For families with a child on the special needs, celebrating Thanksgiving may require some thoughtful preparation to ensure a comfortable and enjoyable experience. Here are some tips to help you prepare for a meaningful holiday celebration.
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A brand new year is days away, and that means we get a chance to make some new resolutions! This year, let’s think about making some special resolutions for speech therapy.
One resolution could be to practice your speech exercises every day. Turn practice into playing a game. The more you practice, the better you will become!
Use the special words your speech therapist teaches you as much as possible. These words help you talk smoothly, and they make you feel super proud!
Work on speaking slowly and clearly. This way, everyone can understand you when you talk.
Make a resolution to tell more stories or help your child tell more stories. Share your adventures, dreams, and funny moments. It’s a fun way to practice talking.
Ask more questions and join in conversations. Questions help you learn new things, and it’s a cool way to make friends!
Reading out loud is like a speech party! Pick your favorite books and read them to friends, family, or even to a pet. It’s great practice!
Sometimes, it might feel tricky, but you might want to promise to be patient. Stay positive and celebrate even the small wins. Every step is a step forward!
We help each other, and this year, thank your speech buddies. We’re in this together!
Be adventurous and try new speech sounds. It’s like a fun challenge to make your speech even more awesome!
At the end of each month, celebrate the progress you’ve made. Maybe treat yourself to something special. Yay for progress!
So there you go, friends! These speech therapy resolutions are yours for the taking. Let’s make it an amazing year of talking, growing, and reaching new speech goals together. Here’s to a fantastic year ahead!
The holiday season is a time of joy, celebration, and togetherness. We’ll explore how to create a sensory-friendly holiday environment by making thoughtful choices in your decorations.
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In a world dominated by large corporations, the importance of supporting small businesses cannot be overlooked. Choosing to shop small is a powerful decision that goes through communities, increasing economic growth, uniqueness, and a stronger sense of connection.
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The calendar doesn’t lie. How is it we are only 10 days away from Valentine’s Day!? With all the attention on sharing love and kindness on that day (as well as every day), we need to take a moment to pause and take into account the skills that bring people closer are really hard to learn.
Some loved ones pick up on social cues and nuances without issue and others require a very clear explanation. As parents, taking the time to frame acceptable and unacceptable behaviors for your family’s values is crucial. Society dictates a number of ‘unwritten’ rules, which makes learning these skills even more difficult for some. Providing a safe environment to discuss and process these ‘unwritten’ rules is important at every age of development. The American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) provide a nice resource for families focused on this area of speech and language.
Your friendly speech-language pathologist would be happy to help you and your family with any questions or concerns you may have related to social communication, social skills, or social pragmatics. Please feel free to give Kelly a call at 440-471-7190 to set up an appointment.
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.
This message is short and sweet. First and foremost an open apology for seemingly abandoning my post writing these blog message this month. While I wish there was a great explanation, but all I really can say is life definitely gets in the way of the best of intentions!
Second, we at Lakeshore would be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to thank each and everyone of our amazing clients and families. You appreciate your trust in us to provide your loved one’s therapeutic services. We are thrilled to have you all as part of our Lakeshore Family.
Lastly, please take a moment to look around to see all the amazing gifts in your world this holiday season. These gifts aren’t wrapped in festive paper with a bow. These gifts are wrapped with your arms and love. Enjoy these gifts this holiday as we will enjoy ours.
Happy Holidays!
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC
December has arrived and as with every year, it seems as if the calendar speeds up during this festive time. Packing in all the shopping, decorating and taking in the holiday fun can seem overwhelming. The elves at Lakeshore Speech Therapy took a little time to compile a one stop list of events in the Northeast Ohio area that are sensory friendly. These events are not only sensitive to the amount of unnecessary smells, sounds and sights, but often the pace of the event is slowed as well as those ‘working’ the event have been given some information on how to best engage with individuals with special needs.
We hope you are able to take a few moments and enjoy these events with your loved ones.
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC
All of the clocks have finally all been changed (except for one, there is always ONE clock in the house that just never quite makes the cut and is never changed), the Halloween decorations have been put away and what is that sound? Silence. The calm before the Holiday Season frenzy.
Take a few seconds of this ‘down time’ to focus on realizing the importance of self-care. Parents and caregivers of individuals with special needs typically do not stop to worry about themselves. Not only is this pattern unfair to your loved ones, but more importantly, it is not fair to Y.O.U.
Consider the five minutes it takes you to read this blog post as the start of your self-care routine. Consider taking this time to make a plan for yourself. Give yourself the opportunity to refill your tank so you can cruise into the Holiday Season ready and rejuvenated.
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC
You’ve planned the costume, you’ve walked the route, you’ve practiced knocking on doors… a few more thoughts to help make your family’s trick or treat evening sweet.
What will you do with all that candy? Once your loved one sees her/his bounty of sweetness, she/he may not want to part with a single piece. Create a plan and share that plan well before that candy is in your house.
Will your family spend the last minutes of Halloween counting and sorting candy? Will there be a huge candy trading event in the middle of your living room? Providing a plan for the evening can make a difference in ending the evening on a sweet note.
Create a ‘buy back’ program if you would prefer your loved ones not have free access to that much candy. Make your program work in a way in which your loved one will receive a certain number of dollars, stars, tokens, etc. when they ‘trade in’ a certain number of pieces of candy. Check with your dentist to see if they are offering a buy back program.
Create a ‘decorate a gingerbread house’ program. Decorate a box with pictures of gingerbread houses. Put candy that could be used to decorate a gingerbread house in the box. You now have everything you need to decorate your holiday gingerbread house.
Create a ‘week long candy plan’. Divide a shoe box into 7 sections. Place one or two pieces of candy in each section. Give your loved one the opportunity to choose the candy in one section every day.
Whatever your plan, share it with your loved ones well before the candy starts pouring in the house. Make it very clear where the candy will be stored and what the plan will be once it is collected. It may feel like you’re taking the fun out of the candy collection, rather you are providing the framework for a fun and enjoyable evening from start to finish!
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.
Dressing-up, costumes, masks and make-up….some would say these are the best parts of Halloween and others would beg differ significantly. While the stores are filled with the newest versions of costumes, consider making one that best ‘fits’ your loved one. One that ‘fits’ her/his physical body, sensory needs, and emotional needs.
Consider costumes that follow the ‘less is more’ theory. Less different pieces of a costume, more focus on making the pieces ‘scream’ exactly the theme or character of the costume.
Consider costumes that do not have tags or items that will distract your loved one to the point where she/he is unable to focus on walking, the party, etc. While adorable and fun, things like fringe, beads, sparkles, and sequins can create an entirely different issue. In this category lives masks and make-up. While both of these items bring a lot to a costume, please consider staying away from these if you know your loved one will be distracted or upset by these additions.
Consider costumes that can go over the layers of possible winter gear that may or may not be part of your evening. Given the weather, being prepared to add or take away a layer on a moments notice will make the difference on the stress level of the evening.
Consider incorporating the phrase “Trick or Treat” on the costume itself if your loved one is non-verbal or might ‘freeze’ . Somehow, someway, make the words part of the costume – add a simple button to the costume with the words ‘Trick or Treat’.
Consider practicing wearing the costume around the house – remember practice makes permanent. This gives your loved one not only the time to become familiar and comfortable with the costume, but will give you time to troubleshoot potential issues (ie: costume too long and possibly a tripping hazard, costume too tight/loose, etc.).
Prior planning with the costume will prevent unneeded stress and potential unexpected behaviors so you can all enjoy a fun evening being together.
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.