!Hola, amigas de habla!

Okay, so I haven't quite figured out how to insert symbols using the Blogger "post" generator; however, I'm sure you are all catching on to the idea that I am "speaking the espanol".

I am a bilingual therapist and I'd like to start a series regarding where to find quick and easy Spanish therapy materials, as well as some of my favorite Super Duper/professionally-created bilingual products.

Later on, I'll be including some posts on assessment and treatment, as well. Please let me know if there are any specific topics you'd like me to touch on and I lo hacere (I'll do it).

Today, some of my favorite therapy links:

1) Preschool Spanish materials

Encouraging Strong Social-Emotional Development

Today I'd like to bring to you a list of some of the best parenting articles and links that I have found in regards to encouraging strong social-emotional development, also tying into behavior management. I find many of these tips helpful for me as a pediatric professional as I work with many children who lack a strong sense of self and are not able to communicate their inner thoughts effectively. This list will be added to as time goes on.

1) The Twin Coach: The Power That Words Have: Strengthening Your Child's Inner Voice

2) Effective Parenting 101

3) Public Discipline/Shaming

What's In My Therapy Bag

Come scavenge for artic cards and bubbles that have apparently spilled out all over the place with me. 

And then let me know in the comments: what's in YOUR therapy bag?

- Lindsay

Getting the "Talking Train" Moving: Tips for Working with Nonverbal Toddlers

Hey, everyone!

Lately I have been working with several toddlers who demonstrate moderate to severe expressive delays and have played around with numerous techniques to get that "talking train" moving. I've finally compiled a list of what I find to be the most useful techniques that I have self-employed and expressed to parents.

1) Encourage vocal play.

This includes squeals, animal noses, syllables/syllable repetitions, and onomatopoeia, in general. A good way to do this is by demonstrating play in front of the child using objects you have at least 2 of, so you can act out an action w/ a corresponding sound and then pause for the child to do the same. My favorite game is to take farm animals and have them take turns “eating” hay (“mm-mm-mm” or “mumumumum”). Integrate the sounds the animals make, and then when they are “done’ eating, push them away and wave, “bye bye!”

2) Use predictable play sequences with consistent sound usages.

For example, in the play routine I described above, I have about 5 animals at my disposal. I do the same play routine with each animal so the child learnsthe routine and therefore anticipates what will happen next, and eventually, hopefully, will chime in imitatively or spontaneously, perhaps with some pausing. 

The routine looks like this:

1) Pick up animal - expressively give animal sound: “MOO!”

2) Make animal eat hay - “mumumumum”

3) Push animal away - wave + “bye bye”

Once the child begins to master/participate vocally within this simple sequence, you can expand on it. For instances, I bring in a bed and we put each animal to sleep and say, “night night!” after they’re doing “eating”.

3) Keep in mind early developing sounds when choosing target syllables/words to approximate.

Use 1-2 word models that contain EARLY sounds.

For instance, I will generally encourage a child to say, “moo” before encouraging “cow”, because /m/ is a target sound at this point and /k/ is not. Once the child will imitate syllables and/or is attempting word approximations, you can start expressively labeling with greater precision. I will usually start introducing the animal, for instance, as “COW! Mooooo.”

4) Integrate play routines that prompt the child to say the same syllable or approximation multiple times at the BEGINNING of the session.

This means using a syllable or word approximation that the child uses semi-consistently to get the TALKING TRAIN GOING.

For instance, I often use a shape sorter for this kind of thing. We sort the shapes and after each one, say “done” (usually “duh”). There are enough shapes to get at least 15 approximations in a relatively short amount of time. This gets the kid talking EARLY in the session. In other words, I like to start with activities I know the child will participate verbally in before integrating new vocal play or verbal play routines.

This is certainly not by far an exhaustive list but just some things that I have found significantly productive.

What I want to know is: what are some of your favorite tricks for getting those nonverbal kiddos to begin vocalizing?

Leave a comment down below and let's get talking. 

Welcome, ya'll!

My name is Lindsay and I'm a Texas-based, bilingual speech-language pathologist working in home-health.  My primary area of interest is diagnosis and treatment of preschool articulation, phonological and language disorders. I aspire to be the Ms. Frizzle of speech therapy.

For those of you interested in all things "peds", I hope you find some of my articles and materials useful! You will find that as preschool is the majority of my caseload, the majority of this blog will be focused on Early Intervention through age 5, although many materials may be adapted for older patients. 

Many of my posts here will also be personal and related to my everyday experiences as an SLP, such as that moment when your bubbles open up inside of your bag and spill everywhere. Which we all love. Or when a child tells you at Christmas that a reindeer and and a bird are the same because "they both fly". :) We all have stories, and laughing and enjoying my job is what keeps this fun! I hope this blog is both informational and relevant to your own experiences.

Let's get talking!

- Lindsay