Imagine…Create….Language

We are a quarter of the way through 2019 already!  Hard to believe how fast time flies…..especially when you are having fun.  March ushers in a month of leprechauns and basketball and the strange time of year when it’s still not warm enough to go outside but staying inside isn’t the best option either. It’s that time of year when ideas and creativity to keep our loved ones engaged and busy don’t come as easy as they did a few weeks ago.

We have your back and hope our ideas spark new life into your family’s March schedule.

Introduce basic S.T.E.M. activities like making your own bubbles or making your own robot.  Spending time to create opens the door for imagination as well as language. You don’t need to be a computer programmer to build your collection of S.T.E.M. activities.

  • Idea #1: Build a Robot
    • Collect different boxes, toilet paper tubes, plastic containers, etc.
    • Grab a few rolls of tape and string or yarn
    • Create a ‘problem’ that requires your loved ones to have to make a robot to ‘fix’ the problem. Problems like too many socks are getting lost in the wash or nobody knows when the garbage is full.
    • This activity will work on helping your loved ones better understand directional and location concepts, follow directions, ask for help, name items, work with others, share, etc.
  • Idea #2: Practice Continuing Patterns
    • Collect different dried foods – pasta, beans, cereal, dried fruits
    • Create patterns (basic to complex) and have your child continue the pattern
    • Flip roles and see if you can continue the patterns
    • This activity will work on helping your loved one with sequencing tasks, vocabulary, patterning, following directions, etc. – skills needed to master math and language goals.
  • Idea #3: Build a Roller Coaster
    • Collect paper tubes from toilet paper, paper towels, and wrapping paper, tape, and marbles or small toy cars.
    • Explain to your love one you are going to create the next big roller coaster for the summer!
    • Tape together some tubes, cut other in half and create a roller coaster to go in your cardboard amusement park!
    • Use a marble or small toy car to test out your coaster!
    • This activity will work on helping your loved one with shared attention, vocabulary, directional concepts, following directions, listening, taking turns, etc.

Your S.T.E.M. activities do not have to be complex or expensive.  Play with some of these ideas and if you and your loved ones create a masterpiece, share it with us on Facebook!

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

It’s Okay!

It’s Okay!  This week the message is short, but it comes with an assignment and that’s Okay.  

The book “It’s Okay to be Different” by Todd Parr is a favorite in some homes (the author of this blog to be exact).  The message is simple and speaks to everyone, young and old.

This week, go to your local library and take out a copy of “It’s Okay to be Different” and read it out loud every day.  It’s guaranteed to make you and your loved ones smile.

Some families (again the author of this blog) adopted a specific line as a reminder that it’s OK; especially when a loved ones difference cause frustration or hurt feelings.  “It’s Okay to eat macaroni and cheese in the bathtub.” was enough to calm those hurt feelings or frustration.

Go ahead, get the book. It’s Okay!

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Play Time!

2019 is underway….OK – 2 weeks into the New Year.  The rest of the holiday decorations are put away and celebrations are at an end.  Although there are 256,894 new toys in the house, the children are ‘bored’. The question of the day is, are the children really bored and do they need to be taught how to play?  For some of our loved ones, play is NOT as innate as it is for others. Play is definitely a skill that needs and should be taught from a very young age. Parents need to ‘teach’ and be part of the art of play.

Play is the ‘work’ of childhood.  Play is the official format of therapy for the majority of children as well.  The reasons are many but here are a few examples of how teaching to how play benefits a child’s language and overall development.

Play increases a child’s ability to process and practice emotions. Through imaginative play children can act out emotions of fear, anger, etc. as well as practice empathy and understanding.  Play also provides children with a sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction, which help to build confidence and self-esteem.

Play increases a child’s social skills.  Through the art of play, a child learns to navigate turn-taking, sharing, and overall group dynamics.  Play provides the opportunity to develop friendships and practice compromise.

Play increases a child’s cognitive ability and brain development.  Through play a child gains reasoning, attention, and memory skills as well as problem solving skills – all important and crucial for success academically and socially.

Play increases a child’s communication skills.  Plays provides a safe, unassuming venue to practice sentence structures, sound effects and overall listening skills.  Plays helps to facilitate initiating, maintain and concluding conversations – with real or imaginative friends. Play also provides children with the opportunity to work on recognizing non-verbal cues and body language.

So much goes into playing.  It can be exhausting for both child and adult, but worth every glorious moment.  Now stop reading and get out there and PLAY!

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

Practice Makes Permanent!

It’s the final countdown until the big day (cue Europe’s 1986 hit song). The lists have been checked twice, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care, and all that’s left is the wait……the long wait until we can rip open those gifts!

And when those gifts are torn into, we wait with baited breath willing and hoping our loved ones not only enjoy the gifts, but remember to say “Thank you” or at the very least acknowledge the others in the room.  Nothing says holiday fun like demanding your child say ‘Thank you’ to Auntie dear for the lovely footie pajamas and your child erupts into a stream of whining crying excuses while he/she will never wear them and how hot those PJs make their feet.

Give yourself an early gift this year, take a few moments and share with your loved ones your expected behaviors during the holidays.  Sometimes it just needs to be laid out there for everyone to realize it IS expected and no one, big or small, is exempt.

Greetings – for the most part, this one is pretty easy, HOWEVER, given the excitement of the day, simple reminders are good.  Practice walking into a room or through the front door and saying ‘Hi’ with your loved ones. If eye contact isn’t the best, coach your loved one to look at the person’s chin or hair.   If your loved one is non-verbal, practice waving or the sign for ‘Hi’ or a simple smile may be just as effective. Hiding behind you is NOT an expected behavior. Running in the door and hiding under the table is NOT an expected behavior. Spell out these unexpected behaviors very clearly.

Hugs, handshakes and the like – for some this is nothing short of a fingernails down a chalkboard moment. Give your loved one alternatives to hugging if that’s NOT the preferred choice of interaction.  Fist bumps, high fives, and waving are all expected behaviors everyone can live with. If there are  relatives that would be offended if they didn’t get a hug, take a few seconds before the holiday and explain to them why this is difficult.  Tell THEM what to expect and WHY you need their support.

Disappointment when opening gifts – this is something not foreign to most of us.  Practice expected reactions by opening ‘gifts’ of spoons or rocks or paper towels.  Smile and say ‘Thank you’. Smile and say ‘Thank you’. Make a game plan for when a gift is opened that your loved one already owns.  Make-up a simple gesture (channel your inner baseball coach) that tells your loved one, “I know you already have that. We will exchange this one and you can get something else. Smile and say Thank you.” . Once you have the gesture established, practice.  Wrap up current belongings and practice

In all of these cases, practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent….something that is more applicable for everyone.

And please, through it all, expected or unexpected find the joy. Find something to laugh about. Find those moments that fill your heart.

Happiest of Holidays!

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Press Pause

The clock is beginning to tick….loudly!  Time to pack up the Halloween decorations and get ready for the mad dash of the Holiday season!  There is no escaping the hustle and bustle of the Seasons.

Typically, we share information to help to improve a loved ones communication or self-regulation; this week we are focused on Y.O.U. – the caregiver, the superperson, the parent, the great juggler of all! Why would we spend a week thinking about YOU?  The answer is simple….YOU are just as important and need to be cared for as much as everyone else in your world.

Take 5 more minutes after you read this blog to focus on the person that keeps all the gears of your family’s life running smoothly – YOU!  We realize this is easier said than done. Let’s get to work before your 5 minutes is up!

Where do/can you find a quiet moment? At the grocery store? At line at the bank? On break at work? Sitting in the waiting room at Lakeshore Speech? When we say a moment, we mean it.  We aren’t talking about a 2 hour massage (while that is a great thing in itself) or a 1 hour meditation session. We are talking 5-10 minutes. Don’t brush this step off, think about it, really think about it.

What helps calm you? What re-centers you? What makes you smile? Does listening to a certain song bring a smile to your face? Does looking at pictures of vacation lower your blood pressure? You know immediately what brings you calm. Keep those items close at hand, especially during the busy days ahead.

Now put it all together on your schedule – DAILY.  Reserve those moments for yourself. Make an appointment with yourself every day….. every day! Use your time not to plan for what will happen later or what you have to purchase or what you need to wrap, but to calm and rejuvenate yourself.  

Those few moments may make the difference in creating a less stressful, more joyous Holiday Season.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Love of Learning

Labor Day, the holiday of the working women and men in our country, a holiday honoring us for what we do day in and day out. When what you do everyday is something you love and are passionate about, it’s hard to consider it ‘work’.

The anonymous quote, “Find something you love to do, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life” holds more true today than ever before.  In this fast paced world, with the use of computers and smartphone technology, getting ‘away’ from work is almost impossible. Finding the balance between work and the rest of one’s life at times can seem impossible, but is definitely made easier when the ‘job’ doesn’t feel like a job at all.

It’s equally important to ensure our children’s’ ‘jobs’ are loved as well.  Children’s jobs? You might be asking yourself what jobs can a 2 year old, 6 year old, 10 year old possibly have.  The job children have day in and day out is learning….learning is the job every child holds. Loving the job of learning will take children to places we have yet to  imagine.

Helping a child to love learning can be trying, but knowing when to push a little more or step back can really alter the how a child perceives learning. Challenges are adventures that need careful navigation.  Becoming a partner in discovery of these adventures helps a child realize challenges can be overcome and are not insurmountable. Those easy “lessons” are opportunities for the adult to step back and follow the child’s lead.  These opportunities help to build independence and practice leadership skills. Those lessons that keep reappearing can be looked at as steps and with every time the child get to practice her/his skills building confidence and positive self-esteem. And let’s not forget the lessons that do not result in the intended or anticipated outcome.  These lessons provide the opportunity for child and adult to reevaluate the strategy and prove that we are all human. The less than perfect lessons help a child realize it is okay to not be perfect and in that imperfection is beauty. These are the lessons that are sometimes most important.

The love of learning will span a child’s lifetime and influence every decision.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC