Blog for Parents

Blog for Parents

most common speech sound goals

5 of the Most Common Speech Sound Goals & How to Treat Them

January 20, 2025 No Comments

Supporting young students in speech therapy is a rewarding process— but sometimes difficult as well. As an elementary SLP, you’re already familiar with the unique challenges that students face in mastering speech sound disorders. Intelligible speech is important for academic success, relationships with peers, and so much more. Let’s explore five of the most common speech sound goals, how to differentiate instruction for individual needs, and interactive resources you can use to help students reach these goals. What to Know about Speech Sound Disorders Before beginning therapy sessions with your students, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of both

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most common language goals

An SLP’s Guide to Treating 5 of the Most Common Language Goals 

January 7, 2025 No Comments

If you feel like you’re in a Groundhog Day loop, there’s a good reason for it! Many of your students likely come to you with the same language goals, even if they need slightly different approaches. Language delays are found in children with a variety of needs and diagnoses, and it’s likely that you will need to address foundational skills for many students. Let’s dive into some of the most common language goals and identify engaging and effective ways to approach them! What You Need to Know About Language Delays Language delays are often associated with a variety of childhood

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impacts of covid-19 on communication

Impacts of COVID-19 on Communication: Key Factors for Parents & SLPs

December 16, 2024 No Comments

The COVID-19 pandemic left a lasting impact on many parts of life, including children’s speech and language development. Since the lockdown in 2020, there has been a significant increase in children with speech and language delays. For both parents and SLPs, understanding the root causes of these issues and addressing the delays is vital to the success of these children. Let’s consider the impacts of COVID-19 on communication and what can be done to help families and their children! Silent Impact of COVID-19 on Communication Development While physical health concerns were at the forefront of COVID-19, the results were so

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treating phonological processing disorders

Everything You Need to Know to Begin Treating Phonological Processing Disorders 

September 9, 2024 No Comments

Treating phonological processing disorders is a key piece of what you do as a pediatric SLP. It’s important to understand how phonological processing disorders differ from other speech sound disorders, how to get caregivers on board, and how to choose the best treatment approaches to help your clients. You CAN help children develop more intelligible speech and set them up on a path for successful communication all of their lives! Understanding Phonological Processing Disorders Before you begin to educate caregivers about phonological processing disorders (PPDs), it’s important to ensure you have a solid understanding of this type of speech sound

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How to Support Caregivers with Research Strain

September 18, 2023 No Comments

Research strain is a common issue for caregivers navigating a new diagnosis or when they’ve recently become aware of a developmental delay. If you’re an early intervention or preschool speech-language pathologist, recognizing this common issue and learning how to support caregivers with research strain will result in a more successful therapy experience. Researching the causes of developmental delays It’s a natural response for caregivers to search for a cause of a developmental delay or diagnosis especially if the family feels surprised by the information. It’s a way to try and regain some control over a situation that may feel overwhelming

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small boy looking at bubbles

Speech Regressions in Toddlers: Why They Happen and How to Help

August 28, 2023 No Comments

Have you heard the comment, “Contact your pediatrician if you notice a regression in skills?”… Let’s talk about what speech regressions really mean, why they happen, and how to help. What is a Speech Regression? Regression is a decline in skills. This occurs when a child is not performing skills they once were able to.  In regards to speech and language, this might look like a toddler who: stops using words to make requests and now uses jargon or crying has a significant decrease in interaction with other children or adults and seems much more focused on solitary play stops

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SLP working with child with apraxia

Understanding Childhood Apraxia of Speech: A Beginner’s Guide for Parents and SLPs

August 14, 2023 No Comments

Maybe you’re familiar with the term “childhood apraxia of speech” or not. Your child may have recently received this diagnosis, or you have a suspecting child on your caseload. Either way, there’s always more to learn about this rare speech disorder! Read on to learn more about what childhood apraxia of speech is, the likelihood of it to occur, telltale signs, and what to expect in an evaluation and therapy in this beginner’s guide to all things childhood apraxia of speech.  What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech? Childhood apraxia of speech (also referred to as CAS) is a neurological motor

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kids working on carryover of their articulation skills

4 Tried-and-True Strategies for Effective Carryover in Articulation Therapy

July 31, 2023 No Comments

Kids often get stuck in therapy. They can make a sound (or sounds) in structured activities but need help to move beyond that. The answer to this dilemma is they are lacking in CARRYOVER. Implementing carryover activities in articulation therapy is essential, and they don’t have to be difficult either!  Try these 4 tried-and-true strategies for effective carryover in your articulation therapy sessions TODAY!  Start Early! First thing’s first– know that you should start addressing carryover skills as soon as possible! By implementing carryover strategies in small chunks over the entire course of a child’s therapy journey, you’re instilling self-confidence

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young child with IFSP playing

IEP and IFSP: A Beginner’s Guide to Understanding All Things IEP and IFSP

July 3, 2023 No Comments

IEP and IFSP– these might be acronyms you’ve heard before or they may sound like you need to start singing the ABCs. Either way, lean in and let me teach you all you need to know about these terms and what they mean for you and your child.  What are They? IEP stands for Individualized Education Plan. It is an educational document describing the services and accommodations needed for children with disabilities ranging in age from 3 to 21. IFSP stands for Individualized Family Service Plan. An IFSP is used to outline services needed for children with delays from birth

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young child with a walker showing new milestones

SLP Expert Opinion: Milestones vs Averages and Why Developmental Milestones Have Changed

June 19, 2023 1 Comment

You’re frustrated. Other kids the same age as your child are talking so much more than yours is, but your pediatrician is saying there is nothing to worry about. People are saying the developmental milestones changed recently too. What does all this mean, and what should you do next? Let’s dive right in and answer these questions! The Pediatrician Says Don’t Worry There’s a lot of talk about milestones when you have little ones, but one of the most frequently asked questions I hear is “Why don’t the milestones SLPs talk about match what my child’s pediatrician says?”  This is

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two young children playing

Language and Stages of Play

January 8, 2021 No Comments

What are the stages of play? We often say the goal of talking is that we want our children to be able to communicate their wants and needs to make their lives, and our lives, easier, but that just covers the basics! What we’re really moving towards is their ability to use language to communicate ideas and feelings and develop relationships with others. For children, this happens through play. “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning, but for children, play is serious learning.” Fred Rogers There are many stages of play beginning in

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How to Raise Compassionate Kids

November 19, 2020 No Comments

Empathy is the ability to take another person’s perspective and imagine how they feel even if we haven’t experienced the same circumstance. It’s a sophisticated skill that needs to be modeled and taught if we’re hoping to raise kind and compassionate kids. These suggestions are designed for children 4-10 years old and can be adapted to accommodate the whole family. Laying a foundation To start raising kind kids, we need to help our children develop a robust vocabulary of emotion words so they can label their own feelings as well as identify those of others. Here are a few words

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Dealing with Meddlesome Family Members

November 14, 2020 No Comments

The holidays will look different this year which may make it easier to avoid meddlesome family members or a small group might make it more difficult to hide. In my practice, it wasn’t unusual to receive several phone calls around the holidays from frantic parents who’d been accosted by an extended family member with a negative comment. When you have a little one that’s behind in their development, it’s understandable you’d be anxious and more sensitive to the opinions of others. After all, we want to protect our children and see them thriving and happy. Why is Grandma butting in?

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The Case for Expanding Early Language

October 29, 2020 No Comments

Hooray! Your child is beginning to communicate with 1-2 words! Now, how can we start expanding their early language attempts? As exciting as those first words and word combinations are, they have limitations. As parents, we make assumptions about the meaning of what our children are saying, often based on the situation. For example, moms know it’s more likely that “doggy eat” is a comment, but grammatically it sounds more like a command. By using the technique of expanding, we can demonstrate a more mature language structure. “Doggy eat.” “Yes, the doggy is eating.” Key characteristics of expanding are: the

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Skills Needed Before They Start Talking

Skills Needed Before They Start Talking

October 26, 2020 No Comments

Babies and toddlers don’t just start talking one day. That first year is filled with critical learning of skills needed before they start talking. For “late talkers,” it’s very likely the delay is a result of a delay in one of these areas. Giving them support here will start them on the path towards developing their first words. Building a Foundation Each of these areas both builds on and overlaps with the other. For these skills to appear, we will assume the child is responsive to their environment and the people within it. Joint attention is when both individuals are

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boy in early intervention

Why is early intervention important?

October 19, 2020 No Comments

We’ve heard family, friends, maybe even pediatricians, say that early intervention is important. But why? Is it that big of a deal to wait six months? When it comes to speech and language skills, waiting six months is not a life or death decision, but it can have a big impact on how big of a mountain you need to scale once you start. Let me explain. We talk a lot about milestones and we should because milestones are exciting! Those are what we add to FB feeds or text to family. It’s what we read in parenting books and

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Halloween books in speech

3 Halloween Books and How to Use Them to Build Language Skills

October 12, 2020 No Comments

Halloween is one of my favorite seasons. Once the fall air hits, it means apple and pumpkin picking, pumpkin-flavored everything, leaves changing and getting ready for all things Halloween. As a speech pathologist and mom, I’m always looking for fun and creative ways to incorporate the holidays into my therapy sessions and with my kids. The more fun they are having, the less likely they are to get bored or realize that they are actually engaging in educational activities. Halloween books are one of my go-tos! These seasonal choices can be books about Halloween specifically or it can be about

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Learn to Build Children’s Attention Spans

October 5, 2020 No Comments

Did you know you can start building attention span even in preschool?  The ability to attend is a critical foundational skill. If a child is unable to attend for a sustained period to a toy or activities, they’ll struggle to build their language or concept understanding. Down the line, lack of attention causes academic and behavior issues in the classroom. And if we are aware that they are behind in developing their attention span, how do we go about building it? 9 Tips for Building Improving Attention Spans Sleep and nutrition Both of these have a huge impact on sustaining

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Expectations for Preschool Attention Spans

October 1, 2020 No Comments

There’s so much talk about “attention deficits” even in daycares and early childhood programs. When your preschool child flits from toy to toy, have you wondered if their attention span is something you need to worry about? How long should they be able to focus anyway? EXPECTATIONS FOR PRESCHOOL ATTENTION SPANS At a 12 months, a child will only attend for about a minute at a time. At 18 months, they will have worked up to 2-3 minutes. After that, a rough estimate is that a child will have an attention span that is 2-4 times their chronological age. 2

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What is the price of speech therapy?

September 23, 2020 No Comments

One of the first questions families have when a recommendation for an evaluation is made is “what’s the price of speech therapy?” I get it. When you are juggling all the expenses of a young family the idea of adding on a weekly service is a big concern. Here’s how it works. Speech Evaluation vs. Therapy Services Receiving a referral for a speech and language evaluation means your child will be assessed to see their current speech and language level. Once the assessment is complete, then the speech-language pathologist will make recommendations. Your child’s skills might fall within the typical

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