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.

The term “stutter” is terribly outdated and oftentimes negatively viewed, rather I like the term “disfluent speech.” It is important to remember that we all have moments of disfluent 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 disfluent moment have on one’s life, the severity/ frequency/duration of disfluent moments, and the accompanying tension with the disfluent moments.

Some of the most common types of disfluent 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 disfluent moment)
• Fillers (inserting words/sounds to offer the speaker more time to prepare for what they are saying; "like, "uh", "and".)
  

For many children with Dysgraphia, just holding a pencil and organizing letters on a line is extremely challenging.  Many struggle with spelling and putting thoughts on paper.  It is important that we remember Dysgraphia is not “laziness” or “sloppiness,” using these terms in from of your child with Dysgraphia can negatively impact their self-esteem and increase their anxiety resulting in refusal to write.  Many children diagnosed or suspected of having Dyslexia also exhibit symptoms of Dysgraphia.  Symptoms of Dysgraphia  include:

• Illegible handwriting
• Slow, labored writing
• Mixing print and cursive letters
• Spacing letters and words oddly
• Poor spelling and grammar
• Difficulty gripping a pencil
• Incorrect punctuation
• Run-on sentences and lack of paragraph breaks
• Trouble organizing information when writing

If you suspect your child may have Dysgraphia talk to your pediatrician or call us to see if occupational therapy could help!

Pragmatic language; also known as social skills, is the ability to understand and adequately maneuver daily interactions with other people.  This includes what we say (and don’t say), how we say it, and body language that accompanies our words.

Here are some examples of pragmatic language skills:

• Social greetings
• Understanding and respecting personal space
• Story telling
• Eye contact
• Understanding body language and gestures
• Having conversations (without the adult having to maintain the conversation)
• Joint attention (when two people use gestures and gaze to share attention with an object/action/person)
• Playing reciprocally (turn taking)
• Understanding emotions of self and others
• Knowing how to act in different social situations
• Knowing what a “friend” is and how to make/keep friends
• Understanding metaphors/sarcasm/jokes/idioms
• Asking for or offering help verbally
• Asking for clarification

Sometimes people with pragmatic language impairments gravitate towards very young children or only adults.  Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder typically have difficulty with pragmatic language skills; however, it is important to remember a person may have pragmatic language difficulties and not be on the Autism Spectrum. 

If you want to learn more about pragmatic language skills or suspect your child has difficulty with pragmatic language talk to your pediatrician or contact us to see if we can help!

Sometimes I get the questions “why isn’t she talking yet” or “will he ever talk?”  In these moments it’s important to explain the communication pyramid.  The skills at the bottom of the pyramid (purple and blue) must be acquired before the skills at the top can be.  This is why we have to address play skills and receptive language before we can expect them to use sentences or master a conversation.

Do you have your tickets to the Day Out With Thomas yet? Don't worry,  we have you covered! We have TWO tickets to this awesome event we will give away this Friday (September 29, 2017) at noon. Want to throw your name in the drawing? All you have to do is write a review for TCOB on Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc. Each review that gets posted gets entered to win (This means you can be entered several times if you post on different sites)!

DAY OUT WITH THOMAS TICKET includes a scheduled 25 minute train ride (October 1, 2017 at 11am) behind Thomas the Tank Engine, all day admission to the Day Out With Thomas events at the Burnet Community Center, and the following activities:

• Photos opportunities with Thomas the Train and Sir Topham Hatt
  *Photo packages can also be purchased by on-site photographer
• Rock climbing wall
• Inflatable Cranky the Crane
• Miniature golf
• Thomas Imagination Station of interactive play
• Temporary tattoo station
• Arts and crafts at Imagination Station
• Traveling balloon twisters
• Wooden Thomas play station
• Live children’s musical performances
• Storytelling and videos
• Magician
• Gift shop

http://www.austinsteamtrain.org/special-events/day-out-with-thomas/
 
**The winner will be announced via our Facebook page and the winner MUST pick up their prize by 6pm Friday September 29, 2017 at our office location (photo identification MUST match the name of the person shown online as the reviewer).**

Don't we all want to give a synopsis of our kiddos for their teacher/s at the beginning of the school year? Basically give them a resume of likes/dislikes/what works and doesn't? Well, you are NOT alone! We made this handy PDF to fill in the blanks and even add a photo of your child.  When you meet the teacher/s, aides, therapists, or even babysitters just hand them this "All About Me" page so they are sure to know all about your kiddo.  Download is available for FREE, just click the Download File button below and start filling in the blanks!

Therapy Center of Buda Summer Fun Theme Weeks

                Summer has come and the staff at Therapy Center of Buda is ready to celebrate! Each week in July will be a theme week, where therapy activities will revolve around a summertime theme.

Themes for the month include:
July 3rd- 7th – 4th Of July Celebration
July 10th- 14th – Ocean Adventures
July 17th-21st – Amusement Park Fun
July 24th-28th – Summer Fun Activities
          
      The first week will kick off with a bang on July 3rd- with a 4th of July themed celebration. During this week the therapy gym will be decked out in red, white, and blue for a fun 4th of July Scavenger Hunt. Come and enjoy other activities such as making your own confetti poppers, painting fireworks, Pop Rock Goop, and much more! We can’t wait to celebrate summer fun with you all month long!

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

About 54 million Americans, one out of every five people, have a disability.  The language we use and the meanings we attach to those words mold the views of ourselves and others.  Using a diagnosis as a defining characteristic is a form of prejudice and fuels negative attitudes towards differently abled individuals.  People first language respectfully emphasizes the person before a diagnosis or disability.  It eliminates stereotypes and generalizations by focusing on the person rather than the disability.  Let’s lead by example and educate those who are unaware. What we say matters.

By: Laura Smith

I was a practicing speech-language pathologist for five years before my daughter was born. I worked primarily at the elementary and middle-school levels. I took professional development workshops on childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and treated it successfully in three kiddos from my caseload. Perhaps that’s why I was bewildered, angry and utterly devastated when I missed those very signs in my own child.
I hadn’t yet worked in early intervention, so I missed what seem like obvious signs to me now that I specialize in the disorder. I urge all SLPs to learn more about CAS, because the disorder requires a specialized approach different from other commonly used treatments for speech and language delays.
In addition, ASHA denotes that the qualified professional to diagnose CAS is an SLP with specialized knowledge in motor learning theory and skills with differential diagnosis in childhood motor speech disorder, not a neurologist or other medical practitioner. It’s important to know the signs, but also to refer your client to a qualified SLP for differential diagnosis if you suspect childhood apraxia of speech.
Here are 10 early signs and symptoms of childhood apraxia of speech:

• Limited babbling, or variation within babbling
• Limited phonetic diversity
• Inconsistent errors
• Increased errors or difficulty with longer or more complex syllable and word shapes
• Omissions, particularly in word initial syllable shapes
• Vowel errors/distortions
• Excessive, equal stress
• Loss of previously produced words
• More difficulty with volitional versus automatic speech responses
• Predominant use of simple syllable shapes

Other non-speech “soft signs” that may be present include:

• Impaired volitional oral movements (oral apraxia)
  • Difficulty with volitional “smiling” “kissing” “puckering”
• Delays with fine/gross motor skills
• Feeding difficulties that include choking and/or poor manipulation of food
• General awkwardness or clumsiness

These are early signs, but many overlap with other phonologic and language delays, so it’s important to keep in mind that differential diagnosis is critical, as over-diagnosis of CAS remains problematic. It’s still a relatively rare disorder; however, there are resources that can help if you suspect it.
You can tap the below resources to learn more about childhood apraxia of speech.

• Apraxia-kids.org (CASANA):
  • Offers a growing library of on-demand webinars for professionals and parents.
  • Maintains a list of SLPs nationwide who are CASANA-recognized with advanced training and expertise and who are available for consult.
• ASHA.org:
  • Recently developed a practice portal for childhood apraxia of speech.
  • Compiled a comprehensive technical report.

Laura Smith, MA, CCC-SLP, is a school-based and private clinician in the Denver metro area specializing in childhood apraxia of speech. She’s CASANA-certified for advanced training and clinical expertise in Childhood Apraxia of Speech and often speaks at conferences and consults for school districts or other professionals.
Original blog: http://blog.asha.org/2015/04/09/10-early-signs-and-symptoms-for-childhood-apraxia-of-speech/

Talking to our kiddos about their day at school is important.  “Did you have a good day?” seems to be the automatic question we all ask, but it is important as parents to elicit more of a response.  We want kiddos to learn to tell us about things, not just answer questions with one word (close ended questions).  Let’s find some open ended questions that get our kids communicating with us! 

Read on for some sample questions.

Halloween is a really fun time…for most kiddos. But for those having difficulty with communicating, trick-or-treating can be very difficult task and so stressful that some will exclude themselves from enjoying such an activity.  We truly believe that although we all may have differences these are simply that and we must find different ways to include all children that would like to participate.  One of our therapists came up with this simple craft you can do at home WITH your child to help give him/her a voice to be included in trick-or-treating. 

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.

Did you know that Therapy Center of Buda offers Autism Testing?  Our Certified Autism Specialist and your pediatrician work together to collect all necessary data to identify if your child is on the Autism Spectrum. 

We will provide you a comprehensive report and explain the outcomes. If needed, our specialist will personally provide you with recommendations and access to local, state, and federal resources that may help your child. Call us today for more information!

What you should know:

1. We utilize the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) a well know diagnostic tool to identify Autism in children and adolescents.
2. Before we administer the ADOS we conduct a comprehensive speech-language evaluation.
3. Testing is conducted over 2 consecutive days.
4. Parents remain in the room and participate in data gathering!
5. We bill your insurance!
6. We test individuals 12 months to 21 years old.
7. Your pediatrician must support the testing (meaning if you are utilizing your insurance benefits they must send a prescription indicating ADOS testing is recommended).
8. Not only will you get a comprehensive report following your visit/s, but our specialist will personally provide you with recommendations and access to local, state, and federal resources that may help your child.

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.