Children's Therapy Connections, PLLC

04/25/2023

LOVE

04/12/2023

The benefits of play dough are amazing!

Fine motor word building!

Read all about the benefits of play dough when it comes to developing and refining skills...it's more than you may think! https://www.theottoolbox.com/benefits-of-play-dough/

Here are more fine motor play dough ideas: https://www.theottoolbox.com/fine-motor-activities-with-play-dough/

04/12/2021

Play is learning so always play with a purpose ❤️

Free download!

https://www.cariebertseminars.com/uploads/2/8/9/0/28903483/why_speech_therapy_looks_like_just_playing.pdf

05/02/2020

Despite all of the craziness going on...it is still Better Hearing and Speech Month 🎉🎉

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month!

04/13/2020

Keep the Easter celebration going! I actually use eggs like these in my Speech room all year long to hide objects/pictures, label the objects, color identification, work on prepositions, following directions, increasing expressive language, etc. The possibilities are endless and the kids LOVE these activities. I’ll be using mine as dinosaur eggs this week 😊 Keep playing and keep talking 💗

04/08/2020

My boys always loved playing with laundry baskets when they were little 💙💙 Keep playing and talking ❤️

04/03/2020

Happy World Autism Awareness Day ❤️💙

Today is World Autism Awareness Day - or as I like to call it, Awareness and Acceptance! If you know me, you know kids on the spectrum are my favorite kids to work with! I have learned so much from these amazing kids- as well as autistic adults, and am so grateful for that!

For the awareness part, I just want to say that Autism is a CONSTELLATION of characteristics. It can be difficult to identify and can be easily missed because it’s often misunderstood and over generalized. For a person to have an autism diagnosis, there will be some of differences in: Language (red), socialization (yellow), and repetitive/restricted interests and behaviors (blue). Notice I wrote “may” a lot- nobody will do all things on this list, these are just some examples! For more, visit www.mrsspeechiep.com/autism

04/01/2020

There are so many wonderful language opportunities with these cute Scavenger Hunts ❤️

Printable Scavenger Hunts I just wanted to let you know that I updated the file this morning. They are now available in color and they are all saved as individual PDF's now so they can easily be sent to your families using Google Classroom. If you have the file, please re-download to get the updated version.
You can find it in my TeachersPayTeachers store here:https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Scavenger-Hunts-5373848

03/29/2020

Here’s an amazing resource for all parents of toddlers to incorporate throughout your daily routines.

With so many parents currently looking for help trying to figure out how to help their little ones at home and SLPs looking for resources to offer parents during this time of social distancing, I thought it may be time again for my "10 strategies" graphic. Hope it helps!

If a simple chart is your style...here it is!
If you want to read more...check out the full article! ⬇️
Want it in a printable, handout form? Yep, it's free! ⬇️

https://letsplaythespeechandlanguageway.com/2019/05/03/10-strategies-to-help-toddlers-learn-to-talk/

03/28/2020

Spring is the perfect time to have fun with farm animals. Here are some amazing ideas to use with your kids at home. All of my little ones love playing with a farm set and singing “Old MacDonald” 😊

03/20/2020

I LOVE the zoo animal theme. So many great ideas for language and fun! Keep playing and keep talking ❤️

03/17/2020

I love all of these ideas. They are perfect for kids of all ages. Keep talking and keep playing 💗

03/17/2020

I love using the Rule of 3 with my little friends. You can use this Rule of 3 all throughout your day at home.

03/16/2020

Here’s a fun and interactive activity for your little ones today. Keep talking and keep playing 💗

02/18/2020

I’m probably the only one fascinated by this video but this is why speech/articulation is so very complicated. Just look at how much actually goes on while we speak in connected conversations. WOW!!

01/21/2020

❤️❤️❤️

Yessssss!!!

01/18/2020

It’s so very important to talk to our little ones to stimulate their language development. Label everything, describe what you’re doing, and just tell them about the world around them.

The best thing we can do to teach our children to talk is...well, TALK!
However, not all talking is created equal.

Here is a super brief (and not at all inclusive because that would be a very long book) description of 3 types of talking when you're interacting with little ones who are learning to talk.

Use a mix of these types of talking throughout the day.

For more strategies, be sure to check out: https://wp.me/p807Ox-KR

11/25/2019

Lots of things to talk about at home this holiday week with your little ones ❤️

11/08/2019

I LOVE everything about this ❤️❤️

"She's adorable and great to work with, and the shots we captured with her for our holiday catalogues are beautiful," a spokeswoman for American Girl tells PEOPLE

10/29/2019

Here are some fun outdoor activities with your little ones this fall.

Playing outdoors. No toys needed.

10/21/2019

EVERY SLP, pediatrician, teacher, pediatric therapist/interventionist, and parent needs to see this and know the difference between milestones and averages. BOTH of these are important to know and consider when looking at a child’s development, and it’s critical to know the difference. Why? Because many parents (and pediatricians) are interpreting milestones as averages and as a result, children in need of assessment and likely intervention are NOT getting referred. In fact, when you look up milestones on the Mayoclinic and WebMD they are EASILY confused as averages as they use phrases like “say as many as 10 words!” - as if that was a lot. This leads parents to think their children are “not that far behind” when they have less words than the milestone- when in fact, the child could be significantly behind. So please understand milestones are minimums and if your child is at or below that level, they are in the bottom 10% of kids their age- which means intervention is most likely needed. It’s also important to understand the average isn’t a maximum, it’s what 50% of children are able to do- so half of the children at that age are even higher than that number. If your child is at or below the milestones listed below, please consider a speech and language evaluation!

10/03/2019

Please contact us if you have concerns about your late talker. We’ll be happy to give you more
information about speech and language development.

DID YOU KNOW.....???

"Late talkers" are toddlers who have typical comprehension but a limited number of spoken words.

Research shows that 70-80% of late talkers will catch up to their peers.

Sounds like pretty good odds, right?

Wrong.

This means 20-30% of late talkers will NOT catch up to their peers. They will have persistent issues with language and literacy that will affect them throughout their lives.

There is no way for us to know if a child will fall into that 70-80%, or that 20-30%. This is the purpose of EARLY INTERVENTION - to catch that 20-30% of children who will NOT catch up on their own.

Please share!

Hawa, V. V. & Spanoudis, G. (2014). Toddlers with delayed expressive language: An overview of the characteristics, risk factors and language outcomes. Researchers in Developmental Disabilities, 35, 400-407.

09/23/2019

Early intervention is so vital for our little ones with speech and language delays. ❤️

🗣 EARLY INTERVENTION IS KEY

So many times we hear pediatricians recommend “wait and see” or other parents saying “don’t worry, my child didn’t talk until 3 and now he’s fine” and both of these things DELAY intervention- and this is happening all the time! Why is this harmful?

Let’s say your child has 3 words at 18 months (average is 50 words) so you start intervention. There’s two options, either your child is a late talker and will catch up by kindergarten OR they will continue to have delays that will impact them for years to come. If your child is a late talker, they will do well with intervention and “catch up” at a quicker rate, they will have a solid language foundation, and will have increased communication and therefore decreased frustration and tantrums. If your child has a language disorder, ALL of the same things will be true, and you will be starting intervention while they are only six months behind and earlier which research says results in the best possible outcome.

Now let’s say you wait for your child to spontaneously start talking (which it does happen, but I would NEVER recommend waiting for this) but it’s just not happening for your child- as it does in about 30% of the late talking population. Let’s say the child has progressed without therapy and has learned 17 new words in 18 months. They are now 22 months behind age expectations and have SO much catching up to do. And that would mean that between the ages of 3 and 5, they would need to make up almost 4 years (the 22 months they are already delayed + 2 years for time) of language growth to be caught up to same age peers in kindergarten. That is a HUGE gap and really nearly impossible to fill.

It’s also important to note that research has found those “late talkers” that do catch up frequently have academic, reading, and social emotional difficulties in school- and having an earlier solid language foundation can ABSOLUTELY improve these later difficulties.

So please please, if someone is concerned about their child not talking, DO NOT tell them to wait, DO NOT tell them not to worry. Encourage an evaluation! Intervention might not be needed, and then again it might be- and it has the potential to positively impact that child for the rest of their life! So please don’t wait, evaluate!!

09/13/2019

Proud UT Alumni 🧡🧡

Most elementary school kids don't have their college plans firmed up, but the University of Tennessee super-fan who was bullied for his homemade T-shirt can mark that off of his list.

08/23/2019

Here’s great information to help enhance your child’s language development.

"Parents boost language development in early childhood by naming what children see, touch, smell, taste and do as they play."

08/17/2019

An excellent way to explain the difference between Speech and Language.

What exactly is the difference between SPEECH and LANGUAGE? It’s true, they are two different things!

07/10/2019

👏🏼🙌🏼

06/30/2019

Be still my heart 💙

I bought this shirt at Target because it’s adaptive apparel and extra soft, but I didn’t anticipate how Charlie would use it to speak. He points to the emojis to tell me when he’s feeling “awesome” 😎 or “tired” 😴 or “curious” 🤓. It’s amazing! I love how creative he is at making his feelings known.
•
This is now his favorite shirt (and mine too). So, thank you ☺️


Edited to add: I have a book coming out about a spunky little girl named Ellie who happens to be in a wheelchair this October. It's available now for preorder! https://amzn.to/2T305Eb

06/25/2019

I know a lot of parents take comfort in these odds- 70-80% of late talkers catch up to their peers by the time they start school. That sounds great- and don’t get me wrong, it IS amazing! But- look at the age- 30 months, that’s 2.5 years. The 70-80% of kids that catch up are rapidly gaining words after that initial late start to talking- which is one thing to keep an eye on as kids get older. But even with that, they have been found to have lasting weaknesses in language skills. So even if you are taking comfort in those numbers, seek help. Get some assessment and speech therapy if it’s at all possible. Be proactive. Early intervention is the BEST thing you can do to help your child have the most positive outcome!

06/18/2019

Fun summer ideas for your little ones ☀️

Do you have a water table gathering dust in your yard? Check out this list of super simple ideas to help breathe new life into it!

https://happytoddlerplaytime.com/21-amazing-water-table-ideas-for-summer/