Following directions is a common goal for my patients of all ages. I try to keep these activities fun and play-based, but for the older kids that’s an especially challenging endeavor. Here are some of my favorite activities for working on following directions… Here are some more ideas for using Toca Kitchen Monsters in speech …
I often get parents who are family, friends, and colleagues asking me whether their child needs speech & language treatment. I honestly can’t answer without more information. Usually before a child receives treatment the following steps are made: Rather than just tell concerned parents that I don’t know whether their child could receive speech and …
One of my patients requested we play the “Donkey Hodie™ Froyo Stand” game during their reward/choose time. I was blown away to realize: “This is a GREAT multi-step directions game!” It’s FREE, it can be played on the iPad’s PBS Kids app, the android PBS Kids app, or even on the website! This means parents …
October is ADHD awareness month! I actually learned very little about ADHD’s effects on communication as a graduate student and it wasn’t until I began seeing lots of patients with ADHD that I started to wonder about the connection between the disorder and speech and langauge. Since then I’ve had the opportunity to work with …
I met my first therapy dog when I was volunteering at the New Mexico Preschool for the Deaf – the dog was named Jackson and he belonged to one of the audiologists at the preschool. This started my interest in using a therapy dog in my future treatment. The first thing to know about therapy …
I’m constantly looking for new and fun naturalistic activities. One of my favorite apps is Toca Pet Doctor. This app isn’t one of the free ones from Toca Boca – it costs $3.99, but my patients love it (many request it for their reward activity) and it’s quite versatile! Here are some more naturalistic activities for …
As a private practice pediatric SLP I don’t often work on voice. However, I’ve recently had the opportunity to brush up on my voice skills when one of my patients started expressing concern about her “raspy” voice. In her case, it’s something that runs in the family and is exacerbated by poor vocal hygiene so …
I love the Zones of Regulation! The curriculum has taught me so much about regulation and the tools have helped so many of my patients engage in speech and language treatment! I have colleagues who hate the Zones of Regulation because it gets confusing for kids whose teachers use the color-coded behavior charts. to be …
Disney shorts are the secret to my success with telehealth. When the word switched to online treatment due to the COVID-19 pandemic I started using these videos as an unstructured activity for grammar, pragmatic langauge, and narratives. Since then I’ve done lots of research about attention and brain waves during video calls and I find …
When I was in graduate school there was a lot of information about the difference between an “articulation disorder” and a “phonological disorder.” Then I started my internship and found that in order for an insurance company to pay for speech & langauge treatment the child needs a medical diagnosis and that these are found …
