Speech Tree Pediatric Therapy, PLLC

09/15/2021

We all love our weekly (daily?) dose of Chick-fil-a.. so here we go!

Daily Opportunities for Promoting Language: Strategies to promote language at Chick-fil-a 🐮

Offer a choice. This is a great way to promote verbal language attempts. “Would you like fruit or fries? Ketchup or ranch? Milk or water?” A visual menu may be helpful for your toddler depending on where their language skills are.

Sabotage the environment. Place the ketchup in front of your child, but do not open it. This provides an opportunity for communication or initiation. Wait for your child to hand it to you for assistance and model/sign “open” for them to imitate.

Target verbs. Model verbs such as open, eat, blow, bite, shake, sip, etc by talking about what you and your toddler are doing. “Ouch! Hot! Blow, blow, blow,” “big bite!,” “open milk. Sip, sip!”

Teach compliance using “first/then” language. “First we eat, then we play!”

Expand on single words by modeling two words. If your child says “chicken,” you can reply with “hot chicken” or “eat chicken.” Other examples would be “dip fry,” “mama’s drink,” “cold milk,” etc.

Of course these strategies can be used at any restaurant, but we all know the next place you’ll be dining…🍗 🍟

09/14/2021

“This is what my children are like 90% of the time.. and you want me to sit and play cooperatively with them?” Believe me, I get it! I jokingly told my husband that I was going to write a post on how to promote communication skills with your toddler at Chick-fil-a. No fancy toys, no activities, little brain power needed.. and we all find ourselves there with our toddlers at least once a week, right? He told me to give the people what they want! 😂

As a pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist with toddlers of my own, I constantly find myself promoting language throughout our daily routines without even thinking about it. I know we’re all busy, and sometimes setting time aside for play or thinking up creative activities to do with our little ones can be a daunting task.

Although getting on the floor and playing with your child is so important for language development, there are also many opportunities throughout the day to promote language that take very little time and effort to incorporate! Diaper changes, grocery store trips, car rides, getting dressed, cleaning up, or even a trip to Chick-fil-a.. the opportunities are endless! I want to help you encourage your toddler to talk, so I decided to start a series: Daily Opportunities for Promoting Language 🎉 🗣

Stay tuned…

07/02/2021

Let freedom ring! We hope you have a safe and happy 4th!! ❤️🤍💙

05/11/2021

Summer is coming!! This is a great time of year for our kids to get outdoors and explore the world around them through all of their senses. Giving them the sensory freedom to get dirty not only stimulates their curiosity, but also allows for highly engaging opportunities to teach language.
▫️Use sensory play to teach new vocabulary, sort objects into categories, answer simple wh questions, or follow multi-step directions.
▫️Use short phrases to narrate their play and model words for them to imitate. Remember.. repetition, repetition, repetition is so important in learning new words!
▫️Don’t structure it too much. Allow for your child to get creative! The funnel doesn’t have to be a funnel if she wants to flip it over and call it a rocket ship!

When children are having fun, they are motivated to learn and retain new sensory, motor, and language information. And that may mean getting a little messy sometimes! 🛁

04/06/2021

Speech articulation refers to the way our teeth, jaw, tongue, lips, and palate (or our articulators) work together along with our respiratory system (lungs) to produce a sound. This complex process takes time and practice to fully develop. Overall, by the age of 5, your child should be producing 93% of consonants correctly and be understood by familiar and unfamiliar listeners.

Development of speech sounds:
-starting around 2 months, babies begin to “coo” using vowel sounds, which emerge before consonants
-speech development begins around 6 months of age when babies begin to babble
-by 12 months, children begin to string sounds together to produce meaningful words
-by age 2, children will combine words to produce short, meaningful phrases. This is when we begin to notice speech sound errors (usually when we have to translate everything our child is saying to family and friends)

Remember that no two children are the same! Norms are there to guide us but clinical judgment (along with mama intuition) is key. ❤️

https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100

03/11/2021

Pretend play is a huge component of your child’s language development because when a child begins to pretend, we know that she’s becoming symbolic (using one object to represent another object). Words are also symbols that represent a variety of people, things, places, actions, etc. When your child has the ability to engage in symbolic play, we know that she now also has the ability to use words.

Pretend play is her way of re-enacting the scenes and experiences she has in her environment daily. You’ll probably see her imitating the same language, gestures, and actions she’s picked up from you!

The play kitchen is a great toy for you to engage in pretend play with your child. You can model actions such as: cooking dinner, stirring with a spoon, cutting vegetables, washing dishes, or using the sink to wash your hands. You can also incorporate role play such as: pretending you are the customer at the restaurant or a mom feeding the baby. Not only will she enjoy playing with you, but she’ll also be learning new play skills, developing new vocabulary, and expanding on her speech and language skills! 🗣👩‍🍳

02/22/2021

It’s so hard to watch our children struggle! As parents, we want to do anything and everything to help them succeed, even if that means doing it all for them. It may cause her frustration, but allowing your child to attempt a new skill on her own, fail, and attempt again is so important in her ability to problem solve. When you sit back and observe, you are also allowing for opportunities for your child to ask for help! 🗣 I challenge you to let go and observe.. you will be amazed at what your little one can actually do on her own!

02/12/2021

Just a friendly reminder to read to your toddler today! Here are a few tips to make it more fun and engaging for your little one:
1. Do less of reading the actual words and instead follow your child’s lead. What is she drawn to on each page? Talk about the pictures by labeling and describing. Then repeat, repeat, and repeat again! Does the truck make an appearance on every page? Label it every time!
2. Face your child when reading with her. Believe it or not, your toddler wants to see your face and all the funny things you can do with it!
3. Ask questions. What’s that!? Where did the cow go? Who has the ball? And once again, if the truck appears on every page, you can simply ask ”where’s the truck? Pause pause pause.. “There it is!” every time you see it. 🛻
4. Get animated! Environmental and animals sounds are so engaging for little ones! “Beep-beep!” the car or “moo” for the cow. Change your pitch, make silly sounds, become animated and I guarantee she will want you to “read” it again and again! 📚

12/03/2020

My little Elf on the Shelf!

We started this tradition in my house this year and have had so much fun finding “Sparkle” every morning. It is a great tool to promote good behavior, but can also be used to promote language skills! Here are 5 ways you can use the little guy (or girl) to get your toddler thinking and speaking:
1. Teach prepositions! Hide Sparkle “under” the Christmas Tree, or “in” the pantry, or be creative and put her “between” the two ornaments on the tree! When she is found, use that key word in your response; “you found Sparkle “UNDER” the tree! See, she’s UNDER.. look!”
2. Practice answering WH questions. When your child finds Sparkle the next day, ask him “where was Sparkle hiding?” Or “what is Sparkle playing with?” This is a perfect opportunity to ask multiple WH questions during a time of excitement so he doesn’t feel like he’s being quizzed.
3. Sequencing fun! Set Sparkle up so that she’s ready to bake cookies, waffles for breakfast, or even a simple Christmas craft. Have out all the ingredients or supplies and simple step by step instructions to follow. Talk about the steps using key words like first/then/next/last. “What do we do first?” Or “first we ____, then we ____”.
4. Let’s predict! “How do you think Sparkle got in the pantry!?” “Do you think Sparkle will be in the tree tomorrow?” This is also a great opportunity to model for your child “I think she jumped on the chair to open the door. What do you think?”
5. Recall and retell! When dad or brother gets home that evening, have your child tell them where he found Sparkle that day. Help him with the details by offering a choice “was Sparkle in the pantry or on the tree?” “Was she eating marshmallows or playing with legos?”

The possibilities are endless! So get creative and have fun with it! And some days, forget to move her entirely (like me and every other parent) and watch a Christmas movie instead! Because 25 days is a lot of days and we all need to give ourselves a little GRACE!

10/28/2020

Who else comes home to a baby at your feet with arms up ready to be held? Of course I want to hold him just as much as he want to be held, so I immediately pick him up! But wait, this is a perfect opportunity to encourage use of language! “Up” is a simple word and sign for your baby to easily imitate. It also represents something compelling to your baby and can be used over and over again throughout the day.
You’re all done with breakfast? Do you want to come “up”!?
You want to come out of your crib after nap? “Mama up!”
You want to be held (again)!? “Up! Up!”
Modeling simple language and signs (up, go, more, no, yes, again, mama, dada, eat, all done...) over and over again is the first step in helping your child understand the word to then imitate it and finally use it appropriately and independently. Feel like you’re a broken record? Keep it UP!! 🗣🗣

10/13/2020

Who else has a sponge running around their house? 🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️

10/13/2020

Did you know a toddler needs to hear a word used at least 20 times before she can learn it? You’ll probably start to feel like a broken record, but keep it up! Your repetitive language is key for the new words to really “stick!” So how do we teach our toddlers these new words? We teach by doing! Modeling for and playing with your child provides the back and forth interaction needed to learn the meaning of new words. And no matter how educational the app or tv show may claim to be, nothing beats a live conversation! Research shows that back-and-forth interaction between adults and toddlers was linked to better language development. Simply overhearing the speech of others or the tv/app is less than 6x as effective as a two-way live interaction. So remember to get on their level and play play play with those sweet babies! 🥰

09/30/2020

It’s fall, y’all! And I bet you will find yourself taking the littles to the pumpkin patch at least once this season! Not only is it a great way to entertain your toddlers for an hour or so, it’s also a perfect opportunity to build language!
Here is a pumpkin patch target word list to help you search for the perfect pumpkin...
•round
•bumpy
•rough
•smooth
•big
•small
•hard
•heavy
•orange
Don’t forget verbs!
•look
•pick up/put down
•sit down
•go
•pick/choose
•hold
•touch/feel
Don’t stop there! Bring a pumpkin home and make a sensory activity out of it! Talk with your toddler about the process using key describing words: wash, cut, open, scoop, seeds, wet, slimy...

And there you have about 3 hours of fun fall entertainment (for only about 10 bucks)! 🙌🏼🎃🗣

09/30/2020

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——12 month communication milestones——
Did you know that a baby’s brain develops the most rapidly during the first two years of life? During this critical window of development, you will feel as though your child is growing and changing every day... and he is!! Between 9 and 14 months, key social communication milestones develop as a foundation for expressive language. Once these foundational skills develop, get ready for a language explosion! 🗣🗣

09/30/2020

Practice makes perfect! Word repetition is an essential process for acquiring language in babies and toddlers. Activities that are repetitive are not only motivating but also provide opportunities to repeat key words within play! In block stacking, you may say “up” with each block that is stacked in a repetitive manner. Before you know it, your baby will begin to imitate you!

09/30/2020

“My toddler doesn’t have very many words. What can I do to help him?” Read below for 4 ways to help your toddler use language 👶🏻

1: narrate your child’s solo play. For example, if she is painting talk about exactly what is happening. “Wow! You are painting a car!” “You chose blue. I like blue too!” “You’re dipping your brush in the paint... dip! Dip! Dip!” “Brush, brush, brush.” When you narrate what she is doing while she is doing it, connections are being made between the vocabulary word used and the action taking place or object being played with. More connections = increase in understood vocabulary = increase in words used! Before children can use a word, they MUST understand the word!

2: offer a choice! “Would you like yogurt or a banana?” It is important to hold both options up so that she visually sees the item while simultaneously hearing the word. If she is not yet able to vocalize a choice, then accept a point. Once a choice is made, repeat, repeat, repeat! “Banana! You want a banana! Banana!” And give that baby the banana! 🍌

3: A little frustration can go a long way! By sabotage, I mean to create a silly situation where your child must communicate to solve the problem. For example, you could playfully put her in the bathtub without the water running and wait to see if she will ask for it. Or you might put one sock and shoe on and guide her outside to play. By skipping a step in a familiar routine, she will most likely point out that something is wrong. Although it may cause some initial frustration, you have the perfect opportunity to react with humor!

4: Reading to your child it crucial in building early language skills! Children’s books are full of rhymes, patterns, and new vocabulary with corresponding illustrations. As we read to children and point out pictures, they are making connections and building their receptive language skills. The more vocabulary words toddlers understand receptively, the more they will use them expressively in everyday speech. When reading, you can also ask your toddler simple questions (“where is the dog?, “what’s that?”) or leave off a word “I see a _____ (yellow duck) looking at me!” to elicit language.

09/26/2020