Each week I hope to post a new video along with a short written summary with links to any articles or products I mentioned in the video.

Here’s this week’s segment:

1.31.12 - Homemade Activities To Target Attention & Task Completion 

This week’s tips include activities you can easily make to target attention and task completion as well as early cognitive skills (cause & effect/simple problem solving) and even early color matching.  

These activities are best for very young children who are functioning at the 9-12 and 12-18 month developmental levels. Sometimes this developmental group is more of a challenge to treat due to their lack of interest in “baby toys,” yet they may not have the cognitive or motor skills necessary to play with more traditional toddler toys. These kinds of activities may also be used for older children with significant developmental delays who need extra practice with fine motor skills. Lastly, these are super “homework” ideas for moms to use during daily routines as a diversion for a busy toddler or during 1:1 play time with an adult.  

Language Concepts to target during these activities:

Early Prepositions: In, Out

Verbs: Push, Squeeze, See, Look

Any Exclamatory Word: Yay, Wow, Oops, Uh-Oh, Clank (as sticks hit the bottom of the container) and any other novel sounds you can come up with to help the child also focus on you!

Articles & Products Mentioned:

Ditch the…. 

How can I help my toddler learn more words?

Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual

Below is an excerpt from my book Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual.

This is the first response I give to any mom who asks, “What can I do to help my toddler learn more words?”

Teach USABLE Words and Teach by DOING

“The brain learns best through exploration and interaction with real people!”                ~ braininsights.blogspot.com

There’s a very popular article on my website called, “Ditch the Bells, Whistles, Flashing Lights, DVDs, & ABCs!” Among my recommendations, I emphasize the importance of using toys to teach functional vocabulary to toddlers with language delays. Parents, and even some early intervention professionals, often emphasize the WRONG kinds of words. Who cares if a child can count by rote or identify shapes, colors, and letters when he doesn’t understand a simple, real life command like, “Go get your shoes.” 

While children become hyper-focused on these kinds of skills on their own due to their preferences for visual patterns, adults often emphasize these concepts thinking it’s educational. Toy manufacturers have duped parents into believing that these are important academic concepts that must be hammered into our children from infancy.

In our profession, we’ve all encountered children who recognize letters and numbers or even those who could read by the ripe, old age of 2 or 3, but who also struggle to answer simple questions. What good are all of those academic concepts when a child can’t use and understand language in order to get his needs met?

In his books and on his website Dr. James Macdonald, speech-language pathologist, shares his belief that an overemphasis on this kind of academic information shuts down early communicative attempts and drives children away from us.

I believe that teaching these academic concepts by rote memorization is even worse for some children. When a toddler is able to spit out those kinds of words on request, it may actually prevent parents from recognizing the severity of his comprehension issues. How many times have we tried to explain a child’s developmental issue to disbelieving parents (or grandparents) who’ve never considered that a child might have a language comprehension or auditory processing problem because he knows his letters and numbers? Mom and Dad might think the child has an attention problem, a behavioral issue, or even social awkwardness, but all of that “data” masked the fact that the child exhibits a very real communication disorder. They wonder or may even ask you, “How can he have a problem learning language if he can already talk?”

To combat this myth, educate parents and the other professionals you encounter in your practice. Practice what you preach too! Don’t emphasize colors, shapes, letters, and numbers in therapy sessions UNTIL a child’s language skills are functional and near an age-appropriate level. As a rule, I ask parents to wait to talk about these kinds of words until a child is using phrases consistently and has a vocabulary of at least 50 “real” words to ask for what he needs. From a receptive language perspective, this certainly would include being able to understand and follow a variety of directions in every day routines.  

If a child demonstrates a strong preference for these kinds of words, meaning that he uses these words perseveratively or prefers activities with these concepts, I might incorporate his preferences as a way to improve attention and participation. Use them to target more complex auditory processing during games or even in expressive tasks for phrase practice if he’s not able to use other word combinations yet. However, I never teach these concepts formally as a “goal” for very young children, particularly during these early developmental phases. 

What kinds of words should we target? On the next page is a list of the most common words present in the vocabulary of typically developing toddlers according lists compiled from Dr. Rossetti’s work and sources from Nancy Swigert’s Early Intervention Kit.

This list may be helpful for parents during your initial visits when you’re talking about the kinds of words to target in daily routines. Feel free to copy and share the next page with your families. 

TEACHING FIRST WORDS

Naming Words (Nouns) ball, book, choo-choo, train, bike, rain, bubbles, car, truck, boat, plane, baby, bowl, spoon, diaper, sock, shoe, shirt, pants, hat, star, flower, house, tree, brush, towel, bath, chair, table, bed, blanket, light, cookie, cracker, chip, cheese, apple, banana, ice cream, cereal (Cheerios/ “O’s”), candy, milk, juice, water, dog, cat, fish, bird, duck, cow, horse, bunny, bear, pig, lion, elephant, butterfly, bee, frog, alligator, snake   

Names for Favorite People Mama, Dada, names for a child’s siblings, pet names, grandparents & other family members, sitter, and favorite characters such as Elmo, Dora, Diego, etc…

Social Function Words more, please, thank you, hi/hello, bye bye, again, sorry, uh-oh, yes/uh-huh/okay, no/uh-uh

Common Action Words (Verbs) eat, drink, go, stop, run, jump, walk, sleep/night night, wash, kiss, open, close, push, pull, fix, broke, play, want, hug, love, hurt, tickle, ”gimme”, all gone, all done, dance, help, fall, shake, see, watch, look, sit, stand (up), throw, catch, blow, cry, throw, swing, slide, climb, ride, rock, ”C’mon”, color/draw      

Location Words (Prepositions) up, down, in, out, off, on, here, there

Descriptive Words (Adjectives/Adverbs) big, little, hot, cold, loud, quiet, yucky, icky, scary, funny, silly, dirty, clean, gentle, wet, soft, fast, slow

Early Pronouns me, mine, my, I, you, it

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Teach New Words By DOING!                                                                                                                               

How do we teach these words to toddlers? Teach by DOING! Use the target word during play or in a common daily routine such as mealtime or dressing. Using pictures or flashcards to teach any new word is NOT recommended as the sole method for teaching children at this developmental level. Toddlers learn best by doing! So…. PLAY! Spend time on the floor with your toddler every day with the goal of teaching him new words.  

Toddlers need to hear and use a new word at least 20 times to really learn it and make it “stick.”

========================================================

If you’d like to learn and SEE exactly HOW to do this, check out my DVD Teach Me To Talk. Click here for more information.  

This information is from my book Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual and is copyrighted to www.teachmetotalk.com. For more information about the book, click here.   

All teachmetotalk.com products are available for review and purchase here.

For more ideas to help you teach your child to understand and use language, check out my line of products here at teachmetotalk.com!

Click here for our newly completed store:

http://shop.teachmetotalk.com/

There are some special packages and deals listed there not found anywhere else on the website, so click here to skip to that page.

For my newly updated product recommendations, click here.

Please Don’t Force Me To Look At You!

The best way to induce anxiety in children with autism is to prompt them to look at you. When many children are trying to listen to what you are saying, prompting them to look at your eyes will often interfere with them being able to listen to you. There are three primary reasons for this:

1. Many children have auditory processing problems. Research has shown that people on the spectrum often look at your mouth, rather than your eyes. This would make sense if they need to look at your mouth to better understand what you are saying.

2. Some children use peripheral vision to view things. For them, direct vision is too intense, so they look with their peripheral vision. Because of visual sensitivities, direct vision is too overwhelming to them. So when they are looking at you, they will appear to be looking away from you.

3. Many adults on the spectrum have told me that they become overwhelmed by the intensity of looking directly into your eyes. Since they cannot read the emotional information, it feels very intimidating, very scary.

So forcing a child to look at you is not increasing their understanding, but often inhibiting it.

Like everyone, looking at someone is much easier when we do it under our own volition, rather than when someone prompts us. Same goes for all communication. We have found that children with ASD will look at you more frequently, when indirectly invited to, not told to. Use the following tips and you will find the child looking at you more frequently:

1. When talking to the child, position yourself so you are in front of the child and at their eye level. When your face is in their field of vision, it will get their attention better.

2. Use less words and more nonverbal language when communicating. Use more animated facial expressions, and exaggerated gestures to communicate, and the child will need to reference your face to obtain the information needed. Use words to augment your nonverbal language while conveying most of information nonverbally. I animate my facial expressions which draws their attention.

3. When the child stops referencing your nonverbal communication, try pausing briefly until they look at you to see what is happening. Invite the child to check back with you regularly to stay coordinated with you by pausing patiently.

So invite facial referencing; do not demand eye contact. And please do not grab and turn their face to you.

Older teens and young adults can learn the value of giving eye contact, once they are able to choose to do it rather than forced. Since many people on the spectrum need to have rules for when to do things, a good rule of thumb is to provide brief eye contact when starting and again when ending your turn of interaction. So each time you take your turn, you establish brief eye contact and then again when you end your turn. This is one rule that several adults have told me works well for them.

Thanks for sharing the great tips Missie!

The products are described only in terms of “This is best for…” For full descriptions of each product, please scroll up and click the individual boxes with the product name. These are located in the right side column toward the top of this page.

Below the individual product listings, you’ll also find a list of recommendations by diagnosis or suspected diagnosis. Scroll down to RECOMMENDATIONS BY DIAGNOSIS. You’ll also find information about ordering sets which are offered at significant discounts over single products.

If after reading these descriptions, you feel you still need extra guidance with product selection, please email me with your specific questions at Laura@teachmetotalk.com.   

DVDs

Teach Me To Talk: The DVD was my first DVD and explains the basic beginning strategies appropriate for any toddler or preschooler who is not yet talking. Therapy clips with children ranging from 9 months old to 3 ½ years old highlight the six easiest and most successful ways to elicit first word attempts with young children during play-based activities.  This DVD is an excellent training tool for both families and professionals. Many practices require that new families view this DVD between the evaluation and first therapy session so that parents understand what therapy looks like and are equipped to target language at home. Therapists also use clips from this DVD to introduce a strategy by watching together with parents during a session and then implementing the strategy with the child. University graduate programs and practicum sites throughout the USA use this DVD during clinical training for speech-language pathologists and early childhood education majors. This DVD is also helpful for clinicians who may be new to early intervention and working with toddlers and their families not only because of the “how to” therapy examples, but also for providing a ”family-friendly script” to use in discussions with parents. (Regular price is $39.99)

Click here to order.  

Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1 discusses language comprehension deficits in very young children and demonstrates strategies for teaching toddlers to understand what words mean and to follow simple directions using an easy to understand cueing system. This DVD is most appropriate for parents and professionals working with toddlers who are functioning below the 24 month developmental level and those with significant receptive language delays. (Regular price - $29.99)

Click here to order.

Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2 discusses language comprehension deficits in very young children and demonstrates strategies for teaching toddlers to understand more complex kinds of words such as verbs, prepositions, and descriptive words and to follow more complicated two-step directions. This DVD is most appropriate for parents and professionals working with toddlers who are functioning at and above the 24 month developmental level to the 3 1/2 to 4 year old developmental level. This DVD also includes a special section on disciplinary strategies appropriate for toddlers with language delays and highlights the importance of considering a child’s developmental age in determining behavioral expectations. (Regular price is $39.99)

Order BOTH Receptive Language DVDs and SAVE!  The Set price is $54.99 for Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1 & 2.

Click here to order.  

Teach Me To Talk with Apraxia and Phonological Disorders is a 2 DVD set and discusses both motor and linguistic-based problems related to expressive communication disorders with a section on the diagnostic characteristics for both apraxia and phonological disorders. Examples of oral groping and other speech characeristics of apraxia are shown and discussed. Beginning therapy strategies are modeled with a variety of children between 2 and 4 years old. This DVD is by nature more technical than other DVDs, but is still appropriate for both parents and professionals. Sections are organized in sequential steps with easy-to-follow instructions to address first words and beginning speech intelligibility strategies both in sessions and at home. (Regular price is $69.99 for the 2 DVDs.)    

Therapy Manuals

Teach Me To Play WITH You is a therapy manual written for parents working with young children who have difficulty interacting socially with others. Instructions are included for beginning play with developmentally-appropriate activities using simple games and toys that are readily available in most homes. There are separate chapters with explicit directions, words, and hand motions for many familiar finger plays and traditional childhood songs. Activities are written so that professionals can copy pages of a specific activity, complete the activity during a session, and share the copy with parents with “homework.” The final chapter explains approximately 20 different common problems related to sensory processing issues that we see interfere with a child’s ability to engage others along with multiple strategies for addressing these challenges during play at home. (Regular price is $48)

Click here to order.

Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual is written specifically for speech-language pathologists and other early intervention professionals who work with young children birth to 4 with receptive and expressive language delays and disorders. Because this project was written for professionals, it may not be as family-friendly as other teachmetotalk.com products, but many committed mothers report that this manual gave them more direction and specific instructions for what to work on at home than any other resource they’ve used. This manual is especially helpful for goal writing and for designing fun and developmentally-appropriate treatment activities for toddlers and young children functioning from the 6-9 month developmental level up to the 48 month developmental level. It’s the ultimate “how to” tool for working with infants and toddlers with language delays. (Regular price is $54)

Click here to order.  

RECOMMENDATIONS BY DIAGNOSIS 

Autism or Suspected Autism 

For most parents ordering the 3 DVD Set (Teach Me To Talk: The DVD and Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1 & 2) will be the most appropriate so that parents can SEE play-based therapy strategies with a variety of toddlers with both receptive and expressive language delays. The 3 DVD Set is specially priced at $84.99.

For parents who are looking for more specific instructions for how to engage a toddler who is difficult to connect with and teach during play, Teach Me To Play WITH You, is also recommended in addition to the 3 DVD set.   

For very committed parents who want a detailed step-by-step explanation of “how to” and “what to” work on for at-home therapy, order Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual, Teach Me To Play WITH You and the 3 DVD Set. This combination is also recommended for professionals who need additional resources and teaching tools to help families of toddlers who have been (or will be) newly diagnosed with autism.

Click here to go to the store.  

Mixed Receptive - Expressive Language Delay or Global Developmental Delay (such as Down Syndrome, prematurity, cerebral palsy, etc…) 

For most parents ordering the 3 DVD Set (Teach Me To Talk The DVD and Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1 & 2) will be most appropriate so that parents can SEE the therapy strategies with a variety of toddlers with both receptive and expressive language delays. The 3 DVD set is $84.99.

If the child is already following basic directions consistently, order Teach Me To Talk The DVD and Teach Me To Listen and Obey 2.

Very committed parents who want a detailed step-by-step explanation of “how to” and “what to” work on for at-home therapy, should order Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual and the 3 DVD Set.

The 3 DVD Set can be purchased for a discounted price (vs. ordering each product separately) in our store. Look for the bundle you’d like to order. Click here to go to the store.

Late Talker or Expressive Language Delay Only

If your child understands language at an age-appropriate level (meaning that he consistently follows  directions well for his age and is routinely interactive with you and a variety of other people,) but is experiencing a lag in saying words he already demonstrates that he understands, order Teach Me To Talk The DVD  to get started.

If you want more guidance or are ready to tackle a more comprehensive therapy plan at home, also order Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual.  Click here to visit our store.

(***If your child regularly ignores people, tunes out your directions to him, and doesn’t respond to his name, then he does not fit into the diagnostic category of a ’late talker.’  In this case, not talking is usually a part a bigger developmental problem. Please see the other descriptions of products above that may help you address the underlying issues for WHY your child isn’t talking yet. Start with the suggestions in the Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Delay or Suspected Autism category.) 

Suspected Apraxia and Other Speech Intelligibility Issues

Parents should order both Teach Me To Talk The DVD and Teach Me To Talk with Apraxia and Phonological Disorders. Teach Me To Talk The DVD outlines the basic play-based approach and Teach Me To Talk with Apraxia shows more specific strategies to implement after the basics are in place. Both DVDs are sold together at our store and offered for a significantly reduced price vs. buying each DVD separately. Click here to go to the store.  

Very committed parents who want a detailed step-by-step explanation of “how to” and “what to” work on for at-home therapy, should also order Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual and focus on the expressive language chapter. Speech disorders and expressive language disorders often overlap in toddlers.

Toddlers with More Significant Delays

Teach To Listen and Obey 1 includes toddlers with more pronounced delays and has a small section on beginning activities to implement AAC.  

Teach Me To Play WITH You is recommended for all parents of toddlers who do not consistently interact with and respond to others.  

Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual  is very helpful for addressing delays over time with a comprehensive set of goals and strategies including a chapter on targeting very early cognitive goals.

This grouping of therapy materials is also offered for a significant discount in our store vs. buying the individual products. Please look for the Helping Toddlers with Significant Delays package during checkout. (Set price is $120)    

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FOR PROFESSIONALS

Order sets to save. Look in the Featured Products (left column) or on our regular store page. Click here to be redirected to the store.  

5 DVD Set - All teachmetotalk.com DVDs including Teach Me To Talk, Teach Me To Listen and Obey 1 & 2 and Teach Me To Talk With Apraxia and Phonological Disorders - $125.

BOTH THERAPY MANUALS - Teach Me To Play WITH You and Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual - $99

ENTIRE COLLECTION - All 5 DVDs and Both Therapy Manuals - $225

 
For ordering more than one of each individual product or combinations that you do not see listed here, please see this link to our new store at www.shop.teachmetotalk.com.

If you are still confused about which products are right for you, please email me at Laura@teachmetotalk.com.  
 

Tyler in our IT dept. wrote detailed instructions for we iPod novices.

1. Go to www.apple.com/itunes.

2. Click the free download on the iTunes website. See a screen shot here:

3. Follow the on-screen instructions for downloading iTunes.

4. Once iTunes has been downloaded, click to open iTunes.

5. Click on the iTunes store icon on the left side panel. See below.

6. Search “Teach Me To Talk with Laura and Kate” by typing this into the top right search box. See below.

7. Download any podcast by clicking on the free button next to the episode. See here.

8. Once the podcasts have downloaded, you can upload the podcasts to your iPod by syncing your iPod normally with your iTunes. To do this, simply plug in your iPod to your computer and follow the onscreen instructions provided by iTunes. Once synced, all fo the podcasts can be played through your iPod.  

Did you make any New Year’s Resolutions? Are any of them related to your work as a therapist in early intervention or a preschool program?

When Kate and I were discussing our last few podcast topics and questions from our regular listeners, I came up with several resolutions which can make us all more effective in our practices.

We’re going to use these resolutions as the basis for the first couple of podcasts for 2012. My weekly show “Teach Me To Talk with Laura and Kate” airs live on Sunday nights at 6 pm Eastern time, and I’d love to have you join us for that discussion. 

If you’ve been a regular listener or reader, these will not be new topics for you. We’ve talked about these issues over and over since our first show aired in August 2008, but often to our surprise and amazement, these same issues keep coming up!   

The list below is based on the common themes that emerge when answering questions from parents and professionals here on the website, talking with callers on the podcast, or the comments I hear when I travel to speak to therapists in my conferences across the USA.

Following these resolutions will reduce many of the common challenges that seem to arise everywhere, whether you do home visits in a city like Chicago, work in a clinic-based practice in southern California, or serve in a preschool setting in rural Tennessee.

See if you recognize yourself in any of these situations: 

1. I will have FUN in my sessions! 

Having fun yourself in therapy almost always ensures that the child you’re seeing is having a good time too.  

Why is FUN more important than almost any other principle when working with young children? Because being FUN often eliminates poor participation, boredom, and even most of the other behavior issues we encounter during therapy sessions. When your little friends are busy having fun, they don’t want to run away, blow you off, or exhibit any of the other less desirable actions toddlers resort to when they’re not having a good time.

To put this a little more bluntly, if you routinely have these kinds of issues with many of the children on your caseload, the problem isn’t with your clients or their families…

Change yourself and you’ll see many of these challenges disappear.  

2. I will be warm, affectionate, and approachable during sessions.

In addition to being fun, establishing a social connection with a child is vital to success in therapy. If you treat children in their homes, this connection must extend to a client’s family too.

Although we’re trained professionals, a cold, aloof, and disengaged demeanor sends the wrong kind of message to a young child and his family. 

Think back to some of your own favorite doctors, teachers, or other service professionals such as your hairdresser, or the best servers in restaurants, or cashiers at the grocery store. What do all of those people, regardless of their job titles, have in common?

Without exception they execute their jobs with a high level of proficiency, yet they are friendly, easy to talk to, and make you feel welcomed and important.

Our little clients and their parents should feel that way about their child’s therapists. Often times an early intervention therapist is the only professional young clients and parents see on a regular basis, so taking the time to establish a very natural, unforced rapport is important. 

3. I will stop blaming parents for developmental issues!

Many professionals begin and end discussions about their clients with comments about a child’s environment or family’s lifestyle. 

There are certainly cases of severe neglect and abuse when we’d rather a child we’re seeing live anywhere but where he is. When substance abuse has occurred prenatally, this parental choice has determined the course of a child’s development, but I’m not talking about these kinds of horrific situations.

I’m thinking of cases when a therapist talking to a colleague says things like, “I think so much of this child’s issue is related to parenting,” or “If that mom weren’t so ___________, (fill in the blank with any number of descriptors), this child wouldn’t be so far behind.”

The truth is most of the delays and disorders we see with our clients in the USA can more likely be attributed to neurological or biological differences than where the child lives or who the child lives with.  

While parenting certainly plays a part in who all of us end up to be, it is often NOT the chief reason for a child’s developmental delays and disorders.

Haven’t you seen siblings of clients who are developing within normal limits or even thriving? These kids live in the same homes, have the same parents, and usually live by the same rules, or even lack thereof! Despite what can be described as lackluster or non-stimulating environments, these brothers and sisters seem to be coming along just fine. In these situations, nature must be the difference, not nurture.

Before dismissing a child’s struggles as something a parent did or didn’t do, examine the true causes, especially before passing judgment on a parent.  

While environment does play a huge role in helping a child improve, it often didn’t create the difficulty in and of itself. Even if a mom had been more responsive, or established a better routine, or enforced a stricter parenting style, or read to her baby more, or blah, blah, blah, there STILL would have been a developmental delay or disorder because that’s how the child came into this world. Perhaps there would have been a milder version of the same problem, but what a parent did or didn’t do would not have totally eliminated the issue.     

Making a parent feel guilty about a problem they can’t control and didn’t cause doesn’t help anyone.

4. I will stop blaming behavior for developmental issues!

Of all the “themes” that have emerged throughout my career and certainly over the website and on the podcast during the last 4 years, this one is the most pervasive and in my opinion, the most damaging.

Late talking is NOT due to behavior or personality traits.   

When I say that to most adults, they seem to understand and agree with me, yet go on to explain how their child is not talking because he’s lazy, or stubborn, or bad.

I am constantly amazed at well-educated adults, even therapists, who seemingly believe these kinds of false and dangerous statements. Every time we nod our heads or sigh when a parent tells us these kinds of things, we reinforce this serious untruth.  

Late talking is not a choice a toddler purposefully makes. That diagnosis is called selective mutism and necessitates that a child is using normal language consistently in at least one setting. Late talking toddlers do not have expressive skills that fall within the range of normal anytime, anywhere. If so, why would that child be on your caseload? 

When kids can talk, they do talk. I call this philosophy “Can’t Vs. Won’t,” and I talk about it often here on the website, on the podcast, and in my books and DVDs. Check those out to help yourself and parents make this important philosophical shift.   

5. I will develop tunnel vision (when needed) to decide how I can best help my client & family.

Many of the questions we’re getting from therapists lately take more time to explain a client’s complicated medical or social history rather providing information related to a child’s development or his progress in therapy.

In these situations sometimes the therapists seem to be using most of their time and mental energy to search for a diagnosis or seek treatment options that are beyond their scope of practice rather than doing what they are there to do which is to address a child’s communication needs.  

While we want to be mindful of all the challenges a child faces, and we certainly want to point parents in the right direction by referring to other disciplines and professionals, searching for answers to these complex diagnostic issues can distract you from your real purpose. Honestly, the outcome won’t change or affect what we will do for a child during treatment sessions.

That’s a fancy way of saying, “The diagnosis doesn’t matter.”

As pediatric speech-language pathologists and other early interventionists, we really don’t treat a specific diagnosis. As a child’s SLP or Developmental Therapist, do you really treat Down Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder, cerebral palsy, or any other medical diagnosis? Nope.

What do you treat? You treat the developmental deficits in a child’s receptive and expressive speech- language skills.

From the most practical standpoint then, in reality, it doesn’t matter if a child has a diagnosis or doesn’t because you are assessing and providing intervention for what skills he needs help to develop and master.

A diagnosis is often much better from a reimbursement perspective and it can help a child receive more services. A diagnosis may provide prognostic information about a child’s long-term outcome, but thankfully, often it does not. A diagnosis will certainly help explain the “why’s” to parents.

But the bottom line is this: when you’re doing a great job clinically, a specific diagnosis won’t significantly alter your treatment plan or therapy strategies.   

Don’t let finding a diagnosis consume your therapy time with a child or his family. Your primary role is to provide intervention and address issues that you can help make better.

6. I will work the hierarchy for treatment with toddlers!

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about here, have I got a show, a website, and a book for you!

In a nutshell, many times we don’t see progress with young children on our caseloads because we’re working on the wrong goals or targeting skills in the wrong sequence.

Every week on the podcast “Teach Me To Talk with Laura and Kate,” we discuss (at length and ad nauseam) ways to prioritize your treatment goals and therapy strategies for toddlers with developmental communication delays and disorders. You can listen to the most current show by clicking the white arrow in the blue box with the blogtalkradio icon in the right side column on this page. You can listen to the last several shows by clicking on the show number listed in the light blue boxes below the blogtalkradio icon. For a list of all previous shows, click the blogtalkradio icon, and you will be redirected to the blogtalkradio site where the archives are located. Scroll down to find topics that interest you. You can also download the show FREE from iTunes and listen on your iPod or iPhone. If you’re a podcast novice, click here for detailed instructions for how to access and download shows to your iPod or iPhone.   

For a full explanation of my treatment hierarchy, please consult my book Teach Me To Talk: The Therapy Manual. Click this link for more information.  

Well, that’s the list of resolutions and those are my initial comments, but I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to say in the upcoming weeks on the podcast.

I’d love to hear your comments too! Leave those here for me on the website. Please know that all comments are moderated, or approved, before they appear here on the website or else the site would be overrun with irrelevant ads or worse. When I’m extremely busy, it may take several days for your comment to appear and a few more days for a response from me.   

Or better yet, call us! Our favorite shows are when we have real live people call us and talk to us on the podcast! For details about participating in the show, email me at Laura@teachmetotalk.com. 

teachmetotalk.com is so pleased to present…

Teach Me To Talk:

From Signs to Sounds to Words

From Laura Mize, pediatric speech-language pathologist and founder of teachmetotalk.com, comes a NEW DVD designed specifically for toddlers, their parents, and the professionals who work with them.

Using toddler-themed play activities, each scene was deliberately engineered to facilitate gestures, sounds, simple sign language, and early words.  

Often toddlers lack the ability to imitate, to attend to language, and to link meanings to words. Many times these are contributing factors for why a child is not yet talking. This DVD shows simple, repetitive, and FUN play routines which are successful in helping young children acquire these critical, prerequisite skills.

Laura demonstrates techniques from her hierarchy of imitation that she teaches to therapists in seminars throughout the country and in her best-selling therapy manuals and DVDs.

These sequential steps help toddlers begin to imitate actions, simple gestures, easy sign language, and then finally, progress to repeating sounds and early word approximations.   

By watching along with the child, adults will see the same kinds of play routines used in speech therapy sessions with late talking toddlers. Instructions for parents and professionals are provided in an introductory section. Suggestions are shown as graphics on the screen during the DVD so that an adult will know exactly what to do with the child as they watch and play together.

The research and science behind the strategies are fully explained in a special tutorial section which will benefit both parents and professionals such as speech-language pathologists, developmental interventionists, occupational therapists, and other early intervention specialists.  

Every minute of this DVD was planned using the following research study criteria cited to make viewing more relevant for very young children:  

• Slower paced to provide extra time for a young brain to process new information

• One setting with no confusing changes in time or place

• Toddler-friendly camera shots with no quick cut-aways or rapid picture changes

• Singing and a melodic speaking pattern which is more effective in helping a toddler attend to spoken language

• Key concepts and vocabulary are repeated to help a young child understand and remember new words

• Focus is on a real person providing simple narration during play rather than objects shown with little or no language content

• Instructions are provided right on the screen so that an adult can change the child’s experience from passive to active participation

Additionally, parents will benefit from new ideas to work on language at home.

Learn more than 20 different early signs!

Laura teaches sign language during play with developmentally appropriate toys. The signs are repeated in context along with cues for parents to teach the child to use the sign too!

Enjoy simple (but CUTE) language-based songs and play routines toddlers love!

These songs and routines can be effortlessly incorporated into your daily routines at home to work on language all the time!

Therapists will benefit by:

• Observing a seasoned clinician putting theory into practice with Verbal Routines easily adapted for your own therapy sessions with your youngest clients

• Learning the Hierarchy of Vocal Imitation

• Hearing the family-friendly explanations provided during the tutorial section

• Obtaining a new tool for caregiver education sure to enhance carry-over

• Receiving a reference list for recommendedreading and resources to improve your own clinical practice

Anticipated release dates for Teach Me To Talk: From Signs to Sounds to Words is anticipated in early 2012.   

  

  

  

Please email me at Laura@teachmetotalk.com with your problem, and I’ll be more than happy to help you resolve it!

Readers outside the USA - Please email me so that additional shipping costs can be added to your orders. All DVD orders cost $15 and manuals cost $35 for any destination outside the USA. Email me at Laura@teachmetotalk.com.