Facts about “Late Talkers”
When caregivers start asking questions about their child’s language development and late talking, speech-language pathologists hear answers like this all. the. time. “Don’t worry – he will talk when he’s ready.” “She’s just a late talker, she will catch up.” “Boys talk later than girls, he’s fine.” “She’s just letting big brother talk for her.” […]
Pretend Play
Research indicates there are several risk factors for delayed language skills, developmental delays, and cognitive delays. One of the risk factors is decreased pretend play skills. Pretend play begins to develop around 12-18 months, but isn’t mastered until 3-5 years. What is pretend play? Children develop pretend play skills later, after functional play and constructional play […]
Bilingual Facts: What parents should know
As a bilingual speech-language pathologist, I am honored to serve culturally and linguistically diverse families daily. Through my education and experiences, I have learned so much about bilingualism and the importance of celebrating all languages around the world. Nearly 25% of public school students now speak a language other than English at home across the […]
Signs of Hearing Loss in Children
Hearing Loss: What parents should know
The ability to hear is extremely important for children when developing speech and language skills. An audiologist may provide evaluation and treatment of hearing loss, whereas a speech-language pathologist can offer treatment to improve speech/language in the presence of a hearing loss. Here’s what parents and caregivers should know about children’s hearing. How common is […]
What is Feeding Therapy?
Mealtime meltdowns are not new to parents and caregivers, especially those with “picky” eaters. Feeding therapy may help increase a child’s variety of accepted foods, ability to participate in family meals, and decrease the family stress related to food. What is feeding therapy? There are two main goals to feeding therapy: Learn how to eat […]
Picky Eating
Selective eating, or “picky eating” can be very stressful for children unable to tolerate a wide variety of foods and for caregivers wanting to end the mealtime battles. If you have concerns about your child’s eating abilities, contact a speech-language pathologist (SLP) or talk to your pediatrician. A SLP is often included in the care […]
The Dangers of “Wait and See”
I worked with a mother of a bilingual child with a significant language disorder who was told by the pediatrician to “wait and see” for TWO YEARS. This mother told me her gut feeling started when her child was three years old. She shared how she stopped speaking Spanish at home to focus only on […]
Speech & Language: What parents need to know
There’s so much information available to parents that it can sometimes be overwhelming, especially when you have concerns about your child. You may hear “children develop on their own time” or children “catch up” without therapy, but what does the research actually say? Here’s answered to some of the most common questions regarding speech and […]
Gratitude & Speech Therapy
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, it is the parent of all the others.” –Cicero We have a beautiful massive tree in our backyard that drops it’s leaves by the billions each Autumn. Ok, not really billions, but when it’s time to bag them up it definitely feels like too many! As […]