Skills & Development

How do we identify the milestones our kids need to succeed? How fast should your child be developing mentally and physically? Does every child develop on their own schedule or should you compare your child to the “norm”?

Throughout the clinic, the options are endless as far as games to play, equipment to climb, and toys to use. With all the available choices, onebody pillow item continues to be a favorite of children of all ages and interests: the body pillow.

Phonics involves seeing letters individually and connecting each one to a specific sound. Letters are broken down into consonants and Child Alphabetvowels. Vowels are broken down into long and short sounds and words are taught by beginning and ending sounds.

Trying to decide which treatments would provide the best outcomes for your child can be a difficult and overwhelming process. You want your child to receive the most effective treatment option but what determines whether or not a treatment is effective?

Fragile X Syndrome is one of the most common forms of inherited intellectual disability in children. This condition arises by a mutation in a single gene on the X chromosome. Both males and females can have Fragile X; however, as males have only one X chromosome, they are usually affected more severely and show poorer functioning.

Making friends involves an array of complex skills, from taking turns, to initiating interactions, considering others’ perspectives, negotiating, problem-solving, repairing communication breakdowns, and being flexible. For many children, these skills can be incredibly challenging, often resulting in difficulty with making friends.

Bedtime battles are a common issue among many parents with young children. However, putting your child to bed at night can become an enjoyable time where you can wind down and spend some quality time with your child.

When your child has challenges in some domain of their development, you may have questions as to what toys you should purchase art easel that will captivate your child’s creativity, allow for hours of good fun and facilitate the opportunity for your child to expand their skills.

School is out for a few weeks, but that doesn’t mean your child has to stop working on language concepts.

Does your child have difficulty learning or doing a new or unfamiliar task? Does he appear clumsy or avoid participating in sports or other physical activities? Does he have trouble coming up with new play ideas or knowing how to play with toys?

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? How much longer? Are these commonly heard phrases in your car? It’s summertime and a road trip is just around the corner.

Orthotics are custom foot support devices that may be as simple as an insert worn in your child’s shoe, to a full-leg brace. Some orthotics are worn during the day and during all regular activities.

Many parents are concerned about discussing death with their children. They try to avoid the topic and some have said it’s one of their most feared topics to discuss with their children.

Potty training is not always an easy or quick process. There are several skills that need to be taught and practiced. Parents need to keep in mind that every child is different and there is no magic age that a child is ready to start learning to use the potty. Even though there is not a magic age, there are definitely signs that you child is ready.

Your child’s handwriting skills will affect his performance in school, beginning as early as preschool. How your child holds his pencil, sits in his chair, and attends to the task of handwriting can affect your child’s ability to feel successful in completing a handwriting task.

The majority of learning disabilities that a child may have are language-based. These include deficits with the child’s reading achievement as well as written expression.

The term Trisomy 18 has gotten significant media coverage in the last month as Rick Santorum’s daughter, who was born with the chromosomal disorder, was recently hospitalized. Santorum cites his family’s struggles with his daughter’s medical condition as a partial player in his decision to remove himself from the current political campaign.

This hot topic issue has been in the press for some time now. What is the truth? Can the use of sign language really help your toddler start talking? The answer is yes! Continue reading to discover the truth about late-talking toddlers and sign language.

In occupational therapy sessions, we often use common materials and games to make our sessions therapeutic and fun.

Does your pre-teen have difficulty staying on task? Does he become overwhelmed when presented with a long-term project? Does he have a hard time controlling his emotions and behaviors?

Your child has been identified to be falling behind in school in some way. Perhaps they are scoring below expected levels on achievement tests or maybe they are exhibiting symptoms of inattention or become easily distracted.

As I discussed in my previous blog, a child’s body is typically functioning at one of three ‘Engine Levels’. Ideally, the goal is to be at the ‘just right’ level, in which your child can accomplish the most and focus on the task at hand.

You have already taken the first positive step to developing a set of behavior goals for your child; however, as it is true with many of life’s most important projects, follow-up is equally important as the initial step.

Many children experience feeding and swallowing difficulties and they present in a variety of different ways.

Ages 0-3 are critical for learning and mastering speech and language. Some babies and toddlers initiate talking earlier than others. If you are looking to encourage speech and language in your little one, read on for easy guidelines to help promote speech and language for young children.

Summer is the time of the year when children engage in more free play and physical activity. Therefore, summer is the perfect time of the year to improve upon skills that children need in order to be active, successful, and independent children!

In-clinic and in-school therapy both provide benefits for children. Here are 5 reasons why doing both is worthwhile.

As the weather is becoming nicer, you are most likely spending more time outside and at your neighborhood parks. If your child is working on improving their core strength in their therapy sessions and at home, this can also be carried over while playing on a playground.

Though there is no scientific way to determine a child’s timeline for speech-language therapy, there are ways to make it as quick of a process as possible.

I cannot think about imaginary friends without thinking of one of my favorite 90’s movies, Drop Dead Fred. In this particular comedy, a woman enduring a mid-life crisis is visited by her childhood imaginary friend as she copes through the termination of her marriage and the ending of her career.

As a new parent, chances are that you have spent countless hours just gazing into your newborn’s eyes. However, between nonstop feedings, washing copious amounts of laundry, all of those diaper changes, and trying to sneak in a nap, some new parents may feel left in the dark when it comes to play time.

If you have a brother, nephew, uncle or some other member in your family with certain special needs, you will want to be cautious and mindful that many neurodevelopmental conditions have a high genetic component.

Most children learn to walk with their feet pointing straight ahead, however, when they walk with their feet pointed inward, this is called in-toeing, or pigeon-toed. According to Columbia Orthopedics, 2 out of every 1,000 children will in-toe. In-toeing affects boys and girls equally, and is often noted to both legs.

One of the most important contributors to progress in speech-language therapy is consistent practice at home. I often compare therapy to working-out at the gym: once a week is unlikely to make a big impact.

A language disorder can negatively impact a child’s academic success. For example, consider a child who has a difficult time with homework strategies, and comprehending multi-step or complex directions. They are likely to misinterpret their teachers’ instructions or misunderstand task directions.

There are a variety of reasons why a child may need feeding therapy. To many of us, it would seem like eating should be a basic instinct. However, eating is one of the most complex activities we do, especially for the developing, young child.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, sequencing and memory activities are important for people of all ages. These skills help to keep our minds sharp and active and allow us to remember old skills as well as learn new patterns and routines.

Why not combine a holiday tradition of baking cookies with speech-language homework?

There are so many common household items and children’s toys that have great therapeutic value when used or playedLittle girl playing Play-doh with in certain ways.

Handwriting practice may cause conflict in your household, especially after a full day of school. There are various techniques to incorporate handwriting into fun activities. One of these strategies is by using the board game, “Guess Who.”

Music can be an important part of children’s therapeutic activities! While some children will participate in Music musicTherapy, conducted by a trained Music Therapist, other children will experience music in their speech-language or occupational therapy sessions.

Pairing is a very important part of starting a therapy program with a child. It helps you, as a therapist, build rapport with the child and establish a pairingrelationship. When working with a child, one of the main things you want to do is pair yourself with fun and reinforcing items.

Articulation Disorder. Phonological Process. What’s the difference between these two terms, and why is it important to understand how they are different?

Potty training can be difficult. Throughout the process there can be slip-ups and accidents. If you have a child who is already potty training, or if you have a child who exhibits signs that he or she is ready to start potty training, then keep these helpful strategies in mind for when an unavoidable accident occurs.

“Where do babies come from?” This question can feel overwhelming for any parent to tackle, but when adoption is a part of your child’s story, this question can become more complicated. Understanding adoption as a part of one’s identity is a life-long process. As your child’s understanding of family, relationships, and society develops, so will her ideas about her own adoption.

Many kids have difficulty mastering skills such as problem-solving, organization, sequencing, initiation, memory, attention, and breaking down tasks. These skills (and many more) fall under the category of executive functioning.

f your child’s school does not utilize the Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) program, you can gain many successful strategies and knowledge from the HWT website. As you will see below, HWT follows three developmental stages in order to best teach children how to legibly and successfully form their letters.

It is time. Lunch is over and the weather is finally allowing our children to break free of their heavy winter coats and boots to enjoy the warm, fresh, and invigorating air on the playground

Although most children with feet problems should be treated with a custom orthotic prescribed by a podiatrist, over-the-counter orthotics are an option for some children, teens and young adults. Could your teen or young adult child benefit from an over-the-counter orthotic? Read on for several great options.

Handwriting is taught to children that are as young as preschool age. Children begin learning how to write the letters in their name and they will usually start with their first name. Handwriting can be taught in a variety of ways, depending upon your child’s teacher as well as the curriculum within the school.

Every sound of speech has a place of production, manner of production and can either be voiced or voiceless sounds. Place of production is the accurate placement of articulators. Manner of production is the restriction of airflow in the oral cavity.

If your child is resistant to communicating when upset, he may try to deny, hide, or avoid talking about his feelings.

As a therapist and speech language pathologist, your job is to help your client to succeed through treatment and through being his best advocate.

When it is chilly outside or on a rainy spring day it can be easy to run out of indoor play ideas for your children. A great activity which is often forgotten is fort building. This activity helps to facilitate development of many important skills for children.

Brushing your teeth. Bathing every day. Washing your hands after using the restroom. These are all forms of hygiene that most adults practice regularly and are certain to instill in their own children as well. Although, one form of hygiene that people often dismiss is vocal hygiene. Taking steps to maintain a healthy voice is especially important for children. Children with abusive vocal behaviors can develop a breathy, hoarse, or “raspy” voice, which can be indicative of damage to the vocal folds, such as vocal nodules or polyps. Damaging the vocal folds can mean long-term voice issues that require therapy or even surgery.

iPads, iPhones and apps. Today’s buzz is all about Smartphone technology and what “apps” will benefit development and academic skills in children. Parents frequently request recommended apps to best address their child’s speech and language skills. After all, we want to take advantage of the latest learning tools and most cutting edge technology to help our kids succeed. However, use of Smartphone technology should be approached with caution. Like all good things, moderation is key.

Oftentimes, parents probably wonder ‘what makes the swings and equipment at my child’s therapy different than the swings at the playground’? The answer is that each of the swings used in the therapy gym are able to be used in a much safer and controlled environment, as the therapists are able to place mats and pillows under and around the swings, and the therapist can therefore challenge how the child engages in the activity and moves and manipulates his body (e.g. hanging underneath the barrel swing).

With which hand do you write? With which hand do you hold a baseball glove? With which hand do you comb your hair? Hand dominance is established when either the right or left hemisphere of your brain becomes the dominant or ‘leader’ side.

Therapy attendance consistency is needed to build relationships, identify challenging skill areas, make progression within areas of need among other things.

As discussed in my previous blog, our trunk muscles (“core”) greatly influence how we move through our environment and how we engage in gross motor and fine motor activities throughout the day. Below are a few simple ways to include trunk strengthening into your child’s daily routine.

I was asked to write a blog on giftedness in children – specifically, how to access it and how to ensure that a child with cognitive strength is able to reach his or her potential. This has proven to be a hard topic to write about. I don’t like the term “giftedness” for several reasons, but before I divulge those, I need to discuss what it means to be “gifted.”

At two years old, Kate was a beautiful, energetic, and happy toddler. With the exception of one word-hi-Kate was as quiet as a mouse. We wondered if something was wrong. Even as a baby, Kate rarely babbled and cried; she was beautiful and unique with red hair and bright blue eyes. She was, in a word, “perfect.” So why were we worried? After all, she could understand everything we said, even the big words. And what was so wrong with having a quiet, happy toddler?

A Phonological Disorder involves a pattern of speech sound errors. For example, if a child consistently substitutes the “t” sound for the “k” sound, this is the phonological process of “fronting.” Speech sound errors are very common in young children; however, if an error persists after the expected age of extinction, he or she may have a phonological disorder.

Summer is a great time to explore the playground with your child. Playgrounds provide a fun and exciting environment that gets your child outside and active. Children of all ages can enjoy a playground in many different ways.

Sitting independently is a wonderful and fun new milestone for every baby. It is the first time your little one is upright and able to look around. In the sitting position, babies have both hands free to play with toys. Although there is a healthy range of ages for a child to achieve the milestone of sitting independently, a good rule of thumb is that a baby should sit independently for longer than a minute at six months of age. If your baby needs some encouragement to sit on her own, there are strategies you can use to help.

Motivation is a state that energizes, directs and sustains behavior and a key component to success in therapy.

There are multiple lessons parents teach children to ensure their safety, such as: handling interactions with strangers, getting help when bullied, maintaining a healthy diet, using the internet in appropriate ways, and opening up to their parents for advice and guidance. Another vital lesson that parents can begin teaching in early childhood and continue throughout adolescence is the difference between safe and unsafe touch. Guidance and conversations regarding safe touch can help children improve safety skills, body awareness, assertiveness, and confidence.

Looking for fun winter activities to do with the kids this season? Sledding is one of the easiest snow-day experiences to learn, especially for young children. With minimal equipment required, there are numerous fitness benefits of sledding. So find the closest hilltop and take that toboggan or flying saucer for a spin!

You may have heard your therapist say, “I think a co-treat would be a great option for your child!” But what does that really entail? Will your child still be getting a full treatment session? Will his current and most important goals be worked on? Will he benefit as much as a one-on-one session? When a co-treatment session is appropriate, the answer to all of those questions is…YES!

The stability ball is a simple and easy piece of equipment to work into everyday exercise for your child, ranging from infant to teenager. Stability balls can be bought at most sports stores, cost only about 20 dollars, and last for years.

A phonological processdisorder and Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) are two speech disorders that affect your child’s intelligibility and in some cases, can present similarly. However, characteristics of these two are different.

Ball skills are oftentimes overlooked as an activity only for boys, or only for athletic children. However, ball skills are an important activity for children of all interests and abilities to practice consistently. Ball skills not only prepare children for gym class at school and extracurricular activities, but they help to address bilateral skills, hand-eye coordination, timing, sequencing, motor planning, and attention.

Sessions conducted with 2 or more therapists from different disciplines (OT, SLP, PT, etc.) to maximize therapeutic collaboration. Co-treatments are utilized when two disciplines share complementary or similar goals.

Reading is fundamental to academic success. Children spend hours from preschool to third grade learning how to read. From third grade on, children spend hours reading to learn new subject material. As a Peditric Speech Therapist, I’ve been asked the following question: My child is an accurate reader, but seems to read more slowly than his peers.

A parent recently asked me what to do when her child’s older sibling constantly answers for him. While it’s caring that the older sibling wants to help his little brother, it’s also very important for each child to have his own space to learn and develop, try new things, and make mistakes. So how can parents help?

Labeling an item and expecting your child to remember the word is not as easy as 1, 2, 3. In order to map new words into your child’s lexicon (i.e., his/her word dictionary), particularly if he or she has a language disorder, teaching salient features is essential for word understanding, use, and retrieval. The following are key salient features when teaching new vocabulary, maintaining previously learned words, and expanding vocabulary.

We’ve all had that feeling where our word or thought is on “the tip of the tongue.” However, when this is recurring and interrupts communication with your child, then it becomes a problem. Word finding difficulties (also called “word retrieval difficulties”) are not a vocabulary disorder. Your child understands the definition of the word(s) and has used them before.

Functional assessments are used to develop interventions to help change behavior. The function of behavior is the reason people behave a certain way.

Development of oral facial muscles is important for a child to accurately produce speech sounds. Poor coordination and strength of articulators can adversely affect skill development for speech sound production. When looking at oral development it is important to ensure the child is provided a variety of movement opportunities to build a variety of oral skills. Movements should include movements of the jaw, tongue, and cheeks to build strength and coordination.

A Bosu, also known as a “blue moon” during Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy, is a great piece of exercise equipment for adults and children alike. A Bosu helps to work on balance, trunk control, strength, endurance, motor planning and body awareness.

There are many benefits for therapists that are permitted to observe their clients in the classroom. These observations, when appropriate, are beneficial not only to the therapist, but to the teacher, family and child as well. These observations provide the therapist with additional insight into your child’s school day, as well as promote collaboration with teachers; constant and open communication within your child’s “team” (including their doctors, therapists, teacher, etc.) is vital to his/her success in reaching his or her goals.

Swimming was always one of my favorite activities as a child, which is why so many of my childhood memories from my summers off of school take place at the neighborhood pool or at one of Chicago’s beautiful beaches. Aside from the fact that spending a day at the pool is a fun way to pass the hot days of summer, swimming has many other benefits for your child’s development. Below is a list of the top reasons why learning to swim is so important for your child.

Do you find that your evenings and mornings are primarily spent helping your child track down missing work or lost items and generally trying to help them get organized enough to manage their school day and extra-curricular activities? Is assisting your child too much interfering with family time and leisure time? Is this causing your family and your child stress?

Stuttering or non-fluent speech productions are quite common to hear during speech and language development in children when they are between the ages of two and six. At this time, the amount of new language that children are taking in is so vast that several theories suggest that it overwhelms the body’s speaking mechanism and, consequently, the child exhibits “stuttering”.

Read here for therapeutic solutions that can help to calm an angry child safely and effectively.

Speech sound development varies greatly between boys and girls as well as between ages. Below are two charts that provide information about age of acquisition of speech sounds. Speech Pathologists have researched the age of acquisition of consonant sounds in Standard American English for many decades.

A tongue thrust, also commonly referred to as a reverse or immature swallow, occurs when the tongue protrudes out of the mouth or forcefully against the back of the front teeth when swallowing or talking.

As parents, we hope that each of our children is going to hop off the camp bus each afternoon with a smile plastered on their face, eager to tell us about their wonderful day at camp. In reality, this is not always the case. Sometimes, even the simplest issues can make day camp a negative experience for your child.

Many children find it difficult to approach new friends. They often learn how, by watching others and trying things out. While they may be able to do this on their own, they will be even more effective if they have an adult to provide guidance, appropriate phrases, and opportunities to practice.

Here are reasons why your physical therapist might have recommended night splints for your child.

Balance is a great skill to help your child progress with their gross motor skills, leisure activities, and activities of daily living.

Learning to read is such a monumental milestone for children in early elementary school, but it can also be a source of stress for concerned parents or for children who don’t seem to “pick it up” as easily as others. Since reading is a fundamental skill which only increases in importance as students move on to later grades in school, early identification of at-risk readers is key to ensuring academic success for all children.

As toddlers are developing their speech and language skills, there are a number of articulation errors that are typical. A common articulation error that a 2-year old may make is substituting the /t/ sound for /k/. For example, the child may say “tat” for “cat,” “tar” for “car” or “bite” for “bike.” By the age of 3, however, accurate production of the /k/ sound should be emerging in a typically developing child.

Visual tracking is defined as efficiently moving the eyes from left to right or focusing on an object as it moves across a person’s visual field. This skill is important for almost all daily activities, including reading, writing, drawing, and playing. This skill typically emerges around the age of five. Once your child begins to be able to visually track, there are ways to aid in the development of this skill.

Auditory processing disorder is frequently applied loosely, and often incorrectly, to any individuals having trouble with listening and processing spoken language.

As a pediatric physical therapist, I am often asked “how can I get my child to walk,” “how can I get my child to crawl,” and other such questions. I like to use the same principles that would motivate me, or other adults I know. A) Encourage an older child to perform something that is beneficial but difficult by letting her know the alternative is something that is (while still beneficial) either more difficult or outright unpleasant. B) Observe what the child likes (like a specific toy, not like oxygen) and then remove that item a small distance away from her, and return the object (remember toy, NOT oxygen) when she performs the task that you would like him to perform.

Visual memory, a component of visual processing, can be broken down into two parts: long-term and short-term. Long-term visual memory refers to the ability to remember something seen in the past. Short-term visual memory refers to the ability to recall something that is seen very recently. Visual memory plays a key role in the in your child’s overall development and the skills they need to be successful in school.

Some children may walk on their toes nearly 100% for no apparent reason. This is known as idiopathic (the reason for it is unknown) toe walking.

Pragmatic language refers to the communicative intent, rules and social aspects of language. It is the way in which language is used to communicate in a variety of different contexts, rather than the way language is structured. A major component of pragmatic language is being able to read the cues of the communication partner and following conversational rules.

The thought of your child going up and down a flight of stairs independently may be quite a very alarming thought, especially for parents of new walkers; however, learning to negotiate the stairs is an important part in your child’s strength and motor development.