New Year, New Goals, New Opportunities

Wednesday Word:

Happy New Year friends, families, fellow colleagues, & followers!! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season :) My apologies for not posting over the holiday, as it became very chaotic and super busy. Hopefully you all were able to stop by the Spik My Language Pinterest board at some point to gather ideas for more creative language stimulation during the holiday season. This year, my resolution as an SLP who works in EI is to strive to reduce and/or climate the dreaded "only morning time works" mantra that families and teachers insist on. Don't get me wrong, majority of children, especially toddlers, are very well rested and most energized in the morning, however, we have to work together to create and provide opportunities for more language stimulation and multi-sensory approach to learning throughout the entire day from sun up to sun down. It could be through getting dressed, diaper changes, getting into the car, to making the table or helping to make dinner, it could be during lunch time, or even a trip to the grocery store. My goal is to provide intensive instruction, modeling, and facilitation on how to create language learning opportunities throughout the day in the child's typical/natural routine and especially during the most difficult and "not the best" times. Let's get to work team!! #teamworkmakesthedreamwork #EIchallenges #EISLPgoals2015

Gratefulness & Gratitude

Happy Happy Thanksgiving to all of my amazing kiddos & their wonderful families!! :)  I am so grateful to have all of you in my daily life and to be able to serve and help your children!! I hope that your holiday is full of fun, love, language learning, and laughter. #littleturkies  #gobblegobble

Thanksgiving Buzz Words

Wednesday Word:

Hi friends!! I often give homework for families each week when working on building expressive vocabulary and overall language. One common task is suggesting the family choose at least three "buzz" words/signs/sounds that would be functional throughout the child's daily routine. The can be silly sounds that are familiar to the child and family and often uses, words to comment, label, and/or request, or words/sounds that are related to a particular activity or routine. In addition, for those kiddos who are working on expanding utterances from single words to multi-words, I suggest using and modeling "please", "more", and "want" in addition to the "buzz word". Be sure to model the sign, word, and/or sound no more than three times, and provide 5-10 seconds to allow your child to imitate you. As all of us celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, I generated a list of words/signs and sounds that can incorporated during tomorrow's festivities! Good luck, be consistent, & have fun :)

1. thank you
2. eat
3. drink
4. sit
5. up
6. down
7. hungry
8. yay
9. mmmm (yum)
10. all done

http://www.babysignlanguage.com/flash-cards/

Thanksgiving & Language Learning

Tips on Tuesdays:

I have been encouraging families to take advantage of the holiday and create as many opportunities for language learning during this fun holiday. One of my families took the opportunity to use Halloween to create a social story about the "Trick-or-Treating" experience due to this child's difficulty with change, transitions, and new experiences. I have listed a couple of ideas and focus points for social stories below, in addition to websites for templates and examples of social stories. #getcreative

Thanksgiving Social Story ideas:

1. Taking Turns: pictures of people passing food around the table, getting attention by tapping an adult or raising hands when you want to speak, using indoor voices, etc.
2. Fun Foods: discuss and show various foods that may be on the table, it's ok to try different foods or say "no thank you", discuss textures and colors, etc.
3. Thanksgiving visitors: take pictures and discuss who will arrive, who will sleep over, manners, etc.

https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/Autism-Speaks-Microsoft-Office-Templates-f8a90293-b8c6-4fd1-b7cf-616b67615bf6

http://www.pinterest.com/momtotwokiddos/social-stories/

Thanksgiving Favorites

Motivational Monday:

Happy Thanksgiving week!! Be sure to stop by the Spik My Language Pinterest board for some of my favorite Thanksgiving crafts and books :) #3days&counting

Communication Fun for Halloween!

Happy October,  Happy Fall, & Happy Halloween!! Please continue to check my Pinterest page (Spik My Language board) for fun Halloween & Fall activities & festive projects to stimulate speech and language skills. I have listed a couple of ideas below to get you started. Enjoy :)

1. Puppet Show: Make puppets out of old, clean socks, or brown paper bags, and use them as imaginary friends and for modeling sounds, words, and phrases. Have fun decorating the puppets, talk about all of the facial features needed, colors of the decorations, textures, sizes, etc.

2. Pumpkin Patch: Visit the local pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins. Discuss weight, size, colors, shapes, etc. Look out for other harvest items as well. Consider making fun foods such as pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie, butternut squash, etc. Have fun collecting and counting pumpkin seeds if you carve them, etc. This activity can also take a multi-sensory approach to learning as you practice gross motor skills while exploring the pumpkin patch and experience textures, smells, fine motor skills, etc.

3. "I Spy Fall": Go on a walk each day. Discuss the weather, look for different colored leaves and count how many you can collect. Identify and label about all of the Halloween decorations in your neighborhood, colors of the lights, count how many people have pumpkins, etc. This activity can also incorporate a multi-sensory approach to learning.

Brush Your Teeth

Thoughts for Thursday:

I recently had a family that was concerned about difficulty during the teeth brushing routine using a vibrating toothbrush. I recommended a vibrating toothbrush, for good oral health & hygiene, as well as "awakening the oral cavity" for speech, language, and oral feeding. I suggested the following methods   and steps that have worked for some of my other families:

1. Singing songs & reading books about brushing teeth

2. Having playtime with the toothbrush to prepare for brushing teeth, rewarding with (stickers, TV/iPad time, etc.) 

3. Allowing the child to touch his preferred toothbrush and allowing them to choose when they would like to touch the less desired one, etc.

4. Modeling several people use the toothbrush to prove there is nothing to be afraid of

5. Not forcing the vibrating toothbrush right away, but instead introducing it in phases: tolerating it in the area, next to them, on their body or in their hand, turning it on etc.