How to Prepare for Speech Therapy Home Visits

How to Prepare for Speech Therapy Home Visits

by Gordy Rogers, M.S. CCC-SLP Speech Therapy Techniques

Perhaps you’ve already determined that you’d like to have your child seen by a speech pathologist and have had some of your initial questions answered. Many times your child’s speech therapy services can be delivered in the comfort and convenience of your own home. Especially for younger children (i.e. up to age 5), being “on their own turf” can really help foster rapport between your child and the clinician and make your child feel maximally comfortable as he or she works on something that may be somewhat challenging. This brief post is dedicated to providing parents with a few tips for maximizing the effectiveness of speech therapy home visits. The better prepared and knowledgeable you can be as you start the process of your home-based speech therapy, the more likely it is that your child will achieve his or her speech or language learning goals.

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Language Development in Children: 3 False Facts

Language Development in Children: 3 False Facts

by Courtenay M. Language Development

As with most things, there are common misconceptions about speech and language development in children, undoubtedly confusing all of us parents! Should we be reading the Wall Street Journal to our babies in utero? Should we feel self-conscious when engaging in baby talk with our 6 month old? Are we doing damage? We are here to help clarify some of the most common False Facts about language development in your child. Of course, it’s important that you are patient. All parents can’t wait until that day when their baby begins to talk!  BUT, each child progresses at a different rate, so be patient, it will come. Your best bet is to understand what is true and what is false about language development in your child.

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5 Fast Fixes for “F” Sound Practice

by Courtenay M. At Home Ideas Language Development Parents' Corner Pronunciation & Lisps Speech Therapy Techniques

A few weeks ago, we covered methods to help your child correctly pronounce the sound of “TH”.  While the most commonly mispronounced sounds are r, l, s, ch, and sh, the sound of “F” as in “Fish” is particularly difficult for a number of people, especially young children. Are you hearing a “p” instead of an “f”? Do your fish live in a “pishbowl” instead of a “fishbowl”?  While we don’t have a Speech Buddy Tool designed to treat the mispronunciation of “f,” we do have suggestions to help your child with “f” sound practice.  Here are five fabulous facts and features to fix the sound of “f”.
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4 Easy Articulation Activities at Home

4 Easy Articulation Activities at Home

by Courtenay M. At Home Ideas Parents' Corner Pronunciation & Lisps Speech Therapy Techniques
Articulation Therapy Cartoon

Articulation Activities at Home Image source: Pinterest.com

Articulation. What exactly does that mean? Articulation is the movement of the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs (the articulators) in order to make speech sounds. It is considered an articulation disorder when there are problems making the sounds. Sounds can be substituted, left off, added, or even changed. Often, it is young children who make speech sound errors. They may say “wabbit” instead of “rabbit”, or leave out certain parts of a word such as “nana” for banana. If these errors continue past a certain age without improvement, your child may have an articulation disorder. Are articulation disorders treatable? Absolutely. And you can work on improving articulation skills at home. Here are four easy articulation activities that you can do at home.
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Keep the Kids Busy with Online Games for Speech Therapy

Keep the Kids Busy with Online Games for Speech Therapy

by Courtenay M. Games and Activities Language Building Games Online Games
School's Out for Summer

Online Speech Therapy Games. Image source: mustgoonastashdiet.blogspot.com

School’s Out! Summer is here … ready or not! For many families with school-aged children, summer’s easy schedule is a welcome break from those early school mornings: alarm clocks, lunch-making, carpools, homework. But, for families who still crave a bit of a schedule and structure, summer can be somewhat anxiety-producing. Fear not. During the next few months, we’ll be keeping our blog chock-full of ideas for activities you can do with your children to keep them entertained (and continue that positive speech and language therapy momentum your child has made this year).

Here are some suggestions for online games for speech therapy!

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