Timetotalkslt

02/09/2024

It’s time to expand the team and support more families.

Are you an enthusiastic Speech and Language Therapist looking to make a difference in the lives of children and young people?

Ready to take the next step in your career ? Apply today and help us create a brighter future 👩‍💻

27/02/2023

Now taking bookings for June - few slots available.

We are based in Munster- South Tipperary.

More information available on the website;

https://timetotalkslt.com/autism/

For more information please feel free to contact us on ;
0861932129 or 085816 1312

09/09/2022

Attention Autism Stage 1 The Queen's Bucket

The sad news of the death of the queen is all over the news. The children and students need a chance to think this through too. Death can be very confusing; it is a difficult and sad concept, but we can remember people who have died and provide a context for thinking through what is happening.

With respect here is an idea for Stage 1. The queens crown, her handbag and of course her marmalade sandwich kept in the handbag...we know she had one she showed Paddington!

I would add the language of queen, crown, handbag and sandwich. Here are some of the things the queen had. the queen died yesterday. We are remembering the queen.

Exactly what you say depends on your group but we should use the language the children will hear around them and the death of the queen.

A Stage 2 activity will follow....

03/09/2022

Printable resource for parents! :)
Click here to download -> https://buff.ly/3IvNVxf

23/08/2022

Attention Autism Stage 2 The Rainbow Fish

Simone Dobbin sent this great Stage 2 for a session based on the book The rainbow fish.

For this activity you need a large outline of the rainbow fish drawn on a piece of paper, cotton wool pads, see through cups of various food colouring, pipettes and a glitter paper scale.

Layout the equipment in front of the group...

Simone writes;
My scales have all turned whit. I miss my scales. Can you help me get colourful new scales?

Then drip food colouring onto the cotton pads and watch beautiful scales appear. Add the glittery paper scale. The rainbow fish!

Thank you Simone for sharing your great idea. Simone works as a Speech and Language Therapist in Australia.

21/08/2022

As her sons were diagnosed on the autism spectrum, Sandra Thom-Jones began to wonder if she too was autistic – and then fear that she wasn’t

01/06/2022

Mini Trinkets are available to order online ; https://timetotalkslt.com/shop-2/

Thank you for all the excellent game suggestions!

What’s in the bag : popping some of the minis into the bag and encouraging the child to guess what’s inside. Labeling and naming the mini.
Sensory play: Using the minis in sand trays , hiding them in foam , sensory bottles
Speech / articulation : Using the minis to target sounds in words
Reinforcement games : has some great suggestions on her page
Vocabulary: Sorting into categories , using word maps to describe the item
Story telling : Creating stories using the minis
Phonological awareness: Clapping out the syllables in words
Following key word instructions: To support a child’s understanding of language
Concepts : Big, small , slow , fast, heavy , light
Memory : Hiding a number of mini’s to see if the child can recall all the items
Describing : identifying the minis based on descriptions i.e ‘ it’s found in the bathroom, use it in the morning and evening’.
Developing Pretend play skills

26/05/2022

Have you ever found it difficult to understand your child’s speech? How they articulate sounds impacts their overall clarity in speech. A Speech Language Therapist can help you understand if your child’s speech intelligibility is at an appropriate level for their age. However, there are some conditions that can impact someone’s ability to communicate clearly and be understood. Here are some of the most common ones:
Childhood Apraxia of Speech;
The brain has issues with planning and movement of the lips, jaw and tongue
Dysarthria;
Muscle paralysis or weakness causing slurred speech or other issues with intelligibility
Speech Sound Disorders;
Replacing certain sounds, distorting them, or omitting them altogether; can be caused by hearing loss, dental abnormalities, cleft palate, etc.
Stuttering

28/03/2022

The vocabulary maps - (adjective) and (noun) - are graphic organizers that are useful for expanding the meaning of particular words. The adjective and noun maps can expand a student's understanding of a target word and its relationship to other similar words.

They are effective for concrete nouns such as 'dog' or adjectives such as 'big’. These minis are available to purchase on the website timetotalkslt.com

17/06/2021

Who doesn’t love Mr. Potato Head? He is classic and he can be a versatile tool to target MANY of the common language goals in play-based speech therapy sessions. You can use him to address a variety of receptive and expressive language goals, such as, prepositions, following directions, requesting, and more. Here are some ways for effectively using Mr. Potato Head to build language skills with your preschoolers and toddlers. Use a game of Hide-and-seek or I Spy! You can hide Mr. Potato Head (or his parts) anywhere in the therapy room. When the child finds him ask the child, “Where is Mr. Potato Head?” “Where is his nose?” to elicit a response with a preposition such as, “He is next to me.” Following directions ; When assembling, “First put on Mr. Potato Head’s eyes, then put on his nose.” Or “After you put on Mr. Potato Heads shoes, put on his hat.” After initial assembling, “Put the shoes on his head, after you take off his hat.” Or “Before you take off arm, give him a high-5.” During clean up, “Take off Mr. Potato Head’s ears before you take off his shoes.” Pronouns ; Use the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head accessories and/or ANY small trinket to target pronouns.

Subject Pronouns: HE, SHE, THEY. “He is on the table.” “She has a purse.”

Object Pronouns: HIM, HER, THEM. “I put an arm in him.” “Jane put them in the box.”

Possessive Pronouns: HIS, HERS, and THEIRS. “This is his mustache.” “This is her purse.” “They have a cookie.”

10/06/2021

This pyramid shows the building blocks of language development. Children need to develop skills in each of the different areas shown in order to communicate. At an initial speech and language therapy assessment the therapist will evaluate how your child is doing in each of these areas, compared to what would be expected for their age. This will enable the therapist to identify which areas (if any) need to be targeted in therapy to help your child to communicate better.

Each area of the pyramid has its own order of development and so the skills which children have are dependent on their age.

Each layer of the pyramid also supports the development of the layer above it. If a child has not developed a lower layer as expected they will often have difficulty developing the layers above.

Some children have difficulty with attention and listening skills. This is the very bottom layer of the pyramid and so difficulties in this area will affect all the skills above it.

07/03/2021