Egg-citing Time of the Year

Easter week -so many preparations, so many family traditions, so much to do. Not to mention, prepping for the egg hunts and the visit from the big bunny.

Practice and review are the best ways to help your loved one be part of any celebration.  The chances of you having a lot of extra plastic eggs in probably pretty high. Use these eggs not only to practice participating in an egg hunt, but sneaking in a little speech-language therapy practice as well.

Fill plastic eggs with small objects or pictures that have your loved one’s ‘target’ sound (if you are working on articulation) or are items in different categories (food, toys, animals, etc.). Hide the eggs throughout your home or backyard and work with your loved on to find them.  Once the eggs are found, crack them open and practice saying the words and/or separate them into category groups.

Another idea egg-cellent idea is to fill the eggs with items or pictures as shared about, but instead of having your loved one find them freely, give directions as to where the eggs are located.  For example, “Find the pink egg under the chair.” or “Find a purple egg and a blue egg behind the couch.” This egg hunt is not working on following directions as well as practicing understanding locational concepts AND everyone is having fun.

Consider practicing the start of the egg hunt.  Place 1-4 plastic eggs in full sight – filled or unfilled – and create a ‘starting line’. Instruct your loved one to wait at the start line until you say “Go!”. This will help him/her when wait and anticipate when they are placed in the real high stakes egg hunt.  Once they have collected the eggs, repeat the activity adding more eggs each time.

Easter baskets cannot be forgotten either! Help your loved on hold and fill their basket independently.  “Pick up” and “put in” are seemingly easy directions, however in the excitement of the egg hunt, a little practice ahead of time may result in less frustration for everyone.  Give your loved one a basket to pick up and put toys in when cleaning up for the day. Use socks or books or plastic eggs to practice this skill as well. You may find all along, an Easter basket was all that was needed to get your loved one to clean up those toys without argument!

Enjoy your egg hunts, celebrations and family time together.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Beginning to Bloom

spring flowers blooming in the yard

Spring is springing and hopefully will be sprung sooner than later. Flowers are blooming and the dreary colors of Winter give way to the beauty of Spring.

Flowers are not the only thing blooming this time of year.  Everyone’s mood begins to bloom and change as the weather makes its way from cold and dreary to warm and beautiful.  Sometimes, loved ones (young and old) experiencing difficulty identifying these moods, let alone being able to talk about them. Being aware of and identifying one’s emotions is very complex and higher level language skill.  There are techniques and supports that can be put in place to help your loved one better comprehend and identify his/her moods and emotions.

Start by making emotions/moods more concrete.  Use simple terms to label and explain emotions/mood. This doesn’t mean limit the vocabulary used, rather choose the vocabulary based on your loved one.  Happy – sad – mad – tired – frustrated are good ones to start. When a loved one is experiencing a specific emotion, let them know what it looks like, feels like, and sounds like.  If your loved one is in a particularly happy mood, tell them. “You are smiling and laughing. You are in a happy mood!” “Your hands are balled up in a fist. Your face looks tight. I can tell you are frustrated.” You may want not want to do this every time a loved on is mad or angry as it may make the situation worse, however a simple “I know you are mad.” may be enough.  Your loved one will begin to realize and connect how their emotions are communicated and may begin to use the language versus the physical reaction to share their emotions.

Older children need to be made aware of their emotions and ways to better communicate those emotions.  Help your tween or teen focus in on the facial features associated with different emotions. This helps to not only make them more aware of their own emotions, but tune into the emotions of others.  A game of ‘Emotions Charades’ makes not only for a fun family game night, but a safe way to practice these skills. The Feelings Game and Matching Emotions are  free online resources that may also be of interest to you and your loved one.

Enjoy the blooming of the new season as well as watching your loved one bloom.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

Lakeshore Speech Therapy Summer 2019 Programming

Every summer, we at Lakeshore Speech Therapy work to provide our clients and families with programming that meets everyone’s needs.  This year we are excited to offer programs for everyone from toddlers to teens. Please take a moment to see all that we have to offer.  Share this information with friends and family that may benefit from these amazing programs.  As always, please share your ideas for future programs.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

 

Communicate Love All Year Through

February – the month of love; loving and caring for our family, our friends, our significant other. Don’t keep the love only in the month of February. Life gets in the way of the best plans. Set a small goal for you and your loved ones to communicate how much you love and appreciate each other (and others) on a more regular basis.  

The suggestions made for wishing others a Happy Valentine’s day can be incorporated throughout the year.  Change the message (ie: Get well; Have a great day; etc) or just sending love, not only helps your loved one practice communication skills but strengthens the bond between the well wisher and the recipient.

Start the ‘Star of the Month’ in your house.  Choose one person – start with YOURSELF – and share some information your family may (or may not) know.  Pick a special time – after dinner, during dinner, before bed – for the ‘Star’ to communicate a special something.  The ‘Star’ can share favorite foods, places, colors, animals. The ‘Star’ can share a favorite memory or story. For loved ones that communicate using alternative means, use a basic communication board or basic signs to share this information.  Use a family picture to communicate a favorite story or memory. Use labels from favorites foods to communicate that information to the rest of the family. The ‘Star’ practices communicating effectively and everyone learns more reasons to love and appreciate the ‘Star’.

Communicate love and appreciation at lunch.  Put a ‘love note’ to your loved ones lunch boxes, backpacks, or briefcases. A little reminder mid-day that someone is thinking of them and wanting their day to be special.  These ‘love notes’ do not need to be complicated or even in written form for that matter. Search for and print out pictures of favorite cartoon characters or superheroes and just put them where your loved one will see them.  Blot lipstick on a piece of paper and send a ‘kiss’ to your loved one – no words necessary. Cut a napkin in a heart and/or buy special character napkins to include in lunches every once in a while.

No matter your age, communicating a simple ‘I’m thinking about you’ message makes the day better and brighter.  

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Express your love!

February – the month of love; loving and caring for our family, our friends, our significant other.  Everyone needs a little help now and then. Helping our loved ones express themselves is important in February and all year through. Expressing one’s self cannot be limited to talking.  Expressions of love come in variety of shapes, colors, and sounds. Give your loved ones the opportunity to express and communicate with the world.

Opportunities to communicate happen every minute of the day, knowing the best or most effective way to communicate may take some practice.  Give you and your loved the time to practice. This practice doesn’t have to take long or even have a lot of ‘moving parts’. Valentine’s day is only a few days away, what a wonderful reason to practice and share your loved one’s communication skills with the special people in their lives.  Here are a few ideas to get your creative communication juices flowing.

  • Teach your loved one the sign for “I love you”.  Remember to teach those in your lives the sign as well so when your love one signs “I love you”, the recipient will understand that wonderful message.
  • Use a speech bubble and write a Valentine’s message in the bubble or a simple heart cut from paper.  Have your loved one hold the speech bubble or heart and snap a picture. Whose day won’t be uplifted receiving that message via text or email?
  • Using pink or red lipstick/chapstick, have your loved one decorate a Valentine with lip prints by having them kiss the paper.  Not only is this just adorable, but it’s a GREAT oral motor exercise for speech.
  • Simple communication boards or pictures are also a great way of communicating. Making a video of your loved one creating a message and send it out via text or email will definitely brighten the day!

Let the world hear your loved ones message loud and clear this Valentine’s Day!

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

The Month of Love

February – the month of love; loving and caring for our family, our friends, our significant other. February gives us the opportunity to show our loved ones what WE see when we look at them. When you look at your child, spouse, friend, what do you see? The unevenness of their eyebrows? The gray hairs? The blemishes? The love handles? No! You see the light that they give. You see the love in their eyes – the window to their soul. You see the kindness they share. You see how amazing they are, have been and will be.

So how does this relate to speech and language? Too often when a loved one experiences a speech-language deficit – regardless of the severity – we are quick to explain this deficit to others in front of them. This is not to say that we need to ‘hide’ this deficit or only speak of it in hushed whispers when our loved one is not in earshot. This is to say we need to be more aware of how we explain our loved one’s communication style.

Our loved ones tune into everything we say and do, especially when they know we are talking about them. Challenge yourself to first, listen to how you describe or explain your loved ones speech-language deficits; second, work to change this dialogue to create a more positive uplifting exchange.

When we first meet someone and they address your loved one who experiences a language deficit, consider using phrases that explain their style of communication versus their inability to talk.

  • Instead of “He doesn’t talk ….” try “My son communicates using gestures ….” or “My daughter communicates so well with her device….”.
  • In place of putting your child on the spot to perform, “Say Hi….say hi” try incorporating the use of visual and verbal cues to encourage your loved one’s communication – (while waving your hand slightly) “My son waves to say hi when he meets a new person.” You may be surprised at your loved ones eagerness to imitate and ‘show off’ their skills.
  • Acknowledging your loved ones hard work may result in increased willingness to carry-over difficult skills to a variety of settings. Instead of insisting on your loved one maintaining eye contact when greeting/talking to others, try using phrases like “My daughter is working so hard on making eye contact when talking to friends and family, we are so proud of her.” or “Eye contact can be hard for my son, but he is really working hard on it, he’s doing a great job.” Your loved one may look as though he/she is not paying attention to what you are saying, but they are and want to make you proud.
  • Parents and caregivers, without thinking, will answer questions asked specifically to loved ones as a way of protecting or helping. Instead of immediately answering a questions, try silently counting to 10 to give your loved one time to process the question. If after 10-15 seconds (which can seem like a 10-15 hours) use sentence starters to help your loved one – “I go to…..” or “My name is….” Your loved one will be much more aware of what is expected as well as how to answer the question. If your loved on uses a communication device being navigating to the page or buttons that have the information. Begin the response as you would modeling it with words and gesture (by pointing) to the button that would complete the answer.

These changes, while seemingly small, can make a significant difference in how your loved one perceives her/his ability and desire to communicate with others.

February – the month to show our love!

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

One Size Does NOT Fit All

Baby New Year has arrived!  The season of parties and changed schedules is coming to its end.  Back to the ‘normal’ routine! But what about those resolutions? The promises you make to yourself that come with the fine print that reads, “I maintain the option to not follow through with these resolutions because while I mean well, life truly gets in the way.”

A close friend shared her New Year’s resolution; she was NOT going to ‘sweat the small stuff’. My response was true to the bestie code: ‘Great idea!  That’ll really make a difference! I support you!’ And when we parted ways, I got to thinking how as adults we want our children to know and recognize the difference between small, medium, and large problems however lose sight of those as we become adults.

Sometimes we need to step back and take an inventory of how we categorize problems or issues.  While the resources I am using are predominately for children, it may be worth the extra 3 minutes to read through the rest of this post to reset your personal inventory and help your loved one manage his/hers.

Small Problems:

  • Affects 1-2 people
  • No one was physically hurt
  • Feelings were minimally hurt
  • Takes 5 – 15 min to ‘fix’
  • Problem can be solved by the individual OR can be ignored completely

Medium Sized Problems:

  • Affects 3-5 people
  • May be a small physical injury
  • Feelings were hurt, person/people upset
  • May take 15 min to a couple of hours to ‘fix’
  • Problem may need another adult to be solved

Large Sized Problems:

  • Affects 6 or more people
  • May be a significant physical injury
  • No easy or quick solution to ‘fix’ hurt feelings
  • May take days to weeks to ‘fix’
  • Assistance of other adults is required to solve the issue.

While these are definitely oversimplified for some of life’s problems, they do provide a pause when thinking of day to day situations.  Food for thought to start the New Year.

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.

Programs Available Starting January 2019

Lakeshore Speech Therapy is as busy as the North Pole this time of year! We are excited to share upcoming programs starting in January.

Teen Social Skills Group: This social skills group is designed specifically for teens. The purpose of our group is to practice expanding and building social skills in the areas of communication, problem solving, social media, friendship, fitting in, empathy and leadership skills.

And

Assistive Technology for Executive Functioning: High School students can drop in for an hour session on how to use assistive technology to increase organization, work completion, and ultimately independence. Skills necessary for college and the workplace.

Please click on the links above for more information about both of these great opportunities.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.