Therapy Tip: Snow Day

It is Thursday, so you know it's time for therapy tip Thursday! This is the day that I share a tip based upon my experience as a speech-language pathologist and a mother of a child with special needs. Today's tip is:

Snow Day Language Fun

Have you had any snow days lately?

Nothing makes my son more joyful than seeing those snowflakes hit the ground. I love seeing the delight in his face. I remember when I was like him. Now as adult, I hate the interruptions snow brings. But, snow does bring a unique opportunity to work on language skills with your child under 5.

When my children were toddlers, I loved to go scoop some snow into a giant Tupperware container and bring it in the house. I didn't have to worry about my two year getting too cold out in the snow, and I didn't have to put layers and layers on that child. Whether you bring the snow inside or you brave the cold outside, here are some language skills you can target with your child under 5.

-Winter clothing: Mittens, gloves, boots, coat, and hat are all good vocabulary words that you can talk about while you are both bundling up.

-Adjectives: When playing with the snow, use adjectives to describe what the child is seeing and feeling. These include: cold, wet, freezing, and white.

-Action words: While playing with the snow, make sure you are saying the action word you are performing so the child can learn them (roll, scoop, pat, dig, throw, stomp, hide).

-Counting: Make several snowballs, and count them out for your child. To practice rote counting to 3, count to three before throwing a snowball. Ask the child how many snowballs they want, see if they give you a number word. Then use snowballs to show them how many that number is.

-Colors: If you are feeling very creative, you can use food coloring in spray bottles to tint the snow. Then you can talk about the colors you both added to the snow.

Always remember too, simply talking to your child during your snow play will work on language naturally. Asking questions, answering questions, giving information, and responding to your child are all natural things that shouldn't be discounted. Now, go enjoy your next snow day!

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

Therapy Tip: 5 Ways to Break Screen Time

It's 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.

Last week, I shared how screen time needs to be avoided in toddlers, especially those with language delays. If you missed that post that shared the recommended screen time guidelines and why screen time isn't great, then CLICK HERE TO READ IT.

Today's tip is a follow-up post from last week:

5 Ways to Reduce Screen Time in Toddlers

You may realize that your toddler or young child may be getting too much screen time via the family's television, phone, or IPad. However, you may not have an idea of how to lessen the child's time on screens. Change doesn't take place overnight. It also doesn't happen by chance. Careful planning and adjustments need to be made to help reduce screen time, which we are hoping will increase the child's time playing with toys or engaging with other people.

Here's some tips to reduce screen time:

1. Don't automatically have screens on.
This is the biggest mistake I see parents make. The child gets up in the morning, and the tv goes on immediately (or the Ipad or phone) and stays on for the rest of the day. If your child is accustomed to having a screen on non-stop, make sure the devices are off at certain times. Having devices off in the morning, after naps, during meals, etc. sets a new routine for the child. By having times when these things are off (even if it's just for the duration of a meal at first), then you are getting your child use to times without the visual and auditory sensations that come from that device.

Screens in the vehicle are not necessary! Sure, if you are making a long trip, then you may need a screen to help your child cope with the long drive. If you are giving your child a screen for every small trip in the car, then something needs to change! There are plenty of other things you can offer your child to keep them happy in their car seat, but they may not want to accept these at first. Having music on the radio that would appeal to them can help. (I use to have the Wiggles on in my van, but it wasn't for me!) Often times both the child and the adult have gotten into these screen habits, but it's important to have times without them or activities that are screen free.

2. Keep devices out of sight and reach.
If your child truly loves their screens, then it's important to keep them out of sight and reach. Of course, you can't do this with televisions, but you can easily put phones, tablets, and dvd cases out of sight. If the child sees the tablet, they will want it. If you put it away, you can possibly delay giving it to them. Over the years, I have had to place my own child's movies out of reach in her closet or move the location of the tablet so that she wouldn't immediately go for these when she woke up.

3. Redirect and distract!
If the child indicates they want screen time, don't give in immediately. This is the second biggest mistake I see parents make. The child points to the television, and the parents put their show on. Try telling the child to wait a minute. Busy yourself with an activity if you must to show your child you can't do it immediately. Delaying the screen time will teach them that you are not giving in to demands when they want. This is an important first step!

Toddlers also respond great to redirection and distraction. Grab a toy that may give them extra sensory input such as a musical toy or play-doh or finger-painting. Do something physical with your child like throwing a ball in a box or jumping over small toys. Active play is a great distraction. Get down on the floor and play with your child! Engage them in play so they aren't left alone to think about their screens. This isn't feasible all day long, but this will be essential in the beginning if you are really trying to break a screen addiction for your child.

4. Let devices run down.
If the batteries run down in devices, don't charge them immediately. Let them be off. The child can suffer through the power outage, and it's one way to control the screen time. Just don't let them watch it while it's charging.

5. Just say no.
It's easy to suggest, but it's hard to do sometimes. It's ok to tell your child no. In fact, boundaries are great. Your toddler especially needs to understand and adapt to this word. Yes, you may have some tantrums and problems for a few days while they are adjusting, but you are the adult. You can tell them no. Playing with toys is not a punishment, but they may think it is in the beginning. You can use visuals such as a stop sign or a circle with a line through it to indicate to the child that screen time is over. You can also make a visual schedule with pictures showing the child the routine: breakfast, playtime, screen time.

If your child is spending hours watching screens, you need to make changes. At first, you may be decreasing their screen time for a few minutes over the course of a day, but you can keep building to increase their time off the screens. It will be hard at first, but in a few weeks you will thank yourself for what you did.

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

Therapy Tip: I'm Worried About My Child's Stuttering

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

I'm Worried about My Child's Stuttering

Once in awhile, I will get a phone call from a worried mother who has a young child that has started stuttering. I understand why the mother would be so worried. Hearing your child struggle through words or repeat certain words or sounds can be difficult. If a child is stuttering in the toddler and pre-school age range, it does not automatically mean that the child will be a life-long stutterer. When should a parent worry about stuttering? Today, I will try to help you sort it out.

First off. You need to know about developmental stuttering:
Developmental stuttering is different than stuttering. Developmental stuttering begins early in life and will resolve on its own. Some children will begin developmental stuttering when they are having a huge growth in language or struggling with the grammar rules of language. The American Speech-Language Hearing Association has great information on developmental stuttering versus stuttering. They estimate that 75% of preschoolers who begin stuttering will stop on their own.

So, how do you know if it's developmental stuttering or true stuttering? Waiting it out is difficult for concerned parents. Besides just giving it time, there are other things that can give clues into what is happening with the child.


Things to consider when your child starts stuttering:
-Age of the child: Developmental stuttering may occur for children 5 and under. When a child starts stuttering before age 3, there is a greater chance that the child will outgrow it.

-Family History: If there is a close family member who stuttered, then the chances for your child to stutter increases. If that family member did not outgrow the stuttering, the likelihood of your child outgrowing it decreases.

-Time Stuttering: If your child has just started stuttering, then it's important to give it time. If the stuttering has continued past 6 months or has worsened, then this may signal that stuttering may not be outgrown.

-Gender: Gender matters, and it's something to consider when your child is stuttering. Male children are more at risk to continue stuttering. Girls are more likely to outgrow stuttering.

-Type of disfluency: The child who only repeats words or syllables once or twice is considered to be a sign of developmental stuttering.


Concerned? Confused? What next?
A speech-language pathologist can help parents determine if the child seems to have normal disfluencies, has stuttering, or needs intervention. A speech-language pathologist (SLP) may also help parents know how to react to the child's stuttering.

Speech-language pathologists have different backgrounds and experiences. Not every speech-language pathologist reacts to stuttering the same. Some may not want to evaluate a young child who has stuttered less than a year because they want to see if they will outgrow it. Others will evaluate a child who has been stuttering for 3-6 months in order to give the parent feedback and an initial opinion. If you are very concerned and can't get an evaluation from a local SLP, you may want to consult with another speech-language pathologist for assistance.

Personally, I am willing to evaluate any child who has been stuttering more than 3 months who has a concerned parent. During that time, I can look at risk factors and determine the number of disfluencies the child is having on a stuttering assessment. If the plan is to evaluate and wait and see, this early evaluation will give me something to compare to later. In other words, I can see if the stuttering is getting more frequent or less frequent in subsequent evaluations.

If your young child has started stuttering, you may not need to call for help from a speech-language pathologist immediately. But, there are some things you can do to help your child and ease your concerns. I highly suggest visiting the Stuttering Foundation website, which has tips for parents too.


Click here to read more from the Stuttering Foundation.

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

Therapy Tip: 5 St. Patty's Day Language Ideas

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

5 Language Ideas for St. Patrick's Day

Holidays give opportunities to focus in on language skills in new ways. St. Patrick's Day here in America is celebrated with children by decorations of leprechauns and clovers while wearing green.

Photo By jpmpinmontreal [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

With this in mind, here are 5 simple language activities for toddler and pre-school aged children.

1. Green/Not Green: Gather a variety of objects that are green in color. Choose a few things that are not green as well. Sort through the items in a game of green/not green to reinforce colors. I like to have two containers marked so that the children can see what they are sorting. This activity is great for a group of small children too. I like to go to dollar stores to look for inexpensive green items in the holiday section to find some unique things for the children. Here's some things I have used for my green items: play food lettuce, a cup, necklace, bow tie, toy car, toy train, socks, and fake leaves from a flower.

2. Move the Shamrock: This activity works on following directions. Again, this can be used in individual or group therapy sessions. Print off some green shamrocks and get them ready to go for this activity. For this, you will give directions with the shamrocks ranging from easy to hard depending on the child's ability. Examples of directions are: Put the shamrock on top of your head. Find a book, and put the shamrock inside it. Trade shamrocks with a friend and then sit down.

3. Guess What's Green: In this activity for older pre-school children, find some green objects that you will keep hidden from the child (or class). Choose one object to give a couple of clues about to the child to see if they can guess the hidden item. For instance, if it is broccoli, then you can say it is a food, and it is a vegetable. If they guess it, you can reveal the object to the child. This works on attributes, naming, and categories. If the child is working on questions, you can have them ask questions in order to figure out what the mystery object is.

4.  Green Collage: Gather up all your green crafting materials and make a poster collage of green items. You can gather green markers, crayons, and colored pencils for the child to make drawings with. Other items that the child can glue or tape on to the paper/poster board are: green streamers cut up in small strips, green feathers, green pipe cleaners, green construction paper cut up into different shapes, green stickers, etc. While creating the collage, you can target phrases "green feather." You can also target adjectives as you talk about big feathers, little feathers, bumpy streamers, and soft pipe cleaners. This is a good way to get rid of odd craft items you have laying around.

5.  Shamrock Sizes: Print off green shamrocks (or leprechauns) of various sizes. Depending on the child's skill level you can target big/little, small/medium/large, big/bigger/biggest during this activity. You can use containers to place the shamrocks in while sorting through the sizes.

Have fun getting ready to build language for this holiday!

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

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: Mitten Match Up Game

Welcome to Therapy Thursday!

If you are new, let me explain. 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:

Mitten Match Up Game

Winter brings about opportunities to work on language tasks in a different way.  

If you are like me, you probably have several sets of gloves and mittens stashed around your house. All of those different gloves gave me the idea for this game a few years ago.

First, you are going to have to come up with several different pairs of mittens or gloves. The number of gloves you use will depend on your child's abilities. You will need to have matches though and not a single lonely mitten with no mate.

What you do next will depend on your child's abilities?

Toddler Edition
You can simply un-mate all the gloves and throw them in a pile. You can talk about the gloves and dig through to find the mate. As you go through them, you can talk about their colors, size (too big or too small), and whose hands they may fit (daddy, a baby). You can reinforce words like "on" and "off" as you try them on. The colors and patterns may be discussed as you look at the gloves and search for their mate.

Pre-school Edition/Lower Elementary
For older children or groups of children, you can mix up all the gloves into a large bag. You can practice taking turns as one person at a time picks a glove from the bag. The child gets to keep the glove they have drawn. You can ask them wh- questions after they have gotten their glove. Some questions may be: What color is the glove? Who could wear this glove? When would you need a glove like this? Why can't your daddy wear this glove?
As you draw gloves, you can make matches as a group or turn it into a game with a winner.


Put those gloves and mittens to good language use this week!

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

Therapy Tip: Valentine's Day Language Activities

Welcome to Therapy Thursday! This is the day that I give 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:

Valentine's Day Language Activities

Here in America, we will be celebrating Valentine's Day on February 14. As you have noticed in some of my previous therapy posts, I like to use seasons and holidays to change up some things that I do in therapy sessions. Valentine's Day is no different. Even though I work with toddlers, there are still elements of Valentine's Day that I can use in sessions to target language skills.

Here are some language skills you can easily work on with simple items found around the home:

-Big/Little:  Make hearts of different sizes using construction paper. You can then compare two hearts and decide which ones are big and which are little. I like to have two different containers to place the sorted hearts into to make it more fun for the toddlers.

-Following directions: Using cut out hearts, stickers, crayons, etc., make a card with your child. Throughout the craft, give your child some simple directions to follow. "Pick up a pink heart. Open the glue. Flip the heart over. Choose a crayon." Going from beginning to end will work on task completion as well.

-Colors: Cut out 2 hearts for each color of construction paper you have. Shuffle the hearts up. Help your child sort through them to find matching colors. For an identification task, spread all the colored hearts out. Tell your child to pick out a certain colored heart such as, "Find pink." Finally, you can work on color naming by having your child tell you all the colors of the hearts.

-Body parts: If your child is working on body parts, you can have them put a heart on the part as you name it. "Put the heart on your foot/belly/head."

-Spatial Concepts: Using cut out hearts along with poster board or construction paper, you can work on spatial concepts such as top, bottom, left, right, and middle. Hand the child a heart and tell them where to glue it using those words. If those concepts are too hard, try using a heart with an object like a small container. With this, you can work on the concepts top, under, in front, behind, next to, and inside. "Put the heart next to the box."

Have fun working on language tasks during this fun holiday!

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

What Jaycee's Professionals Did Right

Over the years, a variety of teachers, therapists, and support staff have played a large part in Jaycee's life. She began therapy in early intervention when she was 2 months old. After early intervention, it was pre-school and later/currently elementary school. Besides summer breaks and illness related pauses, Jaycee has been heavily involved in school or therapy all her life. Jaycee has had roughly 9 years in programs. I have had 9 years experiencing life as a mom of a child in therapy, which is much different from my usual professional role as a speech-language pathologist.

I have written other articles offering tips to professionals based upon my experiences with Jaycee. That was mainly negative experience based. So, I'd like to offer the flip side of it. There are things that some of Jaycee's professionals have done right over the years.

Open Communication:
Jaycee can't tell me about her day. She can't answer questions or let me know if something happened. She can't tell me if she had therapy today and how it went. So, that is why I have truly appreciated those professionals who have been her voice to me. Some have sent me text picture messages or emails of something cute or funny that involves Jaycee. I have loved communication notebooks that have allowed information to pass between the teacher and I without feeling like I'm bothering someone or forcing someone to report to me. A therapist who sees me in the hall and actually talks to me for a minute or two about what is going on has been great too! Open communication may seem like a no-brainer but trust me, it isn't! 

Acts of Care:
When a professional goes out of their way to show they really care about Jaycee, it is an amazing feeling. The professional who gets her a Christmas gift or a get well soon gift shows that Jaycee isn't just a student to them. The professional that asks me how Jaycee is when she's sick or who checks on her when she's had an appointment shows me that Jaycee matters to their life. The teacher who had classmates make Jaycee get well cards showed me she was an important part of the class. It's great to know people care.

Demonstrates Patience & Respect:
I know Jaycee can be a challenge. I know there are some days that are just plain hard. So, I really appreciate those who can get over the hard days quickly and move on. I like when people can talk about Jaycee's problems and issues by describing the problem without anger or attitude. I like when people don't call her stubborn and some other negative adjective when she acts up. I know Jaycee isn't always easy but I love the professionals who can deal with the behaviors with patience.

Sees Jaycee as A Whole Child:
Jaycee isn't just a child with Down syndrome and educational needs. She has many medical diagnoses, which affect her everyday. Her medical issues have to be factored into her school life. I appreciate when professionals understand Jaycee can't be outside because of an extreme temperature and make accommodations for her to keep her lungs safe. I also appreciate when the professionals don't make me feel bad when Jaycee misses school or appointments due to her health needs. She's sick often. I can't help it. She can't help it. When she's sick, school takes a back seat, and that is just the way her life is.

Seeks My Input:
I have loved it when professionals have included me in conversations about possible goals for her educational plan. A few therapists always call me or email me before Jaycee's annual meeting to check in with me and to talk about the plan for next year. I like feeling that I'm an important part of the process since I am a big part of her life. I love feeling like my opinions matter in the big and small things. After all, in a few years, they will be with different students and I will still be with Jaycee.

Understands Jaycee is Part of a Family:
This may sound like an unimportant point, but hear me out. It's easy to tell someone to do a therapeutic activity or school homework but sometimes it just nearly impossible. It is really important for teachers to understand our family routine and Jaycee's medical requirements. For us, we get home by 4 pm. That gives us 4 hours to eat dinner, do 50 minutes of treatments, bathe, and relax a little before Jaycee heads off to bed. But, Jaycee isn't the only person in our home. Jaycee's brother has needs too. I have often have paper work from my job to do at night. If my husband works overtime, I'm juggling all of this on my own. So sometimes, there is nothing that important from therapy or school for me to feel like conquering when the family is all home at night.


I'm so thankful for all the teachers and therapists in Jaycee's life that have shown me that Jaycee can be well cared for by someone other than myself.

31 for 21: A Pre-school Moment

 

Throwback Thursday:

This picture was taken when Jaycee was 4 years old in pre-school. She loved going to school back then, and she still does now. Here, she is engaging in cooking activity with one of her teachers. She still likes to help me in the kitchen now.

2nd Time Around

We have had a few milestones with Elijah lately. He started pre-school two weeks ago. I never thought I'd willingly put my three year old in school. I thought he'd be happy at home with me until he was five. I actually pictured that for all of my unborn children when I was a newlywed dreaming of kids.

When Jaycee turned three, it seemed like I had no choice. She had to go to pre-school. With her Down syndrome, she was so far behind and she needed all the experiences at pre-school that I couldn't provide (or didn't have the energy to do). So, she started the special education process right on her third birthday and received all of her needed therapies at school. I hated to send her to school. She seemed so small and young. We had been through so much together and it was hard to let go. Prior to school, Jaycee had only been watched by close family members. The school staff would be the first non-family people to watch my dear little girl.

Even though I hated the idea of sending her to school, I knew she needed to go. It would be good for both of us. I knew the school staff personally, which made sending her easier. We both cried the first week or two though when we left each other.

Flash forward a few years, it came time to have Elijah screened for pre-school last month. He didn't have a diagnosis or something wrong that absolutely made it necessary for him to start school so young. I did have  a few concerns with Elijah so I decided to get him screened in case he would happen to get in. He did get accepted into pre-school. I found myself getting ready to send my little 3 year boy to pre-school. This time was different. It was my choice. It felt like a happy milestone. I took him to school the first day. I may have had a few tears but it wasn't a heart-wrenching situation like with Jaycee.

This week Elijah started riding the bus. I never thought I'd send my 3 year old on the bus either. But, he's been begging to ride the bus ever since Jaycee started riding last year. (I cried my eyes out the first time Jaycee rode the bus.) He was so happy to get on it. I watched through the bus window as Elijah took a seat next to Jaycee on the bus. He had a huge smile. Then I realized I did too. It's funny how different things feel the second time around.