You’ll find a variety of blog posts aimed at parents, speech therapists, and students, with topics ranging from nonspeaking children and getting started with AAC, to how to support speaking children and teaching literacy
How many times have you heard: "They are just stimming on their device.” In this blog post, I’ve teamed up with Laura Hayes (@AACinnovations on Instagram) to take a magnifying glass and zoom in on how AAC learners may “stim” on their devices and how we can utilize this information to better support them.
All children, regardless of their disability, CAN be taught how to read and write. Here are some ideas if you’re not quite sure how to get an AAC user started with literacy.
When we’re teaching vocabulary to children with complex communication needs, we need to be highly strategic about the words we’re choosing. I’m going to break down exactly how I figure out what words to start targeting for children using AAC.
Utilizing this least-to-most prompting hierarchy (see photo below) helps give children the scaffolded support they need to become more independent and autonomous communicators. Remember: if we are constantly prompting our communicators, then we are teaching them to only communicate when someone tells them to.
One of the most common problems I see in my practice is that kids are stuck using carrier phrases like "I want…" or “I see…” We call these “carrier phrases” because you simply rotate different words into the rote phrase. What’s the solution? Core words.
If you’ve spent any time here on my website or follow me on social media, then you’ve probably noticed that I love visual resources. Visual supports are imperative for child learning, and there are few visual supports that I love more than a communication board (you can download my FREE Core Communication Board).
As I finally see light peeking out from the end of the tunnel, I've been overwhelmed with emotions and reflection. The lessons of this long, arduous journey have given me even more compassion for the families and students I serve.
Without question, the following line is one of the biggest challenges I hear from parents: “My child isn’t speaking in sentences.” After all, building sentences is central to a child’s communication success. This skill develops as babies listen to adults around them having conversations. Then over time, babies slowly start to emulate adults by first producing single words and eventually short phrases. As language skills grow, their sentences become more and more sophisticated.
Unfortunately, this process isn’t quite as simple for children. A lot of my clients might be able to repeat words or phrases, but they are mostly using scripts and aren’t formulating their unique thoughts and ideas into sentences.
This is where I find visual supports to be incredibly helpful.
Podcasts= Life. Especially in LA traffic. There’s nothing better than the efficiency high I get when I’m driving around AND learning some new strategies, therapy ideas and get updates on the latest research. Below you’ll find 15 SLP podcasts that you have to check out on your next drive.
In my last post, I described the difference between core words and fringe words, and talked about the benefits of teaching core vocabulary. This is the fastest way to help a child start communicating more effectively.
We’re living in a digital age and children amaze me at how tech-savvy they are. Sometimes it can be overwhelming finding the right apps that both motivate children and also facilitate learning and communication.
So honored to get some gems of wisdom from early intervention expert, Stacey Landberg. Stacey is an LA-based speech-language pathologist who has developed a particular interest in the effects of screen-time and early childhood development.
As a speech therapist and technology specialist, I get asked all the time about my favorite apps I use in my practice. It can be overwhelming finding the right apps for children that are practical, but that also facilitate learning and communication, and aren’t just for playing games. So in my latest blog post I’m sharing a few of my favorite apps.
“You were a late talker too,” your mom says as she sips her latte. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Look at you. You turned out fine. Just give him time. He’ll talk when he’s good and ready.” Your well intentioned, reassuring mother might be absolutely right. Your child might begin talking (or talking more) any day now. But what if she’s not right? What if speech doesn’t develop like you hoped it would? While you wait to find out, might valuable time be slipping by when your child could be learning tools that could help him to communicate?
We don’t have the capacity to force verbal children to talk… so why, then, would it be acceptable to take a child’s hand and activate their words on their device or tell them what to say in any given situation?
And more importantly... how does requiring a child to say specific words actually translate into autonomous communication? Spolier alert: it doesn’t.
That’s where the “Inspire” piece of this catch phrase comes into play.
Hi my name is Rachel and I’m a podcast junkie. Every day I hop in my car, hit play and start flooding my brain with life hacks, compelling stories, news headlines and daily inspo all while I sit in L.A. traffic (YES, L.A. traffic is as bad as everyone says it is!).
My podcast addiction peaked last October when I was asked to co-host a new speech therapy podcast called “Talking with Tech”. Talking with Tech combines two things that I love most: speech therapy and technology. Not sure what kind of technology I’m talking about? Well there’s an earlier blog post in which I talk all about AAC and how it can transform your child's communication.
Our podcast was originally created to help guide speech therapists working with children who are minimally verbal, but we quickly realized the information was applicable well beyond the scope of speech-language pathologists. Now with 60,000 monthly downloads across 54 countries, we’ve gained a following of dedicated parents interested in helping their child start communicating more effectively.
It stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, and it basically refers to any kind of communication system that helps kids (or anyone, for that matter) express their needs to you if they can’t use verbal speech.
One of the biggest misconceptions I see in my practice is that people think that AAC only refers to sleek gadgets activated by fancy buttons.
In fact, some of the most effective AAC supports I use every day are quite simple, and considered “no tech” or “paper based”.
Executive functioning. Such a fancy buzzword! It’s often thrown around when experts are talking about your child’s development.
This is a concern of many parents and teachers who are afraid that AAC will discourage spoken communication. However, there’s absolutely no research proving that kids stop talking when you give them AAC. In fact, I find that once kids start using a device it actually encourages more verbal communication.
The first thing to consider is whether your child actually can follow directions. Often children struggling with their working memory are unable to follow rapid-fire, unrelated instructions.