Costume Creations!

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. 

  • Jeans, t-shirt, bandanna around the neck  – you have a cowgirl/boy
  • Jeans/leggings, t-shirt, bandanna around the head – depending on your fold the bandanna, you now have a rocker or a pirate
  • Larger sized white t-shirt (your going to want a pair of pants of sorts under it :)) 
    • draw a face on it – you have a ghost
    • Add black dots on it – you have a die
    • Add black lines on it – you have a zebra 

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.

Practice Makes Permanent

children trick or treating with pumpkin baskets

We’ve shared the idea of “practice makes permanent’ in previous posts. This technique is ever important when preparing for an evening of ghosts and goblins and candy acquisition – aka, Halloween. You may think it’s too early and there are so many days to prepare before the end of the month, however we all know how quickly the days fly.

Practicing for an evening of trick-or-treating does not have to look like ‘practice’ or be announced as such. Take a walk on the trick-or-treat route you intend to follow during the day. Make sure to point out various landmarks as well as the changes (different decorations, leaves falling off the trees, etc.). Expand that practice walking the route as it begins to get dark, note the street lights turning on as well as pointing out how the houses may look different, but are the same during the day or night. If your loved one enjoys a good map, make a map of your route and fill in the landmarks together.

As the day draws closer, practice trick or treating from room to room in your house. Close the bathroom door and have your loved on practice trick-or-treating for toothpaste or a toothbrush. While it sounds silly, it’s a safe non-pressured way to practice this exchange as well as gives you a marker for future experiences (“Remember how we did this at home for toothpaste?”). Trick-or-Treating for everyday items (ie: while getting dressed or cleaning a room) may also be the ticket for ‘fun’ buy in for a less enjoyable activity.

Share with neighbors and family the ‘practice makes permanent’ theory and request a practice time that is more similar to the actual event. While your loved one may need a few rounds of practice, it will soon make sense how the exchange of events will occur and the pay-off is well worth the time invested in practicing. Note: the pay-off does not necessarily need to be candy. While candy may be a delight and preferred, practicing these skills can result in the acquisition of other items not necessarily of the sugar food group sort.

A final round of practice making permanent may be partaking in some of indoor or less conventional trick or treat options in the area. Here are a few links that may help in planning these practice sessions:

We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again, practice makes permanent which can significantly decrease unexpected behaviors which creates a less stressful situation for EVERYONE to enjoy!

Yours in Speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

Fall into Fall!

How it is that September is just about over?  While we continue to enjoy the final days of warm weather, living in Northeast Ohio, we all know what will be knocking on our door much sooner than later.  It always seems like there are so many outdoor activities in the summer months and as soon as the mercury drops below 60, everyone retreats into hibernation mode. 

Enjoying the area’s many Fall activities and festivals gives not only the opportunity to spend valuable time together, but the time to practice and experience a variety of language rich activities.  These language rich activities are the foundation and play an extremely important role in a child’s language development and maintenance. As a parent/caregiver, you naturally provide these opportunities to practice language skills naturally.  This article provides information to not only validate your hard work, but provides information for more or different techniques that can be added to your repertoire.  

Speaking of Fall activities, please take a moment to research the many different and wonderful opportunities in your area for you and your loved ones to enjoy together.  If you are in the Northeast Ohio area here are a few activities to fill your calendar:

Northeast Ohio Family Fun article #1
Northeast Ohio Family Fun article #2

Yours in Speech, 
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC. 

Take Time To Celebrate!

School is officially in full swing across the country!  This too is the time of year where you may be receiving a lot of information related to your child’s development and skills in comparison to same age peers. Too often we lose sight of typical development, especially if our child is developing on their own time.  The information is shared in this blog not to make anyone feel bad about their child’s development or skill set, rather to celebrate those skills and provide clear information of what would be expected related to language development at the END of their specific school year. 

Your Child’s Communication Development: Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade

Ultimately, if your child’s skills are moving forward, regardless of the pace, he/she is making progress and there is much to celebrate!  Take the time to celebrate every small step forward!

Yours in Speech, 
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Let the Music Play

We welcome September with a song! September is not only Classical Music Month but National Piano Month.  An individual’s language development as well as overall development can be positively influenced by music. Listening to a variety of music genres builds an appreciation of the art that lasts a lifetime.  

An individual’s reading comprehension can also be positively influenced by listening to music.  Celebrate this month by brushing off those old LPs, 8-track, cassettes, and CDs and fill your world with music.

Can Listening to Music Help Your Child with Language Development and Reading Comprehension?

Yours in Speech, 
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

It’s All Routine

This month we’ve focused on schedules and free activities to fill those schedules. This week we are discussing routines and the importance of routines related to speech-language development.  Personal, familial, classroom, or therapy routines provide a framework of certainty. Within these routines are the skills and expectations that help to introduce and maintain speech-language skills, social pragmatic skills and increased independence with executive functioning skills.

Take a moment and replay your morning routine back in your head.  Do you brush your teeth before you wash your face? Do you take a medication right away or do you take it with your first cup of coffee? It’s easy to picture yourself completing your morning routine and if something is off, you know it immediately.

Routines for infants and toddlers provide a number of opportunities to practice important speech-language and social skills. Anticipating the steps, sequencing steps, learning the vocabulary associated with the steps are all skills infants and toddlers need to develop meaningful associations with language and action. Daily routines provide the repetition of vocabulary and actions leading to independent participation in these routines.

Routine for school aged children can provide a calming environment for anticipating activities as well as expectations throughout the day.  Similar to infants and toddlers, sequencing steps, learning vocabulary and making associations provides the foundation for increasing successful independence throughout the day.  Routines also give the child the opportunity to learn the expected behaviors and unwritten social rules in a repeat practice setting. Daily routines facilitate conversations between child and adult to specifically explain and model appropriate social and behavioral expectations.

Routines for older children and young adults create a setting where focus can be more on new skills and independence versus the actual steps.  These routines are not only part of the day, but provide the opportunity to increase independence and demonstrate expected behaviors and social skills which should be the focus of mastery for young adults.  Routines at this age also provide opportunities for increased independence imperative for vocational and secondary education settings.

Individuals who have tendencies to become rigid regarding implementation and execution of routines, such that any variation creates adverse behaviors need to have their routines continuously changed.   This does not mean the target task or activity needs to change, however change when the task or activity occurs. For example, night time routine might go tv time -change in pjs – brush teeth – book time – lights out. Consider changing to book time – brush teeth – change in pjs – tv time – lights out or some variation.  You know your loved one best and will be able to determine how often the change needs to occur.

If you have any questions or need a sounding board regarding routines, please reach out to your speech-language pathologist.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

Plan for the Day

note book with daily routine

It’s finally here…. JUNE!  Days are longer…much longer. Weather it warmer…. much warmer. Everyone is home… school’s out…..everyone’s home…. all day.  Did we mention the days are longer?

While June ushers in a time a carefree days and weeks, pay attention to just how important a daily routine (dare we say schedule) is for your loved one’s success, ease of mind, and ability to manage behaviors.  

“But we just finished a school year worth of schedules!”

We hear you, but these summer routines and schedules are a lot less time specific.  Summer routines and schedules make the ‘unknown’ day more concrete. They also provide the adults with a reminder or recap of the day.

Resources for creating schedules are available online.  Use simple pictures of places and events or if your loved on is literate, use text.

There are many different types of set-ups for schedules or routines you might want to consider.  Ultimately, create a combination of different types that suits your family’s needs best.

Object schedule: Using objects that represent the events throughout the day may give your loved on the visual support needed to easily transition from one activity to the next.  This also provides a concrete explanation of the expectations throughout the day so there is no ‘arguing’. It’s so much easier to ‘blame’ the schedule for completing a non-preferred task. “I’m sorry, but the schedule says it’s time to clean-up. Check the schedule.”

Picture schedule: Simple clipart pictures or actual photos can serve as  visual reminders for the schedule or routine of the day.  Providing a method of indicating the event is complete provides a very concrete message for your loved one.  Some suggestions to show an event is complete include turning the picture over, removing the picture from the schedule, or placing a check-mark next to the picture.

Text Schedule: If your loved on is literate, consider a simple checklist for the day’s events or using a white boards to catalogue the schedule for the day. These types of schedules can include exact times as well as specific locations.

High Tech: If your loved one is more comfortable using a ‘smart’ device, consider using the calendar built in to the operating system or a daily planner app (free ones are the best when trialing this support). Work with your loved one to set up the calendar, make sure to include alarms or notifications for each event. Using a ‘shared’ calendar provides everyone the flexibility to add or change items accordingly.  

 

Providing visual supports and schedules to loved ones gives everyone the opportunity to enjoy the lazy days of summer more successfully and with much less stress.  The speech-language therapist at Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC will be happy to provide more ideas and assistance with developing visual supports specific to your loved one’s needs.

 

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

What It Takes

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)  is “the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for 204,000 members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel; and students.”

What does this mean?  What does it take to get ASHA certified? How do  speech-language therapist maintain this certification?  How do I know if my therapist is ASHA certified? These questions are not only a great way to start the search for a speech-language pathologist, but realize the work and expertise your very own speech-language pathologist has to maintain to serve you and your loved one.

Being ASHA “certified” means the speech-language pathologist holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC), a nationally recognized professional credential that represents a level of excellence in the field of Speech-Language Pathology (CCC-SLP). Therapists who hold an ASHA certified Certificate of Clinical Competence have met rigorous academic and professional standards, going beyond the minimum requirements for state licensure. A Certificate of Clinical Competence is only issued to those professionals who have completed a master’s degree (or doctorate degree) from a graduate level Speech-Language Pathology program at an ASHA accredited institution of higher learning,  passed the national exam adopted by ASHA and completed a 9 month ASHA clinical fellowship under the supervision of a speech-language pathologist that has their CCC. This is in addition to any requirements set forth by the state board of licensure. Needless to say, the work does not end once a speech-language pathologist has fulfilled all of the requirements indicated above. To maintain this certification, in 3 year intervals, a speech-language pathologist must completed 30 hours of ASHA approved professional development. This is separate from the necessary requirements to maintain the state board licensure. For a more in depth explanation of ASHA and the process to acquire the certificate of clinical competence, please visit the ASHA website.

You can be confident that a speech-language pathologist who holds their CCCs is a professional who is dedicated to being informed and studying the most recent developments in the field, provides the highest level of care, and is being held to a higher standard of professional growth.  We at Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC are proud to share that all of our speech-language therapists are ASHA certified.

 

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

 

Better Speech and Hearing Month

May starts Better Speech and Hearing Month.  It’s that time of year to raise awareness about communication disorders and the role of Speech-Language Pathologists.  The Speech-Language Pathologists at Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC. are in incredible group of dedicated professionals. Collectively we share over 200 years experience treating individuals with speech-language deficits.  We, at Lakeshore Speech Therapy, share a passion for our profession, compassion for our clients and families, and dedication to do what it takes to make a difference in the lives of those we treat.

This week’s blog is short and sweet with a very big message.  As we begin the month of May, the month of Better Speech and Hearing, we thank YOU for entrusting your care and the care of your loved one to us.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

In Anticipation of Summer

Last week of April – hard to believe how quickly this year is flying by. Many schools will be out for the summer in one month and the lazy hazy days of summer will be upon us.  There is still a good amount of time to get to those warm sunny days.

Anticipation …. so exciting … so nerve wracking …. so the cause of many behaviors.  Anticipating something good or something less pleasant can set a loved one down a path of unexpected behaviors.  Anticipating the end of the school year, the beginning of swim lessons or the change in schedule can really affect behaviors more than one might anticipate, especially if communicating is difficult for an individual.

Creating a plan, anticipating the anticipation, may result in a more positive transition for you and your loved one. Here are a few tips to consider.

  • Timing – be aware and truly plan out how much in advance you will mention or discuss a change.   Consider the end effect on your loved one when determining how far in advance to share information.  A trip to a major amusement park, while exciting, if shared too much in advance could result in your loved one being fixated on this information for weeks or months.  Springing summer camp on your loved one the morning of the first day, may result in a complete melt down or increase in negative behaviors.
  • Making everyone aware – Make sure everyone who is aware of the change knows when or if your loved one will be made told.  The people around your loved one need to also know your game plan for revealing the change or event. Well meaning family members and friends may ask your loved one direct questions about the change or event before you have had an opportunity to execute your plan. This is definitely a ‘surprise’ you and your loved one do not need to navigate.
  • Create a tangible ‘count down’ to the event or change – Your loved one may need the ‘count down’ to the change or event to be very visible and presented in such a way that they can access this information independently.  Sharing a specific date or time or simply saying “Later this summer.” may be too abstract and create more anticipation (and perhaps behaviors).
    • Use a calendar with the date of the event well identified (stickers, arrows, pictures) and have your loved one cross out each day to the event.
    • Create a count-down chain .  Each day, your loved one removes a link of the chain, visually getting one step closer to the big event or change.  You can use clothes pins or paper clips or any item you can link together to create the chain.
    • Create a simple social story that explains the event and when it will occur.
  • Give your loved one the language to communicate – make sure to include a way in which your loved one can make comments or ask questions about the change or event.  Make a simple communication board with pictures or photos.  Think about the phrases your loved one might want to express:  “I’m excited” (use a picture of excited), “I can’t wait.” (use of picture of a clock or watch), “Tell me again.” (use of picture of talking), “Who will be going?” (use a picture of a silhouette of a person), “How much longer.”(use of picture of a calendar), etc.

A little up front work on your behalf could really make a huge impact when helping your loved one adjust, plan and anticipate a change or up coming event.  Mention this to your speech-language therapist, she/he will be happy to help.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.