Category: Speech Language Therapy

Dyslexia

9/22/2020

What is Dyslexia?

The broad definition: Any student who is below grade level in reading and has had sufficient reading instruction. There are disagreements over how far below grade level learners need to be.
The specific definition: Students struggling with reading and writing; often these students have a profile that includes:struggles with phonemic awareness, rapid naming, spelling, decoding, encoding, and fluency despite having typical intelligence.

Dyslexia is...

A language based problem
A phonological processing disorder
Neurobiological in origin, present from birth, experienced for life
A spectrum disorder that can range from an annoyance to a severe limitation
More common than any other learning disability
Responsive to expert, informed instruction (Moats, 2008)Weakness in word reading, phonemic decoding, and spelling
Surprising because weakness exists in the presence of normal intelligence
Present in adults who have poor spelling, are slow readers, and have difficulty with novel and complex phonological forms

Dyslexia is not...

Characterized or diagnosed by seeing letters backwards (reversals are normal developmental patterns through second grade)
Indicative of "gifted" status
A disorder that cannot be diagnosed until third grade
A visual problem
Responsive to colored lenses and/or eye tracking exercises

What are the CORE characteristics of Dyslexia?

Learners with dyslexia will exhibit some of the following components:

Poor short term phonological memory
Poor auditory working memory
Poor sound-letter correspondence
Difficulty with repeating longer words, phrases, sentences
Difficulty with non-word repetition tasks
A history of being below grade level in reading
Low vocabulary (as student switch from learning to read to reading to learn, they will not have asmuch exposure to vocabulary)

Can speech therapy help identify and treat Dyslexia?

YES! Dyslexia is a language based disorder and absolutely can and should be diagnosed and treated by a speech-language pathologist.

Original Source: https://www.slphappyhour.com/

Research Sources:
Cabbage, Kathryn L, et al. “Exploring the Overlap Between Dyslexia and Speech Sound ProductionDeficits.” Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 24 Oct. 2018,https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30458539.

Adlof, Suzanne M., et al. “Understanding Dyslexia in the Context of Developmental LanguageDisorders.” ASHA Wire, https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2018_LSHSS-DYSLC-18-0049.

Otaiba, Stephanie Al, et al. "Elementary Grade Intervention Approaches to Treat Specific Learning Disabilities,Including Dyslexia." Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 24Oct 2018, https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2018_LSHSS-DYSLC-18-0022

Farquharson, Kelly. "Why Speech Sounds Matter for Literacy." SLP Summit,7 January 2020,

Stuttering

5/15/2020

The following content was originally published by: The American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA).
https://www.asha.org/stuttering/

This week is National Stuttering Awareness Week! Did you know that stuttering usually starts between 2 and 6 years of age? Many children go through normal periods of disfluency lasting less than 6 months. Stuttering that lasts longer may need treatment.

Talking to people can be hard if you stutter. You may get stuck on certain words or sounds. You may feel tense or uncomfortable. You might change words to avoid stuttering. Speech-language pathologists, or SLPs, can help.

8 Reasons to choose TCOB

5/9/2019

From time to time I meet people and they ask me HOW we are different than other clinics, well here are 8 of the things I explain to them. In all honesty, it was difficult for me to narrow it down to 8. I feel deep in my heart that we ARE different because we really do see TCOB as a family and we love each and every family that chooses TCOB.

1. We embrace neurodiversity

At TCOB we embrace the diversity of the families we serve. We respect that all individuals are that, individuals. At our premise we want our families to feel accepted, loved, supported, celebrated, and free to communicate their thoughts and needs in the manner that works best for them. We honor communication in all forms.

2. Family Involvement

Family involvement is strongly encouraged and carry-over activities are provided on a regular basis to support generalization of therapeutic progress which accelerates mastery of skills.

3. Differential Diagnosis

Evaluations are not time based. They are conducted face-to-face and our clinicians employ a variety of standardized, non-standardized, and criterion referenced protocols to provide differential diagnosis. Caregivers remain with their children during evaluations to ensure a team approach.

4. ADOS-2 Testing

Our Certified Autism Specialist and lead SLP is formally trained to administer The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule- 2 (ADOS-2) testing for identification (or the ruling out) of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Data, diagnosis recommendation/s, and comprehensive recommendations are discussed with the family by the evaluating clinician and provided in a narrative report.

5. Certified Autism Specialist

Therapy Center of Buda is proud to have an in-house Certified Autism Specialist, who consults with any family requesting assistance and offers parent education and access to community resources with support.

6. Collaboration

We welcome collaboration with all caretakers, educators, physicians, and specialists in order to maximize therapeutic progress and increase our families overall quality of life.

7. In and outdoor sensory gyms

We are the first facility of our kind, utilizing the traditional indoor sensory gym AND a 3,000 sq ft outdoor sensory gym. Our outdoor gym is a full sensory immersion experience that cannot be replicated in a traditional indoor sensory gym.

8. Superior Mandate Exemption

COFK (in coordination with Superior Healthplan) has agreed TCOB is a specialty facility. Receiving this designation will exempt our facility from the Superior/COFK mandate that was implemented March 1, 2018. Individuals can still obtain their evaluations and care through TCOB directly (without going through COFK).

Mechanics of the mouth (speaking and swallowing)

5/26/2018

Do you ever wonder what happens inside your mouth when you speak or swallow? While we all take for granted that we have the ability to speak (and swallow) A LOT of work happens behind the curtain. Our mouth (aka oral cavity) is where the sounds we hear are fine tuned using numerous muscles and other anatomy of the oral and nasal cavities. For kiddos sometimes these muscles and articulators simply do not want to cooperate which is usually why adults are unable to understand them or why they have difficulty efficiently chewing and swallowing their food. Speech-language pathologists evaluate the functioning of the mechanisms needed to produce intelligible (clear) speech sounds and ensure safe chewing/swallowing. They also are highly trained to provide treatment when these mechanisms are not efficient. Check out this video to see what our mouth looks like while we speak, sing, playing instruments, and swallow!

April is Autism Acceptance Month!

4/1/2018

the Autism (aka ASD) is combined array (aka spectrum) of neurotypes. These neurotypes are natural variations. Autism itself does not require treatment, as it is not a sickness. But oftentimes Autistic individuals have co-occurring issues that decrease their ability to fully and effectively communicate their wants and needs or participate in acts of daily living. Autistics, just like neurotypicals, can range from non-speaking to speak eloquently and possess an extensive vocabulary. Knowing the characteristics of Autism is the first step to early identification and self empowerment.

Some characteristics of Autistic children are:

Dr. Seuss Day/ Read Across America Day

3/2/2018

What's Narrative Language and why is it important?

2/26/2018

Narrative language skills are vital to a person’s ability to not only have successful social relationships but also impact academic work (e.g., written language). Narrative skills are the ability to use language to tell a story. These skills begin to develop at the young age of 2 years! As a child’s narrative language skills develop they will begin to follow rules of storytelling (e.g., sequencing events, including characters, having an event/dialogue/solution, and an ending). Narratives may be fiction or non-fiction.

What should your child be doing? Check out this chart of narrative development.

Stuttering (aka Dysfluent Speech)

2/19/2018

The term “stutter” is terribly outdated and oftentimes negatively viewed, rather I like the term “dysfluent speech.” It is important to remember that we all have moments of dysfluent speech, that doesn’t necessarily mean we all need speech-language therapy to address it. The line that we draw to determine if therapy is recommended is the impact the dysfluent moment have on one’s life, the severity/ frequency/duration of dysfluent moments, and the accompanying tension with the dysfluent moments.

Some of the most common types of dysfluent speech include:

Single word repetition (e.g. “I I I I I want a hamburger.”)
Phrase repetition (e.g.,” I want a ham-ham-hamburger.”)
Blocking (e.g., “I want a ham (pause) burger.”)
Prolongation (e.g., “I want a hammmmmmmburger.”)
Avoidance (avoiding saying word/s because the speaker anticipates a dysfluent moment)
Fillers (inserting words/sounds to offer the speaker more time to prepare for what they are saying; "like, "uh", "and".)

Water Bead Fun!!!

5/4/2017

Meet the newest addition to my therapy room… WATER BEADS! They are squishy, bouncy, and great for playful learning. There are so many ways to use water beads in order to develop speech and language. I created a sensory bin with my water beads and I wanted to share my ideas with you!

1. Place your child’s favorite toys in the sensory bin to target requesting, spatial concepts, following directions, identifying, answering questions, and labeling. “Can you find the cow? Where does a cow live? What does a cow say? Can you put the cow at the bottom?”

2. It is so easy to target articulation goals with a sensory bin. Place laminated flashcards inside and have children say the word using their “good sounds” when they find it. This is much more fun than sitting at a table and doing boring homework. :-)

3. Let your child explore! Teach verbs (digging, pouring, mixing), adjectives (slimy, bouncy, squishy, wet), colors, and sizes. Use kitchen utensils for pretend play. Get creative and have fun!

I purchased a package of water beads on Amazon, a container from Dollar Tree, and used flashcards and toys we have around the clinic. This is an inexpensive project that can make targeting speech and language goals more fun and engaging. I hope you enjoy the water beads as much as I do!

Meagan Milligan, B.S., SLP-A

To sippy cup or not to sippy cup… that is the question!

8/30/2016

It’s no secret to my families that I am not a fan of sippy cups. I get that they are a matter of convenience, but there are reasons why we should just skip over the sippy and head straight to open and straw cups. Let’s check out the pros and cons from a speech-language pathologist’s (and oral cavity) perspective.

Childhood Apraxia of Speech, What is it exactly?

5/2/2016

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder. CAS is a relatively uncommon disorder (1-2 children per 1,000= 0.1-0.2%) and one of the lesser known disorders treated by Speech-Language Pathologists. There are some identified causes of CAS (e.g., stroke, trauma, chromosomal abnormalities) but we are not truly sure of all of the causes.

Tongue Tie Basics

4/25/2016

Heart shaped tongue tip during protrusion is a sign that tongue tie is most likely. Photo from: www.tonguetie.net

This photo shows the shortened lingual frenulum (tongue tie). Photo from: www.tonguetie.net

Medical name: Ankyloglossia
Description: Restricted movement of the tongue secondary to a malformation of the lingual frenulum.

As a speech-language pathologist, I frequently have kiddos come to see me with articulation difficulties and we discover that the misarticulations are in fact due to an unidentified tongue tie. Tongue tie is actually more common than people realize. At times we are able to identify the issue during infancy because the baby is having a difficult time feeding (e.g. latching or severe nipple pain). Clippings at this age are much easier and always preferred to minimize articulation difficulties later. But there are those kiddos that are overlooked because they found ways to adapt and feed adequately. Kiddos with tongue tie usually have difficulty with the consonants: g, k, t, d, l, r, and consonant blends. Sometimes tongue tie can result in a difficulty of eating solids, resulting in gagging or vomiting when trying new foods. Tongue tie can be diagnosed by a pediatrician, speech-language pathologist, Otolaryngologist, and some dentists. Common treatment for tongue tie is a simple surgery to “clip” the tongue and private speech-language therapy to strengthen musculature and address misarticulations.

If you have concerns about your child’s lingual frenulum or the possibility of tongue tie, give us a call or email me with questions!

Photos taken from: www.tonguetie.net

TRICK OR TREATING

10/8/2015

This is a wonderful way to help those with communication challenges exercise independence during trick or treating.

A special thank you to CARD-USF for coming up with such a great idea!

Please share!

Thu, Sep 24, 2015

9/24/2015

While playing with playdoh can give optimal time to address receptive language, expressive language, pragmatic language, sensory, fine motor, gross motor, and handwriting development not all kiddos are able to safely play with it. Sometimes kiddos eat the playdoh or they are gluten sensitivity. Well, we have the solution! Follow the recipe below for some EDIBLE GLUTEN FREE PLAYDOH!

Edible Gluten Free Playdoh Recipe
Ingredients:
-Baby rice cereal
-Vegetable oil
-Cornstarch(or gluten-free cornflour if you are in the UK or Australia)
-Unsweetened Applesauce (you can substitute water if you don't have applesauce)
-Food coloring (optional)

Track your child's development milestones

6/14/2015

It's never too early to start tracking your baby's development. Although all children develop at different rates, there are development milestones widely accepted as a good benchmark for determining if your child is developing within generally accepted time frames.

Our Clinic Director, Amy Grant, has taken the most credible and accepted lists and compiled our own checklists for parents to download for ages 6 months to 5 years old.

If you are concerned about your child's development, early intervention is the key to getting them on track to developing their essential life skills for life. We offer free consultations - contact us today if you are concerned or uncertain if your child might benefit from Speech-Language or Occupational Therapy. We are here to help.

Download Therapy Center of Buda's Developmental Checklists to track your child's progress at home.