of the snow

-Mittens/gloves if the child won't touch the snow

Some possible language targets for toddlers and pre-school students:

-Concepts: In/out, empty/full

-Adjectives: White, cold, wet

-Action words: Scoop, dig, dump, pour, fill

-Other vocabulary: Snow, winter, gloves, cup, spoon

-2 Word Phrases: White snow, cold hand, fill it, dump out, more snow

Hope your next snow day is fun and language filled!

Therapy Thursday is for educational purposes and not intended as therapeutic advice.

Therapy Tip: Color Sorting Game

Welcome to Therapy Thursday! This is the day that I share a tip based upon my experience as a pediatric speech-language pathologist and a mother of a child with special needs.

Today's tip is:

A Color Sorting Game

Most of my work is with toddlers, so teaching colors is often a skill I address at some point in treatment. On a recent post, I shared just one idea of how I integrate colors in my treatment approach. This is activity is different in that you can target colors and vocabulary at the same time.

Preparation:
1. Pick 2 colors that you want to target. For this example, I have chosen red and green for Christmas.
2. Collect 2 clear plastic containers.
3. Stick a green label on one container and a red label on the other container. I just cut out a piece of green/red construction paper and tape it to one side of the container. This marks the containers for the children to use for the game.
4. Next, find items in your colors. For green, I picked a tiny bowl, train, plastic bug, pipe cleaner, and dinosaur. For red, I chose a train, ribbon, twizzlers, a plastic ring, and a red heart. Generally, I pick 8-10 items total because that is about all the attention I can maintain for the toddlers I work with.
5. Place all of these items in a colored bag that will hide the items. This adds some mystery to the game.

Now we are ready....

To play:

-Pull one item out of the bag.
-Tell the child what it is or have them tell you what it is.

-Show the children the two colors on the labels. Ask the child if the item is green or red. Sometimes, I hold the object next to the color label, so they can see if it's the same color as the paper or not.

-Place the object in the right container and repeat. Help the child as needed.
-When all items have been sorted, I usually dump them in a pile and let the kids have a few minutes to play with them. This allows time to practice language skills (2 word phrases) functionally while still working on colors.

Possible Therapy Targets:

-Matching colors.

-Labeling colors.

-Phrases (Green dinosaur, red train)

-Naming Objects (train, ribbon)

Therapy Thursday is for educational purposes only and not intended as therapeutic advice.

Therapy Tip-3 Ways to Help Toddlers Use Utensils

Welcome to therapy Thursday!
This is the day that I give a tip based upon my experience as a pediatric speech-language pathologist and a mother of a child with special needs.

Today's tip is for:

Helping Toddlers Use Utensils

As a speech-language pathologist working with the birth-three population, I sometimes come across toddlers who are really struggling to use utensils. These toddlers often have low muscle tone and/or fine motor issues that make holding and using utensils difficult. When Jaycee was a toddler, she struggled greatly with this. It wasn't until she was 3.5 years old when she was able to successfully and independently use a fork and a spoon.

Here are my 3 basic tips and things to consider when helping toddlers who are struggling to use spoons and forks.

1. Get the right plate!

You might think any toddler plate will work when teaching utensils. For those toddlers that are having issues, they may benefit from using a deep toddler plate. Here is the deepest toddler plate I have at home.

It may look similar to the ones you have in your cabinet but this one is at least an inch deep. This depth is important when a child uses the sides of the plate to help food get onto the spoon. A plate with short sides or sides that curve out will make it more challenging for the child who is working on using utensils independently.

2. Make sure the plate is secure.

Another thing that needs to be looked at for some toddlers is the movement of the plate. If the toddler is really working to get the food on the utensil, the plate may slide or shift around which only causes more problems for the toddler. There are many plates sold with suction cups on the bottle to combat this problem. These are great for high chair trays. Back when my kids were small, I didn't have any luck with these suctioning enough to stay put. If this is happening for your child too, then a great alternative is to purchase some cabinet shelf liner. You can cut a piece of liner out for your child's plate to sit on. This should help minimize the movement of the plate while allowing the toddler to be more independent.

3. Get the right fork and spoon.

There are many different spoons and forks available in chain stores and online. I have a large collection of spoons but here are a few:

Depending on your child's issue, they may have more success with a specific type of spoon. There are spoons with thicker handles while some have thin handles. There are spoons made with flatter bowls (open part) while others are typical toddler sized bowls. There are spoons with angled handles to help the toddler with limited hand and wrist movements. These differences in utensils are important for some feeding issues. For example, toddlers with Down syndrome who have smaller oral cavities in general, may benefit from spoons that have bowl sizes that are smaller. If your child receives occupational therapy or speech-language pathology, they should be able to observe your child eat and make a recommendation for you on which utensil might be most successful.

If your toddler is struggling, try some of these tips, consult your child's therapist, and keep working!

Therapy Thursday is for educational purposes only and not intended as therapeutic advice.

Therapy Tip: Throwing At Mealtime

Welcome to Therapy Tip Thursday!

This is the day that I give a tip or idea based upon my experiences as a parent of a child with special needs and a pediatric speech-language pathologist.

Today, the tip is for children who throw their plates.

What? Your child has never done this? You are blessed! Come back next Thursday!

This was a problem in my house for what seemed like an eternity. When Jaycee was a toddler, she often threw her plate and cup at meals. She thought it was hilarious. She didn't understand when we got on to her. We were so frustrated as we spent our meals holding Jaycee's plate down to keep her from throwing it. In resturants, we were reluctant to give her a plate because we knew that she would toss it to the floor when we were unprepared.  

The solution I came up with was:  picture cue placemat.

This placemat was a miracle for Jaycee. The placemat, with an actual picture of her plate, provided her with the visual cue to keep her plate on the table. At the time, Jaycee was good at matching pictures, so this concept helped make this work.

Steps to make:
1. Gather up your child's plate and cup, if needed.
2. Take a digital picture of the plate (and cup) as if it were sitting on your child's highchair or table.
3. Print out this picture in an 8X10 size or sized to fit your child's highchair tray.
4. Laminate the placemat or place it in a plastic sleeve to protect it.
5. Tape the protected placemat to the tray or table where your child sits.


Using the placemat:
-Once the placemat is placed where it needs to go, show the child the real empty plate. Tell the child, "I'm going to fix your plate and give it to you. You need to keep this plate here."
-Show the child how the plate and the placemat plate are the same. You may check their understanding of where it goes.
-Fill the plate up with food and place it on the plate on the picture located on the placemat.
-Give your child verbal cues to keep the plate where it needs to be.
-Only after several successful meals using the exact plate on the placemat would I suggest that you change the real plate to avoid confusion.



I have tried this with other children with varying degrees of success. I hope this makes your mealtimes more enjoyable.

Therapy Thursday is for informational purposes and not intended to be therapeutic advice.

Therapy Trick: Color Sort Game

It's therapy Thursday!

Wahoo! This is the day that I give a tip based upon my experience as a pediatric speech-language pathologist and a mother of a child with special needs.

Today's trick is: Color Sorting Game

Prep Work:
1. First, buy or recycle two plastic containers. I prefer clear containers since there is no color on the container to cause any confusion.
2. Collect some little chips or tokens of two different colors. These yellow and red ones are from a Connect Four game that my children no longer play.
3. Tape on the container a colored piece of construction paper that corresponds to the color of the chips you are using. These will serve as markers for the children that red goes in one tub but yellow goes in another.
4. In the lid of both tubs, make a small slit for the chip to drop through.


Therapy Targets:
1. Matching and sorting colors is the main goal of this activity.

I hold all the chips and dish them out a few at a time to work on skills that the child is working on such as:
2. I ask the child if they want red or yellow to reinforce them saying the color.
3. By asking how many chips they want, this gives the child a chance to name a number. Then we count them out one at a time.


Other uses:
Working on sight words? Write a word on chip to practice reading and drop them in the tub.
You can put nouns on one color and verbs on another to sort those differences.

Therapy Thursday is for educational purposes only and not intended as therapeutic advice.

Therapy Tip- Flashcards

It's therapy tip Thursday here at Special Purposed Life.

On Thursdays, I have begun to share an activity idea or advice based upon my experience as a pediatric speech-language pathologist and having a child with special needs.

Today I'd like to discuss flashcards.

I will be honest--I love flashcards for vocabulary building and articulation work. Many therapists despise them saying that pictures of objects are poor substitutes for the real thing. I do agree with that, but I do feel they can be useful. Using flashcards for a few minutes in a therapy session can be productive.

Flashcards are great for building expressing vocabulary by allowing children to work on naming pictures of objects. Using 2 or more flashcards at once, you can ask the child to identify a picture to work on receptive language. Targeting words in flashcards with specific sounds allows us to work on speech clarity (articulation).

So let's talk about how I choose flashcards.

I prefer flashcards of pictures of real objects, especially when teaching vocabulary. I occasionally use cartoon or drawn cards, but these are not my preference. Photographs are more accurate of the real thing than the drawn cards. I buy my cards at dollar stores, big box chain stores, and online at educational or therapy websites. These are some of my favorite sets:

Now that you have your flashcards, the next step is engaging the child.

There are some small children that will happily sit through naming and looking at each picture. Most children need some extra motivation to go through a short set of cards.

Here's my favorite 3 things to use with flashcards.

1. A Basket: When the child says the word, they can drop the flashcard in the basket. Simple, I know, but this little trick works. It also teaches the child to focus on one picture at a time.

2. The Magic Box: This is a shoebox that I covered in wrapping paper. I made a small slit in the top of the box for a flashcard to slide through. Toddlers and preschool children tend to love this one. They say the word, then they get to put the card into the magic box.

3. Finally, this is a flashcard holder that I purchased through a therapy website. This holder is a little difficult for the toddlers I work with to do on their own. But, it is still a good way to change up flashcard work. The flashcards in this holder are ones that I made myself using my digital camera and laminating machine.

Flashcards have their purpose in therapy and in academic work. I hope this helps you think of a new way to engage children in this work.

Find your way back here next week on Thursday for another tip.

This information is provided for educational purposes and not intended for therapeutic advice.

Therapy Trick Thursday

This month, I am kicking off something new on Thursdays. As a pediatric speech-language pathologist and a mother of a child with special needs, I have tried a variety of therapy techniques both professionally and personally.

On Thursdays, I will be featuring one little therapy technique or trick that I have found successful. By sharing, I hope that other parents or professionals can find something new and useful here.

Here's the trick for today:


Bottle Lid-Sticker Drop
This idea was featured in Cari Ebert's Power of Play seminar. (I highly recommend her seminars for professionals! They are so great!)

This idea is very simple, easy for parents to replicate, and is highly motivating for children.

Steps to do this yourself:
1. Collect a variety of plastic lids. I used milk jug lids, juice caps, or lids from a gallon water jug. It took me a few weeks to get the right amount collected.
2. After cleaning off any of the lids that may need it, choose one sticker to place on each lid.
More on how to choose stickers in a bit.
3. Recycle an empty plastic wipe container. You are ready!

Working with children for over 10 years, I have amassed a large collection of stickers. I have purchased some online or at dollar or craft stores. Stickers are easy to find, but I choose with purpose. When I look at stickers, I focus on the types of words or sounds that I can elicit from a sticker.

My target audience for this activity has been  2-4 year olds. This is used under supervision only due to the possibility that a child may put these in their mouth. With this age range in mind, the stickers I chose are some common words or sounds. In the picture above, my target words are: pig/oink, horse/neigh, choo-choo/train, drink/milk, butterfly/fly.

If a child is working on a specific sound, I select stickers to target the sound. These three lids are targeting the /b/ sound (bug, bock, bee). I try to collect 10-15 lids for a specific set of words or sounds.

Implementing this activity:

1. With toddlers, I hold on to all the bottle lids for safety purposes. The wipe container is placed by the child.

2. I hold up one bottle lid and either let the child tell me what the picture is or I model the word for the child to say.

3. When the child says the word or makes any attempt at the word, the child gets the lid and drops it in the wipe container.

This is very simple, but the children seem to love it! I hope that you give it a try and end up loving it too!



Come back next Thursday for another trick!

This information is for educational purposes only and is not therapeutic advice.  

Private Therapy: To Do or Not To Do

One question that many parents of children with special needs often ask themselves is: Should I get extra therapy for my child outside of the school therapy program? I have asked myself this question several times over the past several years.

There are many factors to consider when thinking about obtaining therapy from a speech-language pathologist, occupational therapist, or physical therapy in private practice, at a clinic, or in a hospital setting. (Keep in mind, I'm writing this as a mom and a speech-language pathologist.)

Why are you wanting private therapy??
First, as a parent, you have to understand why you want private therapy for your child. Is it because your child has a diagnosis that warrants extra time in therapy? Do you want your child to learn something specific? Is there a problem with therapy from the school?

I have put Jaycee in private therapy at different times in the past few years for a few reasons. The first time Jaycee had private therapy was at 3 years old because she was not feeding herself. I sought out an occupational therapist with experience with Down syndrome with hope to attain the specific skill of self-feeding. I really wanted her to become independent at meals. There have been other times I've gotten Jaycee private therapy because she was recovering from an illness and not attending school. Private therapy replaced school therapy until she started school again. I have also sought out private therapy for issues that the school therapist didn't seem to understand how to address. After the evaluations, I shared the reports with the school, so they could address the problems. In other words, I used private therapy to get someone's expertise in a particular area.

It is really important to understand why you want private therapy and what you hope the outcome will be. When you answer this question, that will help you determine if private therapy will be done short term or a long term undefined amount of time. Three of my private therapy experiences have been short term (around 3 months). But, once I had Jaycee in a long term, undefined therapy situation that lasted over a year. For me, I will never do the long term thing again!

Here's some things to consider:

Pros of private therapy
-Private therapy is almost always a one-on-one session.
-Typically, sessions are 45 minutes to an hour, so private therapy may mean more time in session compared to sessions at the school.
-In private therapy, you will most likely have more of a say on what is being addressed. If there is a particular skill that is important to you, you can ask that therapy address it.
-Because you are taking your child to and from private therapy, you often have more opportunities to speak directly to the therapist, ask questions, and get feedback on how your child is doing.
-If your child has had the same therapist at the school for a number of years, private therapy allows you to get another person's professional opinion. Sometimes, change is good and finding a person with a fresh perspective may make a difference.
-You might find someone with a speciality that isn't available at the school. Sometimes, you don't always have a choice of therapist when it comes to who works with your child at the school. But that isn't the case with private therapy. You can research therapists, find out if anyone has experience with your child's condition, and possibly find someone who has been trained in approaches that interest you.


Cons of private therapy
-Private therapist does NOT always equal better. Sometimes parents think a school therapist isn't as "good" as a private therapist. The truth is that every therapist is unique with their own treatment approaches and experiences guiding them. One is not better than the other. So, don't automatically assume the private therapist is going to be a magic worker. Do your research on the therapist's experience before starting therapy! There are good and bad therapist everywhere!
-Private therapy will most likely bill your insurance or medical card, which can evoke major headaches! So, you will need to do your homework to find out what your insurance covers and if there is a cap on the number of visits a year your child can receive. For instance, some plans will allow 25 visits per year. You will need to know this information and keep track of the number of sessions so you don't go over. Don't assume the private therapist will keep accurate records of this. If your insurance has a cap on the number of visits per year, I recommend you use those visits over the summer when the school may not be providing therapy.
-Private therapy can be very expensive. If you have insurance co-pays or if your insurance doesn't cover the therapy, you may be stuck with an expensive bill. I have personally seen charges for $100-250 per session, so that can add up very quickly if you are paying for it!
-Burnout happens! You do not want to burn your child out of therapy especially if you are paying for it! If your child is going to school, receiving therapy at school, or involved in other activities, private therapy could be too much. I found that private therapy after school was totally pointless for Jaycee because she was so tired. Sometimes, the private therapy in addition to my job and home responsibilities was just too much for me, so I got burned out first.

In the end.....
there are reasons why private therapy may be a good idea. But, it is not for every child and every family. It is a difficult decision to make, especially if you are really concerned with your child's development. I personally always recommend that a child receives therapy from the school since your tax dollars are paying for it. And if you decide to add extra therapy on, I think it's important to understand why you are choosing private therapy for your child, what you hope to get out of it, and how it will affect your family. That will help you determine if the therapy is a success or not.