KidsTalk Therapy

09/28/2023

Play is essential to language development and all forms of play are acceptable!

09/04/2023

Play is work at KidsTalk Therapy! Even singing silly songs has meaning…

08/06/2023

Great tips from Kind Little Humans 💗

07/25/2023

My new treatment space at my clinic is working out so well! Looking forward to continuing to provide evidenced based, fun and engaging, speech therapy services to the greater Puyallup Valley!

07/03/2023

Kidstalk Therapy has moved!
We are now located at: 1707 3rd St SE, Ste. C, Puyallup 98372
Looking forward to this new chapter with the best clients & families on the planet!

06/27/2023

Joni and Friends is bringing the hope of the Gospel to people with disabilities around the world. Your support makes a difference! https://www.classy.org/give/482926/ #!/donation/checkout

01/13/2023

12/01/2022

09/27/2022

Little people and big people too.

08/14/2022

08/06/2022

Immediate echolalia is not part of the stages of gestalt language development. Delayed echolalia is the first stage (scripting). So why do some kids use a mix or predominantly use immediate echolalia? Here’s a list of possible reasons provided by Dr. Lillian Stiegler in our 2021 ASHA webinar (link in bio).

Immediate echolalia also involves detective work. Share your experiences with it below 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

✨Find our freebie, all the research + resources PDF, our NEW handbook + course at meaningfulspeech.com ✨

08/06/2022

I’m only going to address language development in autism in this post. If you’re interested in hearing about why ABA (old or new) is discouraged in the autistic community please read posts written by autistic adults and listen to their voices.

So, let’s talk about language development in autism and why this mom said The Meaningful Speech course (and the SLP registry) changed her son’s life. I’m about to say something really bold that I’ve never come right out and just said. We have had it ALL WRONG all these years. Therapists of all disciplines have used forcing compliance, coercing, rewarding, and drilling to get autistic kids to talk. Well meaning therapists have ignored echolalia or tried to redirect it. Therapists have looked at all language development through an analytic language development lens and have encouraged the memorization of hundreds of single words by our autistic kids.

ABA (and unfortunately many SLPs) use verbal behavior programming with our autistic kids. This works until it doesn’t. Initially it may give kids that “aren’t talking” some words or even some survival language (I want chips). Most, if not all, autistic individuals are gestalt language processors (Roberts,2014). Verbal behavior DOES NOT work for our GLPs. In many cases it causes language harm. What I mean by this is that is keeps our kids more “stuck.” They cannot advance through the stages of gestalt language development to original, flexible language if they are being treated like analytic language processors.

Be the change. Talk to your boss, principal, child’s therapy team or special educators. We need to educate about gestalt language processing. Our kids deserve better.

✨Share the research and free resources (see link in bio or pinned posts). Better yet take the course, share the handouts from the handbook or find a local SLP that “gets it” at meaningfulspeech.com✨

07/30/2022

07/30/2022

BIG News at KidsTalk! September 1st I’ll be moving next door to where I am now...new Suite/same KidsTalk Therapy!

04/14/2022

Great post by autisticblackgirl

04/12/2022

04/12/2022

So many of us have invested large portions of our lives planning our next escape. Sometimes, a break from the hurt or the pain is all we want. While this may provide temporary relief, it always leaves us empty.

King Jesus on the other hand… He always leaves us better than when we approached him. Think about what he did for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3.

The king fired up the furnace 7 times hotter than normal to kill them for not serving the king’s gods. But when they looked into the furnace, “a son of the gods” had joined them in the flames.

He didn’t shut down the furnace and he certainly didn’t aid them in their escape. Nope… He stayed with them and kept them from harm.

Today’s your day fam. Let’s work together at resisting the temptation to escape and instead invite Jesus into the fire with us.


CelebrateRecovery.com

03/26/2022

Love this example of teaching reciprocity naturally!

08/10/2021

To all my parents: Articulation Station is 40% off! Aug. 16-20th! Go grab it!! 🐝

07/15/2021

Life skills…and I just read that cooking is a great way to increase executive function skills in preschoolers! Learning the steps involved in meal prep helps exercise working memory.

07/14/2021

Helpful information!

06/28/2021

Otterpops instead of Lollipops will be offered to all my little guys and gals after therapy this week!! Let’s beat the heat together!🌞

05/27/2021

Children learn through play! I like to tell kids in my clinic that play is their “work!” It is how they learn to interact with their environment, how they develop social-emotional skills, and how they develop motor skills (among other things!). Additionally, play gives them a visual referent for language and builds vocabulary skills. Play is so important!

05/18/2021

SLP’s have a day! Who knew?! (Accepting Starbucks...all day in celebration!💗☕️)

05/13/2021

Get down on the floor & play!!