Therapy Thursday's... Barnyard Blues

This session was wonderfully well-rounded, our thursday was all about animals! It was great. I am a sucker for themes, so this was right up my ally. Melissa and Harrison played a puzzle with barnyard animals, they had pretend play with a toy barn and a few animals, and they "fed the pig" words that end in "t." Each activity had a specific "speech goal." They did some vocab (puzzle). Melissa snuck in some spacial word recognition (pretend play ex: is the pig IN the barn? No it's BEHIND the barn). They drilled by "feeding the pig" (See DIY Feed the Pig Blog) focusing on the "t" sounds.

Now normally on the way home my mind is racing trying to figure out a "real world application" but honestly this time I was really only left with two options. Track down a farm where he could go to see/pet the animals. Um, no. That is a Daddy thing and since Daddy is deployed it's not going to happen. I could take him to the zoo, this seems easy and fun right? In all actuality it's not so great. The zoo is almost an hour away, over twenty dollars and it feels almost impossible to maneuver at over 6 months pregnant. So we went home.

Then it hit me, if I don't want to go to the farm why can't I bring the farm to us? (Don't get too excited I didn't have a petting zoo set up shop in the backyard... I'm not that cool of a Mom!) I just built a fort. You know, out of couch cushions and blankets? I got on all fours (suddenly the zoo seemed more manageable) and we pretended to be animals! We went in, and out of the "barn." I hid behind and asked him questions like "Where is piggy? Is piggy behind the barn?" I pretended to be different animals and made Harrison tell me what I was. It was a lot of fun! We got in some barnyard vocab, as well as some spatial recognition concepts. Easy, fun and memorable to say the least!

DIY Speech Therapy... Feed the Pig

This drill game is too cute and very simple. It is so simple I like to call it DIY Speech Therapy. You will need a few simple supply's to make you're own. You'll need a file folder, a stapler, scissors, glue, a picture of a pig and "drill cards." (My drill cards are photo copy's of 8-10 words ending in the specific sound we are working on, P,T,K. Your's will need to be specific to your therapy). Once you have your supplies together you can enjoy the art project with your child.

1. Cut out the pig.

2. Glue it to the folder.

3. Use your scissors to cut a hole in the pig's mouth large enough for your drill cards to fit through.

4. Staple the sides together.

5. Feed the Pig!

Let your child pick a card out of a hat or a bowl. Say the word, with emphasis on the focus sound. Then he can feed the pig! Put it in the pig's "mouth" and I like to give a little tank you snort ;) When all the cards are in the pig's belly you can pull them out and place them on the table.

They can learn to point out the items, while you get one more round of practice. "Where is the hat(tttt)? There it is! Yay! Can you say Hat(ttt)?" And repeat until bored or all the words have been practiced for the second time. There ya go. DIY speech therapy!

Reinforcing Thursday Therapy

*** On thursdays I will be posting what activity we did at home to reinforce therapy. I hope this gives you some good ideas and is helpful in integrating speech into your daily life!***

Every Tuesday and Thursday after my oldest is shuttled off to preschool Harrison and I head to speech Therapy. I enjoy our time together when we can focus on his development without distraction, and therapy is almost always fun for him. I always get such great ideas from his SLP by watching what they are doing, and later trying to do it at home. I have picked up a lot of ideas over the last few months, but I try to focus on repeating what we learned during that specific session once we arrive home on the very same day. I feel that this consistency helps to embed new concepts into Harrison's mind.

Today in speech Harrison and Melissa (SLP) played bubbles to focus on spatial concepts such as up, down, above, below. They also played kitchen with a baby doll, feeding the doll muffins they "cooked." This activity was focused on vocabulary building and ending consonants. (Right now at 2 1/2 Harrison is working on P,T, and K, so vocabulry such as eat, cook, help, fruit ect.) Before the session was over we were also able to drill on recognizing, pointing to and repeating words ending in T (eat, hat, boot, white, ant, bat, nut, hot). It was a busy 30 minutes, but he was focused and engaged the entire session! Not an easy feat for a two year old!

On the way home I generally make mental notes of what we worked on and try to decide what we can do at home. I had a few things to choose from but since I don't drill on therapy days and it was way to cold outside for bubbles, I settled on making real muffins. I try to remember if we introduced any new words and make sure to repeat them. Today I focused on the specific sounds we are practicing saying everything as I do it, "Lets cook(kkk)." We also took the opportunity to work on taking turns "M(mmmmm)ommy's going to stir now. And now it's Harrison's turn to stir." I repeat this with measuring, pouring. I try to closely follow Melissa's example which also helps train ME to integrate speech into our daily life .

The muffin making activity only took me about 45 minutes including cook time. Within that 45 minutes he learned how to use the language he is discovering during "pretend play" in the real world. I truly believe he has improved because these activities offer him opportunities to feel success outside of the speech office. It's a lot of fun, it feels special to him and his lesson gets reinforced. Besides what kid doesn't love an excuse to make muffins? Yum!

***I want to clarify that this is not related to "drill" time, but play therapy. Drill's at home are saved for days we do not have therapy so he will continue to enjoy our drill activities. Why? He may burn out from pushing too much drill time at home and then resist in therapy hampering his development. ***

The Beginning: Finding a Great SLP

I am forever grateful to my SLP (Speech and Language Pathologist) Melissa A. She was so kind and patient with me through the scary beginning. When I first met her I couldn't look her in they eye.... because I was on the verge of tears! While I discussed long term and short term goals with another SLP she sweetly engaged Harrison, playing with a barn. If he got a little upset she calmly redirected him and reminded me not to worry, "He's new to this too." I did not chat much with her that first session, but I knew I was in good hands.

The relationship between SLP and both parent and child is essential to success. You have to work as a team, and rely on each other to maintain consistent focus. Building trust is critical. I truly believe Melissa has the training to bring Harrison to the next level. She is also kind and compassionate. I could not have asked for a better "first SLP." Sadly we are loosing her to the lure of full time work..... can't blame her, but we will surely miss her.

Once you have a diagnosis, you are going to be feel overwhelmed, but you can do a few things early to ensure success for your child. Check the reputation of the "center." You can look online at websites like Angie's List etc. Ask for references, inquire about educational backgrounds and ensure whoever will be working with your child is a (key word here folks) Certified Speech and Language Pathologist.

For your first SLP, I recommend you trust your parental instincts, and look for someone you can comfortably have open communication with. Watch the relationship they have with your child, they should be patient but focused. Language delays are often associated with behavioral issues so your SLP should be comfortable redirecting your child, or asking you to do this. I do think it's a good idea to do whatever you would at home, and once your child has calmed down ask for input, they may be a great untapped resource! Feel free to give it a few sessions before you decide. I hope you are all as lucky as we were in finding an amazing first Speech and Language Pathologist!

From Diagnosis to Determination

My son was diagnosed four months ago. Expressive Language Disorder. Receptive Language Disorder. Speech Articulation Disorder. Each diagnosis felt like a bomb exploding in my heart. My vision of his easy, carefree childhood was gone. I was overwhelmed with grief.

So I cried, hard. I called my friends, hugged my husband, kissed my kids and ate about a pound of chocolate. In one weekend. And then I moved forward. I could cry, but that was not going to help him! He was only two so he sure couldn't help himself! It was my job as his Mom to generate a change in focus. I started looking around for info, and there was nothing out there! No one was discussing Language Development. I could find information about autism, aphasia, but nothing about what to do to help MY child. I realize there is no easy fix for language development, I realize every road is different and that's part of why it is so hard to uncover what you can do to help your own child.

I got him into a Speech and Language Pathologist twice a week. I asked her a million questions every chance I got, and diligently reported his developments at home. I watched her work with him, and started mimicking what she did as well as teaching my husband to do it also. I integrated "table time" where we sit and drill, or play a speech focused game everyday into our daily routine. We do vowel sounds when we brush our teeth. We practice hard consonant sounds in the car. It's become a lifestyle.

This blog will be about our experiences navigating Expressive Language Disorder. I know now how fortunate I am that is his most serious battle. I want to address the roadblocks and frustrations as well as all the small victories. I am going to talk about what I do with my son to improve his language skills. I will discuss how I advocate for him with SLP's, insurance co's etc. Nothing is off limits. I expect a long road, but I know I can help him.