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18 Fall and Halloween Books to Increase Language
It’s that magical time of year again! Fall is my favorite season for many reasons, but one of the biggest is all of the fun themed activities and books. There are so many great books for fall and Halloween available, but I’ve developed some favorites for therapy over the past several years. I’ve also been growing our library at home as my oldest (17 months) is much more interested in books this fall and starting to choose his own favorites. (For more info on how early to start shared reading with your little one, go here!) Read on for my favorite fall/Halloween books for therapy and my own little ones,…
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4 Tips for Using Books to Teach your Toddler Fall Vocabulary
Happy fall, friends! There truly are so many wonderful things about this season. Sweater weather, football, coffee, pumpkin patches…you name it. Every year in my speech room, we do a lot of fall themed activities, books, and games (think: apples, leaves, pumpkins, Halloween, harvest, Thanksgiving, etc.) What’s not to love? This fall, I’ve been really looking forward to doing all the fun fall things with our 17-month-old, who is so much more cognizant of the world around him than he was last fall. We are planning a trip (or multiple trips) to the pumpkin patch, decking our front porch with mums, going on leaf hunts, planning themed Halloween costumes…you get…
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3 Easy Language Activities for your Toddler using Washi Tape
Here’s the deal – as a mom and an SLP, it feels like a big responsibility to make sure I’m including creative language activities in our typical day at home. Specifically my 16 month old (and especially as that 16 month old is adjusting to lots of change with a new baby sister around). As a parent, it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need high end or specific toys to work on language. Sometimes, I have to remind parents of littles I work with that the takeaway is NOT to go out and buy the toys we use in therapy to have at home…
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5 Tips for Practicing Speech and Language Therapy at Home
Let’s be real, finding time for practicing can be hard. Do you have a child in speech or language therapy? If you suspected/were told by your pediatrician that they needed it, there’s probably some relief in knowing that they are now in a place that will allow them to get the extra support they need. We want our kids to be confident communicators! This will look different depending on your child’s needs. Maybe they’re not talking, maybe they are talking but are really hard to understand, or maybe they have difficulty understanding what is being said to them. One thing that parents who are new to the world of therapy…
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Hudson’s First Amazon Christmas List
How is it already that time of the year again? And how on earth is my tiny little newborn baby now 7 months and getting ready to celebrate his first Christmas? Over the past year, I’ve been making a mental list of my favorite toys that I’ve used in therapy with littles that I wanted put on my own little guy’s first Christmas list. I have a lot of patients on my caseload who are 3 and under. What do I go for when they come into my room? And more importantly, what do they go for when they come into my room? With kids this little, I think it’s…
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5 Daily Routines to Support your 1-year-old’s Language Skills
I’ll just say it: speech therapy can be overwhelming. If it was a surprise when your child was referred for an evaluation or a surprise when therapy was actually recommended during that evaluation, it can be even more overwhelming. All of a sudden, you have not only committed to another weekly (or multiple times/week) obligation, but you are also most likely expected to participate, and responsible for implementing strategies/helping your little one practice at home. No pressure! Like many SLPs, I believe that part of being a speech therapist is not just working with the child, but also working with the parent (e.g., the patient’s parent). This can mean helping…
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How do you know if your 1 Year Old Needs Speech or Language Therapy?
What should my 1-year-old be doing? Have questions about your child’s speech and language development? I’ve had several parents come in recently and tell me something along the lines of “I just didn’t know my child should be doing X by now until I saw what other kids their age were doing.” I have heard this from both first time parents and parents with multiple kiddos at home. Trust your gut, mama. We can say this about a lot of different areas, but it’s true. Usually if you have questions or an instinct, you have it for a reason! If you have questions about your child’s speech and language abilities…
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How to Promote Babbling with your 6 Month Old
Should my baby be babbling at 6 months? 6 months may sound early, but between 6-7 months is actually when we typically do see babbling begin to emerge. There will still be a lot of silly sounds and vocal play, but don’t be surprised if those vowel sounds your baby is making start to have consonants in front of them! Babies typically produce reduplicated babbling first, which means that they begin to repeat syllables of one vowel + one consonant sound (Lanza & Flahive, 2008). Reduplicated babbling: /ma ma ma/ , /ba ba ba/ This is the type of babbling we would expect to see emerging around 6-7 months. Variegated…
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4 Ways to Encourage Babbling
How exciting is it when your baby transitions from those sweet coos and goos to early babbling? This is where my almost 6-month-old is at, and I’m loving every second of it. Did you know that as a mama, there are several things you are probably already doing without even knowing it to help set those speech and language skills up for success? As an SLP, I’ve started paying attention to all of the things that I’ve been subconsciously using with my little guy at home to encourage his skills, specifically his babbling. Wondering when your child should start babbling or wondering if they’re late? Babies typically begin canonical (reduplicated)…
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The Easiest Therapy Tool to Work on Speech and Language at Home
One of the easiest, no-prep, most versatile therapy tool I guarantee you have multiples of in your house right this second? BOOKS! I’m a big fan of using books in therapy and reading with my own little ones. They make regular appearances in most of my therapy sessions, no matter the diagnosis. The great thing is, you really don’t need a ton of books to target a variety of language goals (although if you have kids, let’s be real you probably have a ton of books). Shared reading, or engaging in an interactive experience while reading a book with your child, is a great way to encourage language growth and…
