Justine the SLP

20/01/2022

How many of you are cringing at the thought of bringing on the mess during mealtime? Been there! 😬

As hard as it is to let go (for some of us), mealtime with our babes is about more than just eating. See the positives of GETTING MESSY below:

🌟Great sensory play: Mealtime is also a time for our littles to engage in their first sensory play. The tactile input you get from playing in messy textures provides tons of meaningful information to the brain 🧠

🌟Learning to self-feed: The more opportunities our littles have to get food all over their fingers, the more likely they are to realize if they put their fingers in their mouth, they get food!

🌟Prevents tactile defensiveness: When our babes are not exposed to different textures, they can become more sensitive or even aversive to different textures over time.

🌟Makes mealtime fun: Allowing our littles to get messy promotes a more laid back environment and makes this time more positive!

Moral of the story is BRING ON THE MESS 🙌🏼

12/01/2022

You got this mama’s, dada’s and caregivers! Encourage language development with your babies by:

🔶Imitating babies sounds!
🔸Pausing! This is huge! Give your babe enough time to add to the conversation. It’s a two way street, right!?
🔶Modeling new sounds! “Bababa” “Dadada” “Mamama”

Questions?! Ask away!

22/09/2021

28/07/2020

28/07/2020

Let’s talk about Joint Attention! 👀 In addition to knowing how to interact face-to-face with people, our littles need to learn to share their attention between people and objects/actions during their interactions.

The hallmark of joint attention is that the kiddo and parent have both focused their attention on the same object or action, and have an awareness of each other’s participation 🙌🏼

In this sweet video, momma and little have both focused their attention on the fact that the LEGO’s have fallen down out of the bag. Hilarious! 😂 The kiddo looks down at the LEGO’s that have dropped and then looks at his mom in delight! They are both aware of the action that has just taken place!

Joint attention is such an important pre-linguistic skill! According to Carpenter et al., 1998, there is a strong link between joint engagement and communication development. In fact, the amount of time infants spend in joint engagement with their mothers predicts the infants' early gestures and communication 💛💛💛

25/07/2020

Let’s talk about eye contact! 👀 When parents’ and kiddos’ eyes meet something very special happens – an emotional connection is established 💛

Eye gaze is one of the first milestones littles achieve, and it is so fun when this happens! It lets parents know that their little one finally “sees” them and that they’re important and recognized!

Eye contact is another essential prelinguistic skill in the development of language and vocabulary. When both parent and little are looking at the same object and the parent names or describes the object, the connection between a sight and a word is established!

21/07/2020

Baby SEE baby DO!! Let’s talk about imitation. Imitation means that a kiddo copies what they see and hear other people do and say. This “imitation” process is how all of us learn just about ANYTHING including LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT! 🗣🙌🏼

Research has shown that imitation is the single most important predictor of later language development. According to Zambrana et al., 2013, a child’s imitation skills at 18 months can most accurately predict his or her language development at 36 months more than any other factor. THUS, targeting imitation skills should be a TOP priority for any little who is language delayed!

So how can we get our littles to start imitating? Easy - imitate THEM! In this video clip, we see this sweet mama copy her little by smiling, laughing and blowing raspberries. She is letting lose, being silly and having FUN 🎉 - and really that is the most important thing! By imitating her baby, this mom is connecting with her little and creating meaningful interactions. Take note - she PAUSES to give her baby a chance to imitate her and participate in the social interaction. By pausing - her babe has the opportunity to respond and create this beautiful back and forth interaction!

So what’s our take-away here!? If your little makes a sound, make the same sound. If they bang on the wall, you bang on the wall! After you imitate your kiddo a few times, try something new and wait for them to imitate you. ❤️

20/07/2020

20/07/2020

Every parent CANNOT wait to hear their littles’ first words! 🗣 However! Parents - did you know there is a long list of skills our kiddos need to learn about communication before they can begin to communicate using words?

These are essential pre-linguistic skills (i.e. meaningful & purposeful non-verbal communication) and they can look like the following:

✨Eye contact
✨Imitation: copying facial expressions, sounds, gestures, etc.
✨Listening: responding to environment, understanding words and simple directions.
✨Gestures: pointing, reaching, waving, signs.
✨Turn-taking: back and forth play.
✨Vocalizations
✨Babbling
✨Cause & effect: knowing that their actions can cause something to happen.
✨Joint attention: when two people share interest in an object or action and there is understanding between the two people that they are both interested in the same object or action.

Celebrate your kiddo’s prelinguistic skills and praise them for beginning to communicate! 🎉 What prelinguistic skills do you see your little doing at home? Any questions?! Ask me!!

17/07/2020

We, as SLP’s, do our absolute best to trial different AAC systems and select one that best meets the needs of the client and family. So WHY does AAC abandonment happen...and what can we do to prevent it?!

According to Moorcroft et al., 2019, AAC systems often get rejected because of a number of barriers that were related to PARENT needs and values:

💥Barrier #1: Lack of emotional readiness or resilience to implement AAC.
⚡️Barrier #2: Lack of satisfaction with the AAC system.
💥Barrier #3: Extra work associated with implementing AAC.

✨SLP TAKE-AWAY✨:
⭐️We must implement counseling with a focus on experiencing disability and READINESS to use AAC.
⭐️We must do the work to know and understand the family’s values regarding cost, functionality and language level of the AAC system.
⭐️We must focus on parent education on effective & efficient support strategies and how to successfully incorporate AAC in family & daily routines.

15/07/2020

EVERYONE—regardless of age, ability, and diagnosis—deserves the RIGHT to communicate! 👍🏼 The Communication Bill of Rights is so POWERFUL! We must advocate for our littles (and adults!) who don’t necessarily communicate in the conventional/typical way.

SWIPE RIGHT ➡️ to see the Communication Bill of Rights! 📝

Use this! Share this! Be a voice for those who dont have one (yet!!!). Advocate for our kiddos to have consistent access to their essential AAC device! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

14/07/2020

LOVE this toy!! 🌈⚙️❤️

⭐️ Playskool Explore ‘N Grow Busy Gears (Amazon Exclusive) ⭐️

Why we LOVE this toy:
❣️Visually stimulating-
* Colorful & captivating set of gears 🌈⚙️
* Gears spin as twinkling lights flash ✨
* GREAT for littles with 👁. Turn the lights off in the room so the lights pop!
❣️Auditorily stimulating - fun music plays 🎶
❣️Great way to learn cause & effect prelinguistic skill (there is a button to activate toy).
❣️Target Expressive Vocabulary by modeling and teaching new words: “go” “lights” “music” “put” “on” “take” “off” “spin” “turn” “help” “more” “stop”
❣️Target Receptive Vocabulary by having your little follow simple commands (i.e. “take red gear off!”)
❣️Target Fine Motor Skills -
* work on that pincer grasp taking off and putting on gears
* Work on twisting gears
* Stack the gears
❣️Target Cognitive Skills by having your little sort the gears by color!

13/07/2020

How to make your own switch adapted toy! 🖲🧸🙌🏼

What you need:
⭐️battery operated toy with a on/off button
⭐️battery interrupter (can be found on amazon, ablenetinc, and enabling devices in all different battery sizes)
⭐️switch that is best suited for your little
⭐️smiles

Pros:
✨no need to buy a special pre-adapted toy, which are typically a bit more pricey
✨you can adapt a toy that you already have and know is motivating for you little
✨more cost effective

Cons:
⛔️battery interrupters are delicate and can break
⛔️though all battery operated toys should be able to be adapted - sometimes it just doesn’t work 🤷🏻‍♀️
* I have found that toys with multiple functions/buttons are not as compatible. A simple battery operated toy with an on/off switch works best.

All in all, adapting your own toy is AWESOME and allows your little to be independent, socially participate, and develop those necessary prelinguistic skills! LET’S PLAY! 🙌🏼

Which toys do you like to adapt!? Tell me in comments below!

11/07/2020

Keep calm, keep MODELING & keep it fun!! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼