This is one of the questions I hear often from parents…if they’re not talking yet, how do you evaluate speech and language skills in a baby? It’s a great question. If you *only* consider talking, of course it wouldn’t make sense to evaluate babies, because, well, for the most part, they aren’t talking yet. But, I wrote about how communication … Read More
I’m a Speech Therapist, and My Baby Needs Speech Therapy
I was on an EHDI (Early Hearing Detection and Intervention) phone call recently and one of the participants talked about how parental guilt can prevent parents from moving forward with treatment…and I’ll be honest, I didn’t really get it. I mean, I thought, well, you just do it. But I was coming from my therapist perspective, where you can step … Read More
How My Parenting Affects the Way I Do Therapy
You guys, before I became a parent, I knew SO much about parenting. I knew what other parents were doing wrong, what they should be doing, and exactly why. And then I had kids. BAHAHAHAHAHAHA. The joke was on me, because having kids taught me that I had no idea what I was talking about. We’re 3 years into this … Read More
Interview with Theresa Harp from Sound Speech
Hello Mighty Voice Readers! I am so excited to share today’s interview with you. Theresa from Sound Speech is not only a certified auditory verbal therapist, but she is also a hearing consultant for the state of New Jersey, and, she’s my mentor in my journey to certification as a listening and spoken language specialist/auditory verbal therapist. I originally heard … Read More
Keeping Children with Disabilities Safe From Abuse
Lately I’ve seen a number of videos going around some of the groups I’m in…these videos are labeled as ABA therapy sessions. This is not a post about the pros and cons of ABA or to discuss whether or not those videos actually represent ABA. What this post is about is this–those videos make me incredibly uncomfortable. Children are clearly … Read More
Why Speech and Language Development in Babies Isn’t Just about Talking
If you’ve been a parent for more than 5 minutes, I’m sure you’ve seen 1 or 2 developmental checklists…the things your child should be doing in any area of development by a certain age. These checklists are helpful guides. But, when it comes to speech and language development, sometimes we focus just on the number of words our children are … Read More
Use Your Community Activities to Boost Your Child’s Language
I don’t know about you, but as a part-time stay at home parent, I find myself needing to get out of the house with my kids. If we stay at home together all day, I (and they!) get restless and crabby. So I’ve found places to go, and ways to get out, and along the way, discovered so many fun, … Read More
What’s the Difference Between Speech and Language?
Most of the time, we talk about speech and language together. It’s partly because they’re so closely connected and interrelated, but when you have a child with a hearing loss or a speech and language delay, you might start wondering about the difference. I remember that when I started my graduate program, I had the same question…aren’t speech and language … Read More
Takeaways from All Ears’ Interview with a Cochlear Implant Surgeon
Are you listening to the All Ears Podcast from Child’s Voice? If not, you should be! They have some great guests and really interesting conversations about all things hearing loss. They feature, parents, graduates of their program, children of Deaf adults, and most recently, a cochlear implant surgeon. In episode 16, they interview Dr. Nancy Young. Dr. Young was actually … Read More
Lessons from a Remodel: What Home Renovation and Speech Therapy Have in Common
Hey Mighty Voice readers! Today I have a lighter post for you…maybe a 50% tongue in cheek and 50% serious. Today I’m sharing how a major house remodel is a little like speech therapy, or maybe even like having a kid with a challenge like hearing loss or speech and language delay. Have a plan, and then be willing to … Read More