Nurture Speech and Feeding Therapy

08/05/2023

These past four days were a very special experience at the Boot Camp. It is hard to put into words all of the information I learned there, but the meaningful conversations, thought-provoking questions, connections with experts in our field, and new SLP friendships are truly incredible! I feel confident, inspired, and motivated & must thank our incredible mentors for the work they put into this week: thank you Sue, Sarah, Brooke, Lisa, Lynn, & Megan. And thank you for bringing all of these brilliant minds together. This quote from Dr. Megan Overby will certainly stick with us! An SLP mantra to live by.

12/17/2022

Ever heard the saying “Food before one is just for fun”? While it’s catchy, it’s not really true. Although your baby will continue to meet most of his or her nutritional needs from breast milk or formula, there are a lot of reasons why introducing solid foods is vital for your baby’s development!

Learning to eat solid foods helps your baby develop:
~ Oral motor skills
~ Fine motor skills
~ Sensory skills
~ Communication skills
~ Mealtime routines

And exposure to ‘lumpy’ solid foods by 9 months has been correlated with reduced chance of picky eating later in childhood (Coulthard et al, 2009).

In addition, solids provide key nutrients for your baby between 6 and 12 months, specifically iron and zinc.

Introducing your baby to solids right around 6 months of age is clearly important for all of these reasons, but that doesn’t mean food can’t be fun too! Food should be fun at this age and getting messy is encouraged too! 😁

12/15/2022

Starting solids with your baby…the first question is “When?”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends introducing solids around 6 months of age. There may be some reasons why your pediatrician may advise starting a little earlier (between 4-6m), so consult with them, but typically starting right at 6 months is preferred!
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Look for the signs of readiness in your baby. Baby should:
- Be able to sit upright with minimal support in their high chair
- Have good head & neck control
- Reach for objects and bring them to their mouth to explore. This is the stage when babies typically put anything/everything in their mouths.
- Show interest in food- this could be staring intently at food when you are eating, reaching for food, opening their mouth when food approaches, etc.
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if you’re seeing these signs and your baby is just about 6 months of age, try introducing solids at 1 meal per day. Remember to go slow and read baby’s cues!

12/12/2022

Looking forward to it!

Reminder 🚨 Monday night we’re pleased to offer MVP families a FREE information session with Jordan Bills at 7:30 PM—12/12/22 on Zoom

💙How to know your baby is ready to start solids
💙Typical development of oral-motor/feeding skills
💙What to feed your baby & how to progress textures
💙Favorite tools: teethers, utensils, cups, bowls & plates
💙Best practices & tips to avoid picky eating
💙Strategies to encourage self-feeding and build independence
💙Red flags that suggest it might be time to get professional help
💙 Time for Q&A

Sign up is on our website on our events page 🔗🌎

08/12/2022

Continuing on the theme of “Be The Toy!” People games are one of my favorite tools to teach parents of young children who are learning to communicate. People games (sometimes called "social games") are simple, repetitive games that are played without toys and focus on the interaction between you and your child. They help children learn to imitate actions/gestures/words, initiate interactions, take turns, and attend to others.

These games should be played the same way each time so your child learns what to expect. Once you have played it MANY times, you can then pause during the game to see if your child will fill in the next step with an action, sound, or word.

The game I use daily with the children I work with is a variation of “Up-Down!”. To play this game:
1) Lift your child up overhead while saying “up…up…up” with an animated voice
2) Hold them up for a second
3) Then bring them down quickly and say “down!”

You can also add a spin or do several up-down’s in a row. Then put your child down and WAIT to see if they will initiate it again (they might raise their arms up, they might look at you and move towards you, or they may attempt to say “up”). But remember, play the game MANY times all the way through before waiting so your child has a chance to learn the routine first.

Need help incorporating these strategies into your daily routine? Have questions about your child’s language development? Reach out to us at 917-719-0424.

08/08/2022

08/07/2022

This is a tip I picked up from Laura Mize (check out her wealth of information here: ). BE THE TOY!

What does that mean?
It means you, as the parent or therapist, find ways to be the most fun and interesting thing in the room. You want your child to realize it’s more fun to play WITH you than to do anything else.

Why?
Because teaching your child how to play with you is an important first step toward learning to communicate. Communication begins with social interactions and a child who is truly engaged in 1:1 playtime with you will have many opportunities to learn new words. If your little one doesn’t show much interest in other people, these tips can help.

How?
~ Put away most of the toys & focus on people games like chase or peekaboo
~ Get on your child's level (you want to be face-to-face)
~ Follow their lead- figure out what interests them and use that in your play
~ Copy them – imitate what your child does, any noises they make, and any words they say!
~ Be FUN – be playful, silly, dramatic, and animated to the best of your ability. This doesn’t always come naturally but it gets easier with practice and will help capture your little one's attention!

Look out for further posts elaborating on these tips and feel free to reach out if you could use more help!

               

07/01/2022

Here’s a quick tip you can start using today to help your toddler say more words: Ask fewer questions!

❌ Instead of: Ohhh who did you find? What animal is that? It’s a pig. What does the pig say? What color is he?

✅ Try this:
Ohhh a pig! (point to the pig)
Pig! Oink Oink (make this funny sound a few times)
Hi pig! (model waving)

When children are first learning to talk, asking too many questions can be overwhelming. Some little ones don’t like feeling “pressured” to talk and will be silent in response.

So, what should we do instead? Model just a few words at a time and turn those questions into comments. Think about modeling a target word many times... repetition is key for learning. In this example, I said “pig” 3x to give the child an opportunity to imitate me. I took the pressure off of them by not asking any questions.

BONUS tip: use an *animated* voice, BIG facial expressions, and gestures too! 😁These grab your little one’s attention and make the interaction more fun.

06/24/2022

A late talker is a child with fewer than 50 words and no spontaneous two-word combinations by 2 years old.

The 50-word mark is really important! Research shows children start to spontaneously combine words once they have at least 50 single words. They then start putting novel phrases together like “more juice,” “car go,” or “mommy shoe.” Holistic phrases and word combinations that are usually said as one unit like “thank you,” “all done” or “what’s that?” don’t count as novel phrases since toddlers learn to say these as one unit or “word.”

Identifying late talkers early and providing intervention at a young age is critical. Children who have no other delays aside from late talking are likely to catch up to their peers by the time they enter school if provided with the appropriate support.

Historically, pediatricians recommended a “wait-and-see” approach for children who were late talkers and appeared to have no other delays. This is outdated and referral to speech therapy should be encouraged. Research has shown that waiting can do more harm than good. Early identification and intervention can mitigate the long-term effects of a language delay.

Have concerns about your child’s language development? Reach out to us at 425-477-9252.

02/24/2022

Expressive vocabulary refers to how many words a child says. You can count it as a word (even if it doesn’t sound exactly like the adult form of the word) if your child uses it regularly and consistently to refer to a specific thing/with intent.

When we talk about a child’s vocabulary, it’s important to note the difference between a milestone and an average. A milestone is what most children are able to do at a specific age. The average is what approximately 50% of children are able to do by a specific age. Pediatricians will typically refer to milestones when checking on your child’s language development, but it is important to know that the average number of words for a particular age is higher!

Children typically use their first word around 12 months of age and should have at least 10 but up to 50 words at 18 months. By 2 years of age, children should have more than 50 words and be combining words into two-word phrases. At the age of 3, children should have at least 250 words and be able to use short sentences (3-4 words together). But remember, these are the milestones, not averages. The average typically developing child’s vocabulary will be greater as noted in the chart.

*Please note these milestones are not consistent with the newly published CDC milestones for early language development. Most SLPs are concerned the new milestones will identify children too late. If you are concerned about your child’s language development, you don’t need to “wait & see!”

Give us a call to talk about your child’s needs: 425-477-9252. We can help you determine if an evaluation is the best next step.

02/09/2022

Intelligibility refers to how much of a child’s speech other people can understand. One way to think about this is if your child says 10 sentences, how many of those do you understand easily? What about extended family members or strangers- how much would they understand?

By the age of 4, children should be understood 100% of the time by anyone who is listening, but before that, the expectation is a little lower. At age 2, we should generally understand half of what your child is saying. At age 3, we should understand about ¾ of what they say. As they get closer to the age of 4, you shouldn’t feel like you have to frequently guess what your child is trying to say or interpret what they are saying for extended family, teachers, or strangers. This is hard work and can be really frustrating for kids!

This is where SLPs step in to help improve your child’s intelligibility so talking can be easy, fun, and stress-free! We love seeing children build their confidence as they improve their speech sounds in therapy.

If you find yourself working really hard to understand your child’s speech or feel like other people have a hard time understanding them, give us a call to discuss your concerns at 425-477-9252. We will let you know if an evaluation is the right next step.

02/07/2022

This is a common question we get from parents and teachers: “Johnny doesn’t say the L sound. He is 3 years old. Is that normal?”

This chart represents the age at which most children have acquired each particular sound. Generally, 75% of children have acquired the particular sound by the start of the age listed in this chart and 90% of children have acquired the sound by the end of the age listed. For example, 75% of children can say the /f/ sound accurately by the time they are 3 and 90% of children can say the /f/ sound accurately by the age of 3 years, 11 months.

So, if your child has just turned 3, he or she has a bit more time to learn that L sound. However, specific sound errors need to be considered in the bigger picture of a child’s speech. If your child has difficulty with many of these sounds (even if some of the sounds are later developing), his or her intelligibility (how much others can understand) may be poor. SLPs consider speech sound errors in the context of overall intelligibility and how much those errors are preventing effective, functional communication.

Is your child frustrated when they aren’t understood? It may be time to reach out to an SLP! Give us a call at 425-477-9252 to talk about your child’s speech sounds.

Look out for our next post about intelligibility expectations too!

02/04/2022

Nurture Speech & Feeding Therapy will be an in-network provider with Premera stating February 11th! If you are a Premera member, we will bill Premera directly on your behalf for all services rendered.

Have a different insurance plan? We provide a “superbill” for you to submit for any out-of-network reimbursement you may have with your plan. Most families we work with are successful at using their out-of-network benefits.

Have questions? Give us a cal at 425-477-9252.

02/03/2022

What’s the difference? The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) further defines speech as incorporating articulation, voice (pitch, loudness), and fluency (the rhythm of our speech). Language is defined as what words mean (vocabulary), how to make new words (e.g. turning “jump” into “jumped”), how to put words together (sentence structure), and what we should say at different times (social skills!).

Despite this distinction, speech and language share a common goal: communication. Both are necessary for children to effectively convey their messages to others. In speech therapy, we may be targeting just one of these areas or both!

Some children need help learning to produce speech sounds in an adult-like manner so their words are clearly understood by others (speech). Other children need help developing their vocabulary, expanding their sentences, learning how to use grammatical markers, following directions, telling logical stories, or asking and answering questions appropriately (language). Some children need help with both.

A comprehensive evaluation sets the foundation for effective treatment, identifying each child’s unique strengths and needs.

Have concerns about your child’s speech or language skills? Please reach out to us at 425-477-9252.

01/31/2022

Did you know? Speech-language pathologists are qualified to treat a wide variety of disorders! Although our title might only have “speech” and “language” in it, we actually work on many other areas too. These include social skills, fluency (stuttering), oral-motor skills, and feeding and swallowing.

At Nurture Speech & Feeding Therapy, we provide highly individualized assessment and treatment for children with a variety of communication and feeding concerns. If you have questions about any of these areas, please give us a call at 425-477-9252.

01/20/2022

Hi! I'm Jordan, the founder of Nurture Speech & Feeding Therapy and a certified speech-language pathologist in West Seattle.

I earned my master's degree from the George Washington University in 2016 and have been working in private practice ever since. I have extensive experience supporting children of all ages with speech, language, and feeding difficulties in both the U.S. and the U.K. I am trained in PROMPT, DTTC, TalkTools, Hanen's It Takes Two to Talk, LAMP, and the SOS Approach to Feeding.

I returned to the U.S. this summer after spending time in London and still work with some children in England via teletherapy.

In greater Seattle, I come to you to provide assessment and treatment services at your home, your child's daycare/school, or online via teletherapy.

Have questions about your child's development or know someone would could benefit from speech or feeding therapy? Please give me a call at 425-477-9252. I look forward to working with you and your family!

01/12/2022

Hello! We are Nurture Speech & Feeding Therapy. A pediatric private practice providing speech, language, and feeding services in West Seattle and surrounding areas.

We are passionate about providing effective, individualized assessment and treatment services backed by evidence-based practices.

We see children of all ages and offer services in your home, your child’s daycare/school, or online via teletherapy.

Have questions or concerns about your child? Please reach out at any time via email or phone! Info in bio.