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.

Egg-citing Time of the Year

Easter week -so many preparations, so many family traditions, so much to do. Not to mention, prepping for the egg hunts and the visit from the big bunny.

Practice and review are the best ways to help your loved one be part of any celebration.  The chances of you having a lot of extra plastic eggs in probably pretty high. Use these eggs not only to practice participating in an egg hunt, but sneaking in a little speech-language therapy practice as well.

Fill plastic eggs with small objects or pictures that have your loved one’s ‘target’ sound (if you are working on articulation) or are items in different categories (food, toys, animals, etc.). Hide the eggs throughout your home or backyard and work with your loved on to find them.  Once the eggs are found, crack them open and practice saying the words and/or separate them into category groups.

Another idea egg-cellent idea is to fill the eggs with items or pictures as shared about, but instead of having your loved one find them freely, give directions as to where the eggs are located.  For example, “Find the pink egg under the chair.” or “Find a purple egg and a blue egg behind the couch.” This egg hunt is not working on following directions as well as practicing understanding locational concepts AND everyone is having fun.

Consider practicing the start of the egg hunt.  Place 1-4 plastic eggs in full sight – filled or unfilled – and create a ‘starting line’. Instruct your loved one to wait at the start line until you say “Go!”. This will help him/her when wait and anticipate when they are placed in the real high stakes egg hunt.  Once they have collected the eggs, repeat the activity adding more eggs each time.

Easter baskets cannot be forgotten either! Help your loved on hold and fill their basket independently.  “Pick up” and “put in” are seemingly easy directions, however in the excitement of the egg hunt, a little practice ahead of time may result in less frustration for everyone.  Give your loved one a basket to pick up and put toys in when cleaning up for the day. Use socks or books or plastic eggs to practice this skill as well. You may find all along, an Easter basket was all that was needed to get your loved one to clean up those toys without argument!

Enjoy your egg hunts, celebrations and family time together.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Beginning to Bloom

spring flowers blooming in the yard

Spring is springing and hopefully will be sprung sooner than later. Flowers are blooming and the dreary colors of Winter give way to the beauty of Spring.

Flowers are not the only thing blooming this time of year.  Everyone’s mood begins to bloom and change as the weather makes its way from cold and dreary to warm and beautiful.  Sometimes, loved ones (young and old) experiencing difficulty identifying these moods, let alone being able to talk about them. Being aware of and identifying one’s emotions is very complex and higher level language skill.  There are techniques and supports that can be put in place to help your loved one better comprehend and identify his/her moods and emotions.

Start by making emotions/moods more concrete.  Use simple terms to label and explain emotions/mood. This doesn’t mean limit the vocabulary used, rather choose the vocabulary based on your loved one.  Happy – sad – mad – tired – frustrated are good ones to start. When a loved one is experiencing a specific emotion, let them know what it looks like, feels like, and sounds like.  If your loved one is in a particularly happy mood, tell them. “You are smiling and laughing. You are in a happy mood!” “Your hands are balled up in a fist. Your face looks tight. I can tell you are frustrated.” You may want not want to do this every time a loved on is mad or angry as it may make the situation worse, however a simple “I know you are mad.” may be enough.  Your loved one will begin to realize and connect how their emotions are communicated and may begin to use the language versus the physical reaction to share their emotions.

Older children need to be made aware of their emotions and ways to better communicate those emotions.  Help your tween or teen focus in on the facial features associated with different emotions. This helps to not only make them more aware of their own emotions, but tune into the emotions of others.  A game of ‘Emotions Charades’ makes not only for a fun family game night, but a safe way to practice these skills. The Feelings Game and Matching Emotions are  free online resources that may also be of interest to you and your loved one.

Enjoy the blooming of the new season as well as watching your loved one bloom.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

Lakeshore Speech Therapy Summer 2019 Programming

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

 

Changing Like the Weather

The weather in this area is notorious for fluctuating between winter and spring on almost an hourly basis.  One moment it’s a balmy 61 degrees and the next it’s a frosty 33. The constant up and down can be frustrating and not to mention confusing.  What does the weather have to do with speech therapy? Much like the weather at this time of the year, progress in speech therapy (or any therapy for that matter) can be just as frustrating and confusing.

It is not uncommon for a child to be progressing along on her/his therapy goals and suddenly stop progress and/or seemingly lose skills.  These fluctuations can be the natural progression of the brain changing as it processes and learns new skills. These fluctuations may also be a sign that your child has been practicing using new skills and needs a break.  Changes in progress should be short lived and not interpreted as a loss in skills. If you feel the changes in progress are more significant or are lasting too long, do not hesitate to talk to your clinician and review their data.  Your clinician will be able to address these concerns and provide a more clear picture of what you might expect.

Learning a new skill or changing a habit/behavior can take time and progress at time may be slow moving and seemingly nonexistent.  Keep looking for the small changes. These small changes add up over time in creating large life long changes.

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Start the Spring Clean-Up!

The days are getting longer and the temperature is rising – slowly. Spring is almost here.  As the cold of winter begins to leave, our attention begins to turn to the warmth and work on Spring.  The work of Spring? Those chores and jobs we promise to complete every Spring. This year try to incorporate all family members in completing jobs

Everyone can participate in giving the house, yard, and dreaded garage a little Spring pick-me-up.  Simple parts of a more complex task provide your loved one the sense of accomplishment and participation.  

Laundry, of which there is a never ending supply, is a wonderful task for have your loved one to help. Matching socks and separating clothes into different piles (ie: shirts, pants, towels, etc) or folding simple items like towels are great ways to incorporate everyone in this task.  Think of the language involved as well – naming the clothes, learning back and front, naming the fasteners on the clothes; language is truly everywhere!

Sweeping or vacuuming, tasks that surprisingly are exciting for some of our loved ones.  Adapted the handle on the broom so it is not too long and have your loved one help clean up the floors.  Practice ‘dancing’ with the vacuum cleaner and before long these tasks will become old hat. Remember all that language – floors versus ceilings, back and forth, clean, dirty – all language concepts that build your loved ones language foundation.

Let’s not forget the work outdoors.  When the sun is shining and even when it’s cloudy, work seems less “work” when your outside. Pulling weeds or raking are wonderful tasks your loved ones might enjoy. Picking up twigs or rocks and putting them in buckets are tasks that may seem uneventful, however you never know what your loved one might really enjoy. And talk about language!

Cleaning out the garage.  It sounds crazy but given a very specific job, your loved one can participate in getting it ready for the Spring and Summer.  Stacking flower pots or moving lawn bags or practicing using the broom outside are all ways your loved one can participate (and yes, use and learn language).

Working as a team, you and your loved ones can accomplish great things!

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Things are Looking Green!

Green is the color of the week. Shamrocks and leprechauns; rainbows and pots of gold. Everyone is Irish if not for just one day this week! So many ways to incorporate the fun of St. Patrick’s day into building language and communication.

Vocabulary abounds! Focus your loved ones attention on colors (especially green and gold), holiday specific vocabulary (leprechauns, shamrock, rainbows) and describing words (big/little and bright). Review these vocabulary words and give your loved a better understanding of the words they will hear more of this week.

Concepts of the season! Help your loved one pay more attention to under and over (as in rainbow), start and finish (think parades) and big and little (as in leprechauns). Building understanding of concepts will help your loved on not only follow directions this week but for the weeks to come.

Preview of what is to come! Remember to prepare your loved one for any changes or festivities that you and your family might be part of as part of St. Patrick’s day. Parades and crowds can be difficult to manage without proper warning. Anticipating and sharing the schedule of the day or celebration may prove to be the needed support to ensure everyone enjoys the day.

Enjoy your week of green fun!

Yours in speech,
Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Imagine…Create….Language

We are a quarter of the way through 2019 already!  Hard to believe how fast time flies…..especially when you are having fun.  March ushers in a month of leprechauns and basketball and the strange time of year when it’s still not warm enough to go outside but staying inside isn’t the best option either. It’s that time of year when ideas and creativity to keep our loved ones engaged and busy don’t come as easy as they did a few weeks ago.

We have your back and hope our ideas spark new life into your family’s March schedule.

Introduce basic S.T.E.M. activities like making your own bubbles or making your own robot.  Spending time to create opens the door for imagination as well as language. You don’t need to be a computer programmer to build your collection of S.T.E.M. activities.

  • Idea #1: Build a Robot
    • Collect different boxes, toilet paper tubes, plastic containers, etc.
    • Grab a few rolls of tape and string or yarn
    • Create a ‘problem’ that requires your loved ones to have to make a robot to ‘fix’ the problem. Problems like too many socks are getting lost in the wash or nobody knows when the garbage is full.
    • This activity will work on helping your loved ones better understand directional and location concepts, follow directions, ask for help, name items, work with others, share, etc.
  • Idea #2: Practice Continuing Patterns
    • Collect different dried foods – pasta, beans, cereal, dried fruits
    • Create patterns (basic to complex) and have your child continue the pattern
    • Flip roles and see if you can continue the patterns
    • This activity will work on helping your loved one with sequencing tasks, vocabulary, patterning, following directions, etc. – skills needed to master math and language goals.
  • Idea #3: Build a Roller Coaster
    • Collect paper tubes from toilet paper, paper towels, and wrapping paper, tape, and marbles or small toy cars.
    • Explain to your love one you are going to create the next big roller coaster for the summer!
    • Tape together some tubes, cut other in half and create a roller coaster to go in your cardboard amusement park!
    • Use a marble or small toy car to test out your coaster!
    • This activity will work on helping your loved one with shared attention, vocabulary, directional concepts, following directions, listening, taking turns, etc.

Your S.T.E.M. activities do not have to be complex or expensive.  Play with some of these ideas and if you and your loved ones create a masterpiece, share it with us on Facebook!

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC

Communicate Love All Year Through

February – the month of love; loving and caring for our family, our friends, our significant other. Don’t keep the love only in the month of February. Life gets in the way of the best plans. Set a small goal for you and your loved ones to communicate how much you love and appreciate each other (and others) on a more regular basis.  

The suggestions made for wishing others a Happy Valentine’s day can be incorporated throughout the year.  Change the message (ie: Get well; Have a great day; etc) or just sending love, not only helps your loved one practice communication skills but strengthens the bond between the well wisher and the recipient.

Start the ‘Star of the Month’ in your house.  Choose one person – start with YOURSELF – and share some information your family may (or may not) know.  Pick a special time – after dinner, during dinner, before bed – for the ‘Star’ to communicate a special something.  The ‘Star’ can share favorite foods, places, colors, animals. The ‘Star’ can share a favorite memory or story. For loved ones that communicate using alternative means, use a basic communication board or basic signs to share this information.  Use a family picture to communicate a favorite story or memory. Use labels from favorites foods to communicate that information to the rest of the family. The ‘Star’ practices communicating effectively and everyone learns more reasons to love and appreciate the ‘Star’.

Communicate love and appreciation at lunch.  Put a ‘love note’ to your loved ones lunch boxes, backpacks, or briefcases. A little reminder mid-day that someone is thinking of them and wanting their day to be special.  These ‘love notes’ do not need to be complicated or even in written form for that matter. Search for and print out pictures of favorite cartoon characters or superheroes and just put them where your loved one will see them.  Blot lipstick on a piece of paper and send a ‘kiss’ to your loved one – no words necessary. Cut a napkin in a heart and/or buy special character napkins to include in lunches every once in a while.

No matter your age, communicating a simple ‘I’m thinking about you’ message makes the day better and brighter.  

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC.

Express your love!

February – the month of love; loving and caring for our family, our friends, our significant other.  Everyone needs a little help now and then. Helping our loved ones express themselves is important in February and all year through. Expressing one’s self cannot be limited to talking.  Expressions of love come in variety of shapes, colors, and sounds. Give your loved ones the opportunity to express and communicate with the world.

Opportunities to communicate happen every minute of the day, knowing the best or most effective way to communicate may take some practice.  Give you and your loved the time to practice. This practice doesn’t have to take long or even have a lot of ‘moving parts’. Valentine’s day is only a few days away, what a wonderful reason to practice and share your loved one’s communication skills with the special people in their lives.  Here are a few ideas to get your creative communication juices flowing.

  • Teach your loved one the sign for “I love you”.  Remember to teach those in your lives the sign as well so when your love one signs “I love you”, the recipient will understand that wonderful message.
  • Use a speech bubble and write a Valentine’s message in the bubble or a simple heart cut from paper.  Have your loved one hold the speech bubble or heart and snap a picture. Whose day won’t be uplifted receiving that message via text or email?
  • Using pink or red lipstick/chapstick, have your loved one decorate a Valentine with lip prints by having them kiss the paper.  Not only is this just adorable, but it’s a GREAT oral motor exercise for speech.
  • Simple communication boards or pictures are also a great way of communicating. Making a video of your loved one creating a message and send it out via text or email will definitely brighten the day!

Let the world hear your loved ones message loud and clear this Valentine’s Day!

Yours in Speech,

Lakeshore Speech Therapy, LLC