The after-school hours are a crucial time for reinforcing what your child has learned in school, but they’re also an opportunity for growth in other areas. We’ll share some practical tips to help you and your child navigate these busy hours.
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Many children receive speech therapy services at school, but onsidered augmenting these services with private speech therapy. In addition to school-based services, private speech therapy can make a significant difference in your child’s progress.
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Preparing for a new school year can be both exciting and overwhelming. With a bit of planning and some practical tips, we can make this transition smoother and more enjoyable for both you and your child.
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Every summer, we at Lakeshore Speech Therapy work to provide our clients and families with programming that meets everyone’s needs. This year we are excited to offer programs for everyone from toddlers to teens. Please take a moment to see all that we have to offer. Share this information with friends and family that may benefit from these amazing programs. As always, please share your ideas for future programs.
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC
In the midst of sorting through your Black Friday deals and your Cyber Monday steals, you may be interested in some Winter Holiday activities in the greater Cleveland area. This list is just the start of all the area has to offer; please share via Facebook or email if you find others that provide you and your family some fun adventures and treasured memories.
Remember most city centers (especially downtown Cleveland at Public Square – https://www.clevelandpublicsquare.com/what-s-happening ) have lovely light displays as well as many neighborhoods.
Share adventures and build memories!
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC
October celebrates many worthy causes and organizations. Our brothers and sisters in Audiology are recognized in October as it is National Audiology Awareness month!
Hearing is something taken for granted too often. While it is a true fact that hearing acuity decreases with age, taking steps to preserve hearing is important at all ages. The National Department of Human Services “It’s a Noisy Planet Protect Their Hearing” Campaign shares important information and reminders for parents of child of all ages.
Sound that is 85 decibels or higher may cause hearing loss. The volume and length of time spent listening to sound at an elevated level as well as the proximity to the source, the more damage can occur to your hearing. Our environment is filled with sounds that are well over 85 decibels (dB), some you probably have never considered.
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We all need to be mindful of what and how long we are exposing our children and ourselves to damaging sounds. Damage can build up over time. Simple ways to decrease the risk of hearing loss are move away from the sound source, wear hearing protectors (earmuffs, earplugs, etc) and turn the volume down, especially when wearing headphones/earbuds.
Take time this month to pay attention and make positive changes to preserve your hearing that of those you love. More information can be found at the “It’s a Noisy Planet” website.
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.
Labor Day, the holiday of the working women and men in our country, a holiday honoring us for what we do day in and day out. When what you do everyday is something you love and are passionate about, it’s hard to consider it ‘work’.
The anonymous quote, “Find something you love to do, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life” holds more true today than ever before. In this fast paced world, with the use of computers and smartphone technology, getting ‘away’ from work is almost impossible. Finding the balance between work and the rest of one’s life at times can seem impossible, but is definitely made easier when the ‘job’ doesn’t feel like a job at all.
It’s equally important to ensure our children’s’ ‘jobs’ are loved as well. Children’s jobs? You might be asking yourself what jobs can a 2 year old, 6 year old, 10 year old possibly have. The job children have day in and day out is learning….learning is the job every child holds. Loving the job of learning will take children to places we have yet to imagine.
Helping a child to love learning can be trying, but knowing when to push a little more or step back can really alter the how a child perceives learning. Challenges are adventures that need careful navigation. Becoming a partner in discovery of these adventures helps a child realize challenges can be overcome and are not insurmountable. Those easy “lessons” are opportunities for the adult to step back and follow the child’s lead. These opportunities help to build independence and practice leadership skills. Those lessons that keep reappearing can be looked at as steps and with every time the child get to practice her/his skills building confidence and positive self-esteem. And let’s not forget the lessons that do not result in the intended or anticipated outcome. These lessons provide the opportunity for child and adult to reevaluate the strategy and prove that we are all human. The less than perfect lessons help a child realize it is okay to not be perfect and in that imperfection is beauty. These are the lessons that are sometimes most important.
The love of learning will span a child’s lifetime and influence every decision.
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC
Were you ever in public with your child and his/her behavior made you wish the floor would open and swallow you whole? Ever been without words following your child’s painfully truthful comment? Remember that time when no matter what you said or what you offered your child she/he could not and would not get his/her mind off of the one little thing that made them upset and therefore ruined the event/day/situation?
We have have experienced these ‘moments’ in life and for most these situations are not a daily occurrence, however for some these ‘moments’ happen daily. The ability to communicate, verbal or non-verbal, as well as interact with those in our environment in a socially acceptable manner is called social skills. Social skills are typically not taught in an out right manner, rather a child ‘picks’ up these rules and skills by watching adults interact. For example, chances are you were never sat down and given a full explanation as to why when you meet someone, you extend your hand. There’s a pretty good chance that you had seen this occur enough times that without really thinking about it, you appropriately responded when an adult extended their hand to shake yours. All children require some level of direct instruction (formal or not) when being ‘taught’ social skills. How many times have you said under clenched teeth in an audible whisper, “Get your finger OUT of your nose immediately. HERE is a tissue!” or “Please, when you are at your grandparent’s house, please to not burp at the table, please!!! For some children (and adults) these social nuances are not easily ‘seen’. For some, these social skills, social graces, manners, whatever you want to call them, are very difficult skills to learn, remember and execute.
We are proud to offer the small group program based on the Superflex: A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum by Stephanie Madrigal and Michelle Garcia Winner. Your child will experience the adventures of our hero Superflex conquering the dastardly Team of Unthinkables such as “Rock Brain” , “WasFunnyOnce”, and “Glassman”. All of the villains embody different challenges or behaviors that your child may experience everyday. Using ‘Superflex” as an example, your child will learn techniques and acquire ‘super powers’ to manage these villains!
Julie Ruddy will be leading our band of Superflex Heroes into battle against the Team of Unthinkables. Julie brings 24+ years of experiences working with children with special needs grades K through 12 as an Intervention Specialist. Julie received her Masters in Curriculum Instruction and is a proud graduate of Ohio University. Julie has super powers of her own which she will share at Lakeshore’s Superflex Main Command Room in a six week program on Tuesdays from 6:30pm – 7:30pm. Class size is limited to 6 SuperHeros in training. Registration is open until Wednesday, September 12, 2018. Find more information at https://www.lakeshorespeech.com/events/ .
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC
We have all experienced a moment when what you are trying to say just won’t come out. Those episodes of stuttering are typically a blip in time occurring far and few between. Stuttering is a natural part of development for children between the ages of 2 and 5. When a young child stutters, she/he may repeat certain syllables, words or phrases, prolong them, or making no sound for certain sounds and syllables. These ‘episodes’ can be attributed to the child having so much to say, but can’t get the information out quickly and don’t want to lose her/his audience or turn to talk. Developmental stuttering my last for a few weeks or several months, and it may be sporadic. Most children stop stuttering by age 5 without speech-language therapy intervention. However, if these episodes are accompanied with facial or body movements, become worse and more frequent, a speech-language evaluation is suggested for children as young as 3 years of age.
While there is no cure for stuttering, there are effective treatments that can help an individual control his/her speech. As fluency therapy is a complex marriage of clinical and psychological intervention, It is recommended these treatments and therapies be administered by a speech-language pathologist who has experience or specializes in the area of fluency therapy. As a child matures, intervention/therapy techniques adjust from learning the techniques for fluent or smooth speech to learning how to best manage dysfluencies given specific situations in the home, peer, work and academic settings.
Middle and high school years are filled with uncertainty and the constant feeling of trying to ‘fit in’. Anything that makes you ‘different’ isn’t necessarily considered a ‘positive’. For teens who have a fluency disorder or stutter, these years can be a time of significant social struggle and self-doubt. We take for granted the number of times in any one given day we are required to answer, comment, question or defend ourselves with clarity and ease.
Lakeshore Speech Therapy is fortunate to have Wendi Willmer as part of our staff. As a Board Certified Specialist in Fluency, Wendi possesses in-depth knowledge on how to treat stuttering in people of all ages. Sensitive to the struggles teens and young adults experience with stuttering, she is offering two six-week small group sessions to help students.. One group is specifically designed for the needs of students in grades 6th thru 8th and another for students in grades 9th thru 12th. While working in a group setting, not only will the students learn new techniques to control stuttering, but practice those skills they do have; all the while creating a network of friends that truly understand what they are going through. Class sizes are limited and registration is open until Wednesday, September 12, 2018. Find more information at https://www.lakeshorespeech.com/events/.
Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC