"Spook-tacular" Books for the Halloween Season

Best Toys To Expand Your Toddler’s Speech and Language Development

Toys, books, and games provide opportunities for open ended play and meaningful language learning. Play routines are established when participation in fun activities follows a predictable pattern or sequence. Play routines can facilitate speech and language development. Many children enjoy repetition in their play because they get to recreate an experience and feeling of success. Repeating a highly desired activity and encouraging routine increases motivation and facilitates language acquisition. High Contrast Books: Improve attention span. Develop vocabulary and communication skills. Repetitive Books: Allow young readers to participate and/or read along, further engaging them in the chain of events. Increase vocabulary skills by labeling nouns and actions. Swing: Increases joint engagement. Verbal routine: “ready…set…GO!” Exclamatory words: “wee”. Location words: “down”, “up”. Push & Spin Toys: Encourages functional play skills. Verbal routine: “ready…set…GO!”. Increases joint engagement. Exclamatory words: “wow”, “ooo”. Pop Up Toys: Encourages functional play skills. Increases joint engagement. Action words: “pop”. Location words: “down”. Requesting help. Bubbles: Encourages wait time and turn-taking. Verbal routine: “one…two…three…GO!”. Action words: “go”, “pop”. Location words: “up”, “down”. Textured Stacking Blocks: Encourages relational play skills. Verbal routine: “up… up… DOWN!”. Action words: “crash”, “build”. Exclamatory words: “uh oh”, “oh no”. Farm Animals: Encourages child-lead play. Animal sounds: “moo”, “neigh”, “baa”, “meow”, “woof”.

More toys to consider: water table, wagon, car slide, vehicles, pretend play food, shopping cart, baby dolls, puzzles, potato head, puzzles, Crocodile Dentist, Pop the Pig, Don’t Break the Ice

W-Sitting

Have you ever noticed your child sitting with both legs out to the side in a w-sitting position? This may not be the ideal play position for your child to maximize strength gains and promote normal development through major gross motor milestones.

So why is this position not ideal? *This position places your child’s hips in maximal internal rotation range of motion causing increased risk of hip problems such as hip dysplasia. On the other hand, this position also stretches out the muscles of hip external rotation causing hip weakness and limited ability to keep the legs in a neutral alignment. Think of a game of of tug of war, both sides of the rope need the same amount of strength to keep the rope in one place, however if one side is weak then the other team will likely win. This weakness and increased range of motion can increase the risk of walking with feet turned inward in pigeon toed position. *Additionally, your child may be using the w-sit position children to maintain a stable posture by locking their hips and lower spine into place, however this limits their ability to perform trunk rotation and use their core muscles properly. Limited trunk range of motion can limit the ability to perform coordinated movements such as cross midline. Furthermore, weak core muscles can limit a child’s ability to balance at an age appropriate level as they do not have the supporting muscles to maintain their posture. How do we fix this posture? It is important to correct this posture as early as possible before it becomes a habit. Try finding a common phrase such as “fix your legs” followed by repositioning your child’s legs into a more ideal position. The more consistent you are with correcting this posture, the more your child will decide to use more choose more preferred playing postures without need for cueing. Ideal floor playing positions include: Tailor sit (Criss-cross applesauce): this posture allows your core and postural muscles to work properly allowing for greater trunk rotation

Side sitting: this posture allows for strengthening on one side of the core with integration of bilateral coordination as one leg is in internal rotation and the other leg is in external rotation allowing for better transitions into and out of this position. Just make sure that your child is sitting like this to both sides!

Prone positioning: having your child play on their stomach can improve back and core strength as well as allow for weightbearing through their arms

Any of these positions allow your child to be in a more optimal position to improve their strength, core stability, bilateral coordination, and hip mobility required to perform motor milestones with less risk of injury or gait abnormality! Morgan Hamlett PT, DPT

The Ugly Side of Therapy...Insurance

Pediatric therapy is a specialized service that has astronomical benefits for children to assist them not only in achieving their highest level of independence at their current age, but also prepares them for their future. There are many numerous positive things we can discuss regarding therapy. However, I would like to discuss the only ugly side today. And that is dealing with insurance. Here is the first reality: Insurance is a necessary evil for most people to be able to afford therapy. With this reality, it means no matter how frustrating it is for the parent or the provider, it is not going away. We must all learn the best ways in which to navigate the insurance system and what roles we each play with the child's best interest at heart. Here is the second truth: Insurance never guarantees payment. Yep, you hear that right. We can verify your insurance and be told you have coverage, however, they always add the disclaimer that "this information is not a guarantee of payment." Great. So what does that mean? It means that each and every policy has different coverage terms. There may be some exclusions on policies for services that are developmentally related (which is ironic when you think about the services we are providing for DEVELOPING children). Some policies may require a pre-authorization by their team, which may or may not be disclosed to your provider when they verify your insurance (again, remember their tag line "this information is not a guarantee of payment"). Third truth: Any phone call to insurance is not going to be short. That goes for all of us; providers and parents. We get your frustration. Our minimum wait time is 45 minutes per phone call. And that is to deal with one child's claims. Now look at the fact that we have over 200 active clients. You can imagine the amount of time we spend on the phone with insurance! So, get comfy and grab a snack to settle in when making your call. Next truth: We are all the child's advocate. As a parent you may have to spend time (sometimes lots of time!) on the phone with your insurance company. The reality is is that you are the policy holder and the relationship regarding your plan is between you and your insurance carrier. As a provider we have very little ability to have them make exceptions or changes to your policy. This is where you will be your child's advocate and spend the time with your provider. We understand that this can be very frustrating, however, this is the role you will play with your insurance provider. Final truth: We are not the bad guys, we are on the same side. As providers we often become the "bad guy" in an insurance situation. If insurance denies your child's claims we will contact your insurance provider to try to understand why and make any corrections or adjustment that we can to get your claim paid. Trust us, we would much rather collect the money from the insurance company than you. However, there may come a point that we cannot fight the claim anymore. At that point, we will need to collect payment for the services we have already provided to your child. This is that financial responsibility part we have in our paperwork. We understand that this is frustrating, but we as a company still need to be paid. Think of it like this, would you eat at a restaurant and then refuse to pay the bill at the end after you have already eaten your food? Most likely not. We are a business in the same way and have already paid that therapist that delivered an amazing service to your child. We understand navigating the waters of insurance can be as varying as the sea; calm on some days and worked up into a frenzy on others. The best part is that we are all on this journey together to provide the best care and opportunities to children.

The Importance of Therapy in the Summer

As we approach the end of another school year, we are closer to the Summer time. Right around this time every year I am asked the same question: "Can we take a break from therapy for the Summer?". The answer is always a resounding "NO!". And why you may ask? Let me share with you the reasons that stopping therapy for the Summer should never be an option. 1. Regression: Regression is the loss of skills that one has already learned or mastered. When a child that has not met and consistently demonstrated the mastery of their goals, they are showing that there are still performance areas that are not up the the developmental age level as expected. Without the consistency and frequency of therapy, their skills that are not mastered will begin to regress. Once therapy is resumed the therapist will need to go back to working on skills that they had already started to make improvements on. This most always ends in frustration for the kiddo. 2. Inconsistency of Schedules: Many children thrive on consistency and predictability. When the Summer arrives they are already lacking a major portion of their routine. Taking therapy out of the picture as well will result in increased frustration and dysregulation. Children can have decreased ability to handle disappointment, have increased outbursts, and a harder time calming down once upset. Routines are very important. Therapy is part of their routine. That shouldn't change. 3. Therapy is not school: Therapy plan of cares are designed with the frequency and duration that the medical professional has deemed are required for your child to meet their goals. Consistency is key to this. It must happen weekly and at the correct frequency. Each child will progress at different rates towards their goals, which is why we have individualized treatment plans. On the flip side, each grade for school has a specific cirriculum for each grade that is set to be completed in 10 months. When the school year is over, the idea is that the goals that were set in the cirriculum have been achieved. They give them a break between the grades as their is a definitive break between goals. Therapy goals are developmentally driven and do not have an end until your child reaches their highest level of independence. 4. Resuming will be HARD: Because children thrive on routines, getting back into the routine of therapy and school come the start of a new school year will be HARD!! For all of you. Therapy is not something that you want to have your child resist coming to because there is so much change happening all at the same time. Hopefully this was helpful information! Work with your therapy provider to help work around vacations and camps so your child can benefit from all the things! Happy almost Summer and cheers to a fun summer of therapy!

What is a Phonological Process?

When a child learns to speak, they often attempt to simplify adult speech into an easier speech pattern. These patterns are referred to as a phonological process. These processes typically occur in the early stages of speech and language development and typically disappear by a certain age. However, when these patterns remain in a child's speech past a certain age, they may need speech therapy to eliminate these speech errors. Examples of Phonological Processes: 1. Final Consonant Deletion: This is the process where a child will leave off the final consonant sound in words. For example, a child might say "ca" instead of "cat" or "do" instead of "dog". This process should be eliminated by the time a child is 3 years old. 2. Cluster Reduction: This is the process where a child attempts to simplify consonant clusters by producing a single consonant. For example, a child might say "pay" instead of "play" or "top" instead of "stop". This process should be eliminated by the time a child is 5 years old. 3. Stopping: This is the process where a child replaces a fricative (/s, z, f, v/) or for a stop consonant (/t, d, b, p/). For example, a child might say "tun" instead of "sun" or "do" instead of "zoo". This process should be eliminated by the time a child is 3 for /s/ and /f/ sounds and 4 for /z, v/ sound 4. Fronting: This is the process where a child replaces a sound that is supposed to be said in the back of the mouth for a sound said in the front of the mouth. For example, a child might say "do" instead of "go" or "tat" for "cat". This process should be eliminated by the time a child is 4 years old. An evaluation by a Speech Language Pathologist may be necessary to assist with diagnosing and treating these phonological processes. By Lindsay Edmonds, CCC, SLP

Facilitating Language in the Home

One of the biggest questions I get as a speech therapist working with younger kids is, “How can I help my child at home?” As a therapist, I almost always have the child take the lead. Follow them around the house and see what they are engaging in. For example, if your child goes to the fridge and points to the fridge you can work on labeling what they are doing or what they want i.e. open, close, milk, juice. We want to make sure we are keeping the phrases short and concise. If a child is currently using one word phrases i.e. “open”. We can say “open” and then slowly expand from there i.e. “open door, open please”. If they are not using any words we can work on giving them options. For example if they go to the fridge and you know they want something to drink we can give them two options, “milk” or “juice”. Say the child points to the milk but does not vocalize it then we would repeat “milk” and then hand them the milk. We want to give the child an opportunity to label if they can, but we don’t want them to get to the point of frustration. Children are like sponges and the more models they are getting in the home, then they will eventually start to use what they are learning independently. Another big question I get as a speech therapist is what toys should I buy for my child? Children are able to play with just about anything in the home! For example you can give them magnets on the fridge and work on language as they play with them. You can work on labeling what the magnets are pictures of (i.e. animals, letters, colors, etc) and work on labeling the actions (i.e. put on, take off, get, give me, etc.) If you chose to buy additional toys for your child, I would focus on toys that do not make sounds or take the batteries out of the toys. By doing this it helps to facilitate a child’s imagination. It will also help children to vocalize more sounds during play i.e. animals sounds: moo, qwack, bah, environmental sounds: vroom, beep, etc.) Christine DeCicco MS CCC-SLP