Imagine Pediatric Therapy of Brevard

23/06/2022

Great Apraxia of Speech visual from . Apraxia doesn't simply affect a child's pronunciation. There are so many components involved in motor speech disorders.

Things people with apraxia of speech may struggle with. 💙☀️

17/03/2022

Such a fun and simple way to talk about feelings. No special pictures or books. Just pure fun. Add a mirror and have your little ones imitate each emotion.

25/07/2021

About a year ago I joined a Giving Community in my local town of Indialantic, FL. It’s a Facebook Group where members give and receive items freely, and establish or deepen relationships with neighbors. It’s a really great way to make someone else's trash your treasure, get rid of things you no longer need or use, all while reusing and reducing waste.

🔍 I’ve been able to find a large selection of Children’s books, Fisher Price Toys, Puzzles, Trains, and Cars!

📚 But this by far has been the greatest find. Eric Carle, Leslie Patricelli, Sandra Boyton, and Karen Katz books! I scored books about opposites, bedtime and potty routines, making friends, body parts, and common objects and animals. Some of them needed a little TLC and were given a facelift with a little bit of glue and cardstock.

I love them all but my favorites for toddlers have been “Toot” and all the “Where is Baby’s” books.

🏡 We know books can get expensive and this is a great way to build a small book library for your little ones at home. Before spending a ton of money on books, try and find affordable books at local consignment stores, thrift shops, little book libraries, or giving communities.

Do you have a Giving Community where you live? What has been your biggest find!? Let me know in the comments!

22/04/2021

💬 𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒄𝒉 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝑫𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕

🤔 One common question parents ask me during Early Intervention sessions is “which words should I model for my child?”

👦🏻 For toddlers who have very limited production of sounds and words, I first focus my attention on imitation and speech sound development.

❓ What words, if any, is the child using?
❓ Are there specific speech sounds being used during babbling?
❓ Are they able to produce an approximation of a word?

If the child is barely speaking, they probably have a very limited speech sound repertoire. We want children to feel successful at imitating simple consonant and vowel combinations. Aside from recommending routine-based activities, I advise parents to also follow a speech-sound developmental approach. I coach parents on how to model and stimulate production of vowels and early developing sounds such as /p, b, d, m, n, h, w/ via animal and vehicle sounds, and exclamatory words (i.e moo! peep! wow!).

I discuss which sounds tend to develop first and work with parents to create a list of functional words containing those speech sounds (i.e. bye, me, no). The goal is to follow the typical progression of speech sound development to facilitate production of functional words.

👉🏼 Check out my Speech Sound Development Chart based on the latest Article Review from Crowe and McLeod (2020). A printable PDF is available on our Resources page.

https://www.imaginebrevard.com/resources

10/03/2021

🙋🏻‍♀️ Hi! Just popping in to share one of my favorite and simple deep breathing exercises for kids. This last year hasn’t been easy, between managing homeschooling, a small private caseload, and daily mommy duties. Oh and how could I forget, a global pandemic. I have to be honest, sometimes emotions ran high and we didn’t leave time aside for self care. We are now making a point of incorporating soft stretches and deep breathing exercises to our morning routine. I’ve been using deep breathing exercises during my therapy sessions for a few years now. They are great for children with poor emotional regulation or low breath control. One of my favorite breathing techniques is called Rainbow Breathing. Hope you find it useful and can incorporate it into your daily routine as well!

Rainbow Breathing

🧘🏻‍♀️ Sit cross-legged on the floor.
🙆🏻‍♀️ Take a slow deep breath in as you raise your hands over your shoulders.
🌈 As you breathe in, pretend you are tracing or breathing in the rainbow.
🌬 Breath out slowly as you lower your hands to your side.

Repeat for each color of the rainbow.

Setting time aside to teach and practice calming strategies will give your children helpful tools for coping with difficult situations before they occur.

Check out
She has great resources on her website to help children cope with stress and anxiety as well as Deep Breathing Printables.

19/10/2020

“Stuttering should never be taken as a sign of cognitive decline or reduced intellectual capability”.

Stuttering should never be taken as a sign of cognitive decline or reduced intellectual capability. This can’t be stated enough as stuttering continues to have a prominent public focus, most recently during a conversation on CNN’s State of the Union this past Sunday.

Fact check: Stuttering is a way of speaking—nothing more and nothing less—for almost 70 million people worldwide.

Beyond misrepresenting telltale signs of stuttering as cognitive decline, expressing pity for someone who stutters is also hurtful and harmful. A long body of scientific evidence shows stuttering has no impact on a person’s intelligence—and people who stutter can and do lead full and accomplished lives.

Together, let us use this year’s International Stuttering Awareness Day (October 22) to promote understanding of stuttering and respect for people who stutter—and to combat misinformation and mistreatment that is all too common. For accurate, evidence-based, shareable information on stuttering, visit https://www.asha.org/stuttering-toolkit/

11/10/2020

What a cool idea shared by Teaching Mama. Try it with ketchup, mustard, and chocolate pudding. What an easy and great way for your little one to explore food textures and smells. I’ve done this before and the food “colors” will dry like regular paint.

Celebrate the BEAUTIFUL colored autumn trees outside with today's unique Broccoli Stamped Fall Tree - Kid Craft tutorial from Glued To My Crafts!

11/10/2020

Visual schedules aid in providing structure, setting routines and expectations, which in turn help with transitions and reducing behaviors. Check out the free visual schedule from Teaching Mama.

Visual schedule cards for toddlers, preschoolers, and children with special needs. This free printable has 22 schedule cards that help children with routines.

08/10/2020

𝑶𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑬𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒚 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔

Did you know that Speech-Language Pathologists play an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of literacy disorders?

Speech Language Pathologists:
📕 Foster language acquisition and literacy skills.
📙 Assess, diagnose, and treat reading and writing disorders.
📗 Describe the relationship between a child’s literacy disorder and spoken language difficulties.
📘 Collaborate with other professionals and family members to develop an effective treatment plan.

Today I’m sharing some of my favorite early literacy resources to help you support your emerging reader at home. These resources provide practice in the areas of letter recognition, letter-to-sound correspondence, picture-word relationships, phonological awareness, phonics and decoding, non-decodable word practice, fluency, and sentence & reading comprehension. Remember there is no better way to support your little reader than sitting down daily and reading a book together!

✋🏻𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘮 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮.𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥'𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘭𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩-𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.

✅ Sound City Reading - Free online PDF packets following a systematic, sequential, and multisensory phonics approach.

✅ Lalilo - Free online Phonics Program for teachers, including homeschool teachers! Yes! 🙌🏼

✅ Starfall - Free Apps for introduction of letters and vowel patterns. Yearly paid Home Membership with access to K-3 English & Language Arts activities.

✅ Teach Your Monster to Read - Funded by the Usborne Foundation. Free online or paid App for use on tablet devices.

✅ Khan Academy Kids App - Free Educational App with Interactive activities supporting English & Language Arts.

✅ Duolingo ABC - Free App with interactive early literacy activities and multiple children profiles.

30/09/2020

Check out the blog post by Kids Eat in Color regarding the importance of implementing a consistent feeding schedule at home. Grazing on foods and snacks should be discouraged. A consistent feeding schedule creates structure and teaches children to read their hunger and satiety cues.

"Do you have a toddler feeding schedule?" Well, if that's your question, not only do I have a toddler feeding schedule for you, but I also have a whole blog with a sample menu in it. Consider this winning the mom lottery 😂 ⁠⠀
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Remember, kids (toddlers included) need parents to provide the consistency of when food is served. Feeding toddlers on a routine (more flexible)/schedule (less flexible) is so so so important for teaching them to listen to their bodies, eat nutritious food, and prevent picky eating behaviors.!⁠⠀
⁠⠀
I spell it all out in my new article that's on my blog...link in bio 😊 ⁠⠀
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Does your toddler need snacks?⁠⠀

29/09/2020

How great are these for sensory play and exploration!? You can change them up and use different mini toys, mini erasers, or colored pasta. You can model simple functional words while making them, such as “in, put, on, open, close, more”. You can also name and count the items as you drop them into the bottles.

28/09/2020

Attention Span is a common topic discussed during my therapy sessions. Here is a great visual from going over expected attention spans by age. I must clarify this chart refers to how long a young child should be expected to sit, interact, and attend to an activity with an adult or another child before needing a break, losing interest, and/or moving to another activity. Attention during independent play tends to be much longer. Also, watching a screen for long periods of time does not equate to having a long attention span. Research demonstrates that too much screen time can have negative effects on attention span during interactive play and learning.